2 VPA Faculty, 3 Arts Organizations Awarded NYSCA Grants
New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) grants have been awarded to two faculty members and three arts organizations at Syracuse University.
College of Visual and Performing Arts faculty members Kathleen Wrinn, assistant professor of musical theatre, and Soh Morandian, assistant professor of film, each won $10,000 NYSCA grants for their work.
Wrinn is a musical theater performer, lyricist and librettist in the Department of Drama and founding artistic director of the department’s New Works/New Voices initiative. She earned the grant for her musical, “The Bridge, a New Musical Epic,” which was developed with the New Haven-based arts venture studio Midnight Oil Collective and was showcased at Yale University this fall.
Soh Moradian is a director, producer, screenwriter and editor in the Department of Film and Media Arts. Her film, “The Mermaid,” is a psychological horror film exploring themes of trauma, misogyny and xenophobia.
NYSCA grants also went to three University arts organizations:
- Syracuse Stage : $49,500 to support general theater productions
- Point of Contact (Punto de Contacto): $10,000 to support general operations
- Light Work : $10,000 to support “The Portal’s Keeper,” a project by artists Manual Molina Martagon and LaJuné McMillian.
Molina Martagon and McMillan will work in residence at Light Work in February. The project will be a participatory exploration of spirituality and emerging technologies, guiding viewers through a process of body-centered storytelling, digital avatar creation and motion-capture. The resulting work will be exhibited at Urban Video Project next fall.
This year, NYSCA awarded $62 million in grants to individuals and organizations. In the last six years, it has presented 302 capital grants totaling $92 million across 10 regions of the state to support visual, literary, performing and media arts organizations. NYSCA also supports individual artists and awarded grants to 426 of them last year.
