Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award Recipients Announced

George Mason University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) has announced the second round of Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award Recipients. The three alumni were chosen based on the artistic excellence, career impact, and feasibility of their proposals and will receive financial, marketing, and production support to have their projects presented by the College at a Mason venue during the 2020-2021 season.

Leila Mire (BFA Dance Performance '18) has received the Young Alumni Commissioning Award and $5,000 in commissioning support for Scheherazade Retold, an evening-length dance piece that explores the nuanced history of appropriation in the ballet world and beyond. The work comments on various renditions of 1001 Arabian Nights and its frame story of Scheherazade.

Kevin Elam (BM Music, Jazz Studies '14) and Donovan Jones (BA Film and Video Studies '18) have received the Young Alumni Creative Development Award and will each receive $2,500 in commissioning support. Elam receives the award for his recording of a full-length album of Irish traditional music and Jones for a music video for up-and-coming DMV recording artist, Hakeem.

"Round Two of our commissioning program is now out in the world doing its good work," shares Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts Rick Davis. "I am excited by what these young artists in dance, music, and film have proposed to create-each project shows insight, expertise, and a deep sense of humanity-and I can't wait to see what they bring back from their explorations."

To learn more about the 2020 recipients and their projects visit: https://cvpa.gmu.edu/young-alumni-commissioning-project-award-recipients-2020.

Applicants for the award were required to be a graduate of the College of Visual and Performing Arts from the class of 2009 and after, and proposals could be for an original new work in any art form, suitable for performance, exhibition, or screening in a Mason venue during the 2020-2021 season.

2020 Alumni Artist Support Initiative
In the wake of COVID-19, artists around the world have been impacted due to cancelled or postponed performances, exhibitions, and freelance opportunities. Effective March 30, CVPA made new resources available to alumni artists through the Fund for Digital Content and the Fund for New Works.

Fund for Digital Content:
CVPA will pay up to 10 artists $500 for the rights to stream, air, or otherwise showcase artistic work through Mason Arts at Home, a new platform of curated digital programming, which offers artists a way to continue sharing their ingenuity and talent with Mason's on- and off-campus community.

Fund for New Works:
CVPA will commission up to five new artistic works, to be premiered in-person in conjunction with the 2020-2021 30th Anniversary season at the Center for the Arts. Recipients will receive up to $1,000 in commissioning funds to create works that will be performed, exhibited, or otherwise shared in the Center for the Arts Lobby or Linda Apple Monson Grand Tier.

Alumni Artist Support Initiative Details and application information.

In reference to the Alumni Artist Support Initiative Davis adds, "This new program recognizes two truths about the current crisis: people still need art in their lives, and artists still need to be supported in order to make it. I'm so pleased that we are able to play a role in meeting those two needs in our extended community."

The Young Alumni Commissioning Project is made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of Linda E. Gramlich for the support of young artists, and by donors to Mason's Giving Day, including Shugoll Research.

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