Third Annual Cornish Playhouse Arts Incubator Residency Awardees Announced

Chris Kevorkian, President of Cornish College of the Arts, announced the recipients of the third annual Arts Incubator Residency hosted at the Cornish Playhouse. The Cornish Playhouse Arts Incubator Residency encourages artistic risk-taking by providing free space to artists as they seek to complete a work that is outside the boundaries of their usual genre, discipline, or comfort zone. This year's recipients are recent Cornish graduate JuJu Kusanagi as well as local artists Angelina Baldoz and KT Shores, Ilvs Strauss, and Nico Tower.

"We look forward to seeing what incredible magic these bright lights will be creating in this storied and special place," said Kevorkian.

Begun in 2014 as an answer to the problem of decreasing rehearsal space in Seattle, these residencies are part of the Cornish Playhouse's extensive public benefit program. Applications for residencies at the Cornish Playhouse begin in the spring, with final decisions made by the start of the summer. The Cornish Playhouse Arts Incubator Residency is open to anyone age 18 and older, including professional and non-professional artists, teachers, ensembles and groups, and students. The residency is open to both those within the Cornish community and those outside the Cornish community. The lead artist applying must be a Washington State resident.

Past residencies have been awarded to Veronica Lee-Baik, Alice Gosti, Wesley K. Andrews and Jess K. Smith, Alice Gosti, Jessica Hatlo and Rosa Vissers (PE|Mo), Charles McCall and Adriana Compoy, Julia Greenway and Jessica Hoffman, Strawberry Theater Workshop, Carl Lawrence, and Hannah Simmons, among others.

Cornish Playhouse Arts Incubator Residency Projects 2016/17

JuJu Kusanagi
Cornish Playhouse Lobby
October 17 October to October 30, 2016
This project by recent Cornish graduate JuJu Kusanagi aims to create an environment for the audience that is multidimensional, hyper experiential, and highly interactive. All elements of the piece will be created in part through audience interaction. The video elements will be half preprogrammed and half regenerated live via audience interaction and the lighting cues will be created by the footwork of the audience. Kusanagi, who graduated with a BFA in Dance from Cornish in 2016, became an award-winning filmmaker while still an undergradute. In spring 2016, she participated in the a Microsoft HoloLens exhibition at Cornish College of the Arts, where students were invited to create art for viewing on the HoloLens. Kusanagi's choreography and performance for a holographic environment was featured on a subsequent film about the experiment and can be seen here.

Angelina Baldoz and KT Shores
The Marleen and Kenny Alhadeff Studio Theater
January 2 to January 15, 2017
The artists will collaboratively generate an extended index of fragments into the shapes of poetry, playwriting, choreography, music composition, and engineering. Baldoz and Shores will include a workshop/audition for artists and non-modality based classes that will be open to the public during the residency.

Ilvs Strauss
Cornish Playhouse Lobby
January 23 to February 5, 2017
This residency will serve to workshop a future performance involving dance, narration and video. Strauss will be focused on the technical aspects of how to work with projection, experimenting with placement of projection screen with respect to performer and to audience, playing with scale (projection of a giant hand interacting with live performer), and coordinating movement between projected imagery and live performance.

Nico Tower And Kimberly Holloway
Marleen and Kenny Alhadeff Studio at Cornish Playhouse
May 8 to May 21, 2017
Nico Tower plans to explore dance as a nexus of art and athleticism by choreographing a work informed by basic soccer mechanics. The improvisational scores can eventually be developed into set material that is performed with music and lights (scored and designed by Tower, choreographed and performed by Holloway).

More About Cornish College of the Arts

Cornish College of the Arts awards Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in art, dance, design, film+media, interior architecture, performance production and theater, and a Bachelor of Music.

Cornish College of the Arts oversees the operation of the Cornish Playhouse at the Seattle Center. As well as providing a venue for student performances and classes, the Cornish Playhouse is used by approximately 40 nonprofit and arts organizations annually. Since 2014, Cornish College of the Arts has made approximately $1 million in improvements to this historic and beloved Seattle Center facility, including catwalk construction, equipment updates, and lobby upgrades.