CoA+A faculty receive Arts & Science Council grants

Seven faculty members in the College of Arts + Architecture have received 2020 Regional Artist Project Grants from the Arts & Science Council. These grants provide an award for individuals and groups of unincorporated artists to pursue projects that further enhance their artistic development by attending a professional development experience or purchasing/renting a piece of equipment. Grants are up to $2,000 and are administered in partnership with the arts councils in the surrounding counties of Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Rowan, Rutherford, Stanly, Union and York (South Carolina).

The 2020 Regional Artist Project Grants total $67,500 and will support 40 artists from eight counties. Below are the seven CoA+A faculty members who received funding this year:

Associate Professor of Dance E.E. Balcos – $1,758

To support participation in a body-mind centering (BMC) course on the muscular system at Esprit en Mouvement in Montreal, Canada, in spring 2020. Balcos is pursuing his certification as a Somatic Movement Educator in BMC.

Associate Professor of Theatre Tom Burch – $2,000

To support travel and workshop fees to attend a puppetry workshop at Sandglass Theatre in Vermont in summer 2020. Burch studied puppetry while pursuing his MFA in Stage Design at Northwestern University. Since coming to UNC Charlotte, he has created a special topics course in puppetry and has design puppets for both University and professional productions.

Associate Professor of Art Maja Godlewska – $1,975

To buy paints to create new work for the international group exhibition, “The World Without Us,” in Neon Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland, in July. Her work is a response to the way tourists interact with the traveled land, which Godlewska documented in 2018 in national and state parks across the U.S. and then in 2019 in Tasmania and mainland Australia. “The fact that many of the landscapes that I saw no longer exist, consumed by recent fires, adds another dimension to how now I think of this project,” she writes.

Assistant Professor of Music Jessica Lindsey – $1,800

To support the recording and editing of a CD featuring the electroacoustic music by composers Meredith Butterworth ’09, Corey Dundee and Alex Temple, performed by the Spatial Forces Duo. Butterworth is a UNC Charlotte alumna and percussionist who received her master’s degree from NYU. Dundee is an Ann Arbor-based composer and saxophonist who received Chamber Music America’s 2016 Classical Commissioning Grant. Temple has worked with the American Composers Orchestra, Fifth House Ensemble, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Spektral Quartet and the Sissy-Eared Mollycoddles.

Assistant Professor of Music Jeremy Marks – $1,500

To support participation in the Trombone Ensemble Repertoire Commission. Marks will commission seven composers from North America to compose new trombone choir pieces, to be premiered at the 24th annual North Carolina Trombone Festival, which UNC Charlotte will host in spring 2021.

Adjunct Professor of Music Benjamin Still ’13 – $1,300

To support participation in the 2020 Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy in Bangkok, Thailand.

Associate Professor of Art Erik Waterkotte – $2,000

To purchase a large format inkjet printer to facilitate integrating print and mixed-media. In his current “Mandala Series,” Waterkotte has been experimenting with overprinting on recycled, mixed-media substrates using inkjet printing.

Pictured, top row, left to right, E.E. Balcos, Tom Burch, Maja Godlewska, Jessica Lindsey; second row, Jeremy Marks, Benjamin Still and Erik Waterkotte.