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In December 2021, the College of Visual and Performing Arts opened submissions for 2022-2023’s Young Alumni Commissioning Project (YACP), an annual grant awarded to CVPA alumni in support of projects in film, dance, theater, arts management, visual art, music, and game design. Providing anywhere from $2,500 - $5,000 in artistic funding, the YACP grant also provides production and marketing assistance for a public showing of the recipients’ work at a Mason venue.

Now in its fourth year of project funding, the YACP provides crucial support for our alumni’s continued artistic development. During the YACP’s 2021-2022 season, Jada Salter (‘20) received the Young Alumni Commissioning Project Award and $5,000 in funding, while Katherine Thompson (Visual Art ‘15), Nicholas Horner (Theater ’18, MFA Candidate ‘21), Cristian Perez (Music ‘12), and Nicole Daniell (Dance ‘17) each received Young Alumni Creative Development Awards and $2,500 in commissioning support.

Salter’s award is supporting the continued development of her film project “Just the Two of Us,” a documentary about her grandfather, multi-Grammy award winning musician William “Bill” Salter.

Thompson is using her award towards her upcoming photography exhibition “Reflections: The Black Male,” which takes a hard look at the narrative surrounding representations of the Black body in American visual media.

Horner is in production on his laboratory theater piece “Free,” a new play that re-visions Norman Rockwell’s Americana series, “Four Freedoms,” while Perez is developing a new chamber music album focused on the symbolism of water as a way to unite humanity and create cultural awareness.

Finally, Daniell’s award is helping her produce her dance film “Isolation Stories,” a visual dance piece inspired by the pandemic and focused on exploring the synergy between dance and filmmaking technology.

In a conversation with the five alums, CVPA discussed the artists’ Mason origins, their current projects, and future endeavors as they expand their artistry.

Q: How has your work and your perspective grown and changed since your graduation from Mason?

Perez: After graduating, I was happy to have more time to perform, work on my own music and continue learning on my own at my own pace. Every year that goes by I feel less and less of a guitarist, and more of a musician. What I mean by that is that what I play with my fingers on the guitar becomes less and less important, and what gets prioritized more and more is the music itself and what I'm trying to express through it. Like any discipline, what matters most is what one does with his/her skills and tools. This has been an ongoing journey for me and I despite its challenges, I hope it never ends.

Salter: During my time at Mason I was able to learn so much about film and video studies both from textbooks but, most importantly, by professors who have experienced the industry. The film at Mason community is like a family and always seems to want the best for its students. Since graduating I’ve been able to complete jobs and tasks professionally with confidence. I would not have been able to create this project without my education from Mason.��

Thompson: While studying photography during my time at Mason, I started this process of searching through family archives to find out more about my family. My work shifted to focus on the diaspora of those who are first-generations that never truly understood their Caribbean heritage, alongside discovering what lost identity means. As a first-generation born in the US, from a Jamaican family, there was always an identity issue that I struggled with. On one side, I identify with my Jamaican heritage while, at the same time, I also want to be an American ---- not African American or Jamaican American, just American. That side of me, the American, was pushed through during 2019.��

Q: How did you make the decision to submit this particular project for submission to the Young Alumni Commissioning Project? Was this one of many projects you were considering? Or were you already in progress with this effort and decided to submit to YACP for the funding opportunity?

Daniell: The idea for this project was born out of the pandemic. As dance shifted to the virtual space, my long-time friend and cinematographer on the project, Justin Ayers, and I found that the work we were seeing online was not engaging the mediums of film and choreography together. Film and dance are separate art forms, and combining them becomes a challenging interdisciplinary project, which is where the inspiration for the dance film came from.��

I chose to apply for the Young Alumni Commissioning Project in order to boost the budget for the project. I really want to be able to pay the artists with whom I am working, which is not always a guarantee when working on small dance projects. The YACP grant helps me do that.

Horner: I have had a long and winding connection to the work of Norman Rockwell and find that we are at a dramatic intersection of the ideas of freedoms he proposed. This project has been cooking for a while and has had enormous outside support, but the time wasn't right, and it needed a home.��As the pulse of political and economic strain has quickened, this idea bubbled up again.��Mason seemed a marvelous place to investigate and agitate these questions.�� When addressing an American audience in the "roaring 20's" of a new generation, I am committed to forming connections between past, present, and future. The questions we will take up in this work have been on the hearts and minds of Americans for more than a century, and I felt it was time to shine a light on some of the difficult themes expressed in these works while activating them for the contemporary audience.

Q: What makes you most excited as you conceptualize and plan this project?

Salter: My project is about a Black American hidden figure who should be celebrated for his works of art (he also is my grandfather). I’m very excited to share his story but, I am also doing this for him as a tribute and thank you. It’s the least I can do for the legendary artist that he is. I am excited to show him just how much his art has touched many across the globe. To show just how amazing he truly is.��

Horner: I am thrilled to see these classic works animated by a diverse company. The face of American Freedom has changed significantly in the last five years, and offering a glimpse at its evolution through movement, sound, light, text, and image excites the hopeful artist/citizen in me. Whenever people come together in a space for the purpose of storytelling, I am giddy at the possibility of expanding minds, reflecting on where and who we are, and artfully creating community.

Thompson: I am excited to have the opportunity to show my work. The process for this project will inspire me to become more progressive and push the boundaries as an artist, thinker and activist. With what's happening in this social climate for POC’s, especially black people, I wanted that to be a reflection in the work. As a young Black artist, I want to convey my perspective and continue to explore and question how African Americans, particularly African American men, are viewed in the current scope of media. This will be my first project that doesn’t include myself as the subject, but I am still a part of the work because of the shared similarities in experience.

Perez: As I plan the recording of the music for this project, I'm getting very excited to listen to all the music with fresh ears. I'm finding things that need some tweaking as well as things that I love and can't believe I wrote them.

Daniell: Combining film with choreography opens up so many new pathways that do not exist when choreographing for the stage, which is equally exciting and daunting. While I’m interested in creating a high-tech dance film that fuses the two art forms, I also want to tell a story in which people see themselves and are able to process their own isolation experiences.

Ultimately, I feel like this project is really different from anything I have seen in the screen dance space, so I am excited to work with my creative team to navigate the challenges and contribute to the current dialogue surrounding dance, film, and technology.��

To see the exhibitions of these five artists at a Mason venue, tune in to CVPA’s social media channels this spring and summer for information on upcoming presentation dates and times.

The Young Alumni Commissioning Project for CVPA’s 2022-2023 season is now open. Visit cvpa.gmu.edu/about/alumni/young-alumni-commissioning-project for full program rules, requirements, and application information. Proposals must be submitted by February 11, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET for consideration into this year’s program.

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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