Center for the Arts

This summer, students seeking a master's degree in performance curation from Wesleyan's Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) are working on six performing artist case studies funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. On July 16, the ICPP Entrepreneurial Strategies class discussed their first artist — Becca Blackwell, an award-winning trans actor, performer and writer based in New York City. Blackwell is working with consultants and mentors at ICPP to develop a strategic framework for the next two to five years of their career. Blackwell will also be presenting their work at Wesleyan on October 5. Photos of the class are below: (Photos by…

On May 27, seven students graduated with a Master of Arts in Performance Curation through the Center for the Arts Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP). Since being introduced as a pilot initiative in 2011, ICPP has graduated 16 students from the ICPP Master's program (including this year's class). ICPP encourages emerging curators to enrich their understanding of intellectually rigorous, innovative, and artist-centered curatorial models. Through a low-residency model, ICPP asks its students to not only engage with ideas but also to simultaneously put those ideas into practice in their professional lives, developing responsive curatorial practices that address the interdisciplinary nature…

Wesleyan's Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) has been awarded a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Introduced as a pilot initiative in 2011, the ICPP is the first institute of its kind, a center for the academic study of the presentation and contextualization of contemporary performance. The low-residency program offers students a master's degree in innovative and relevant curatorial approaches to developing and presenting time-based art. The grant will be used to support performing artist case studies, working with artists at critical points in their careers to provide analysis of their entrepreneurial strategies, as well…

At the end of April, Wesleyan University’s concert halls will be filled with the sound of rhythm during the 16th Annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra Weekend, on Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29. The weekend will kick off with the traditional performance by the Wesleyan University Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Ensembles on Friday evening. New this year, on Saturday, there will be percussion clinics hosted by the Connecticut Percussive Arts Society, followed by an evening concert by Eli Fountain’s Percussion Discussion. Jay Hoggard, professor of music and African American studies, explained the idea behind this ambitious project. “For the first time…

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Director and playwright Emily Mann will give a talk at Wesleyan on March 28 as part of the Performing Arts Series of the Center for the Arts. Mann will be in conversation with Wesleyan’s Shapiro Distinguished Professor of Writing and Theater Quiara Alegría Hudes. “Emily Mann is a revered theatrical auteur,” said Hudes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who teaches playwriting to beginning and advanced writers at Wesleyan. “An accomplished playwright, director, and artistic director of a leading regional theater, Mann is known for her probing inquiry into our nation's most urgent issues. Her art has time and again advanced the…

Members of the Philadelphia-based ensemble Tempesta di Mare will perform baroque chamber music from Venice and Naples on period instruments for the Connecticut premiere of A Tale of Two Italian Cities in Crowell Concert Hall at 8 p.m., Friday, March 31. This performance by Tempesta di Mare is part of the Performing Arts Series at the Center for the Arts, and the conclusion of the 2016-2017 season. “These performances feature a wide array of world-class musicians, cutting-edge choreography, and groundbreaking theater,” explained Sarah Curran, director of the Center for the Arts. “We’re excited to include a baroque chamber orchestra this…

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In the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery sits an old Volkswagen Brasília, surrounded by a sampling of artwork in all different mediums. This the Center for the Arts' latest exhibition, Stereoscopic Vision, which fuses photography, sculpture, and video from different bodies of work by Brazilian-born artist, Clarissa Tossin. Stereoscopic Vision highlights the dualities between natural and manufactured; two and three-dimensions; co-dependent economies; intention and actuality; and the United States and Brazil. For Tossin, who is based in Los Angeles, this is her first solo exhibition in the northeast. Tossin considers herself a multimedia artist. “I work with installation, video,…

The National Endowment for the Arts approved more than $30 million in grants as part of the NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2017. Included in this announcement are Art Works grants of $30,000 for Wesleyan's Center for the Arts' Breaking Ground Dance Series and $25,000 to support Wesleyan University Press in the publication and promotion of books of poetry. The Art Works category focuses on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts. The…

Sarah Curran, who is currently associate director of the Stanford Arts Institute, has been selected to lead Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts beginning on Feb. 20, 2017. Curran succeeds Pamela Tatge, who left the university after 16 years to serve as executive director of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Laura Paul has served as Interim Director of the Center for the Arts since February. “We are excited to welcome Sarah Curran to Wesleyan,” said President Michael Roth. “Sarah is a collaborative leader, and I know that our faculty and students look forward to working with her to curate programming that elevates and integrates the arts…

Navaratri, one of India’s major festival celebrations, is a time to see family and friends, enjoy music and dance, and seek blessings for new endeavors. Wesleyan’s 40th annual festival, held Oct. 28-Oct. 30, celebrated traditional Indian music and dance. The Navaratri Festival is presented by the Center for the Arts and the Music Department, with leadership support from the Madhu Reddy Endowed Fund for Indian Music and Dance at Wesleyan University, and additional support from the Jon B. Higgins Memorial Fund, the Raga Club of Connecticut, Haveli Indian Restaurant, and individual patrons. Pictured is the Navaratri Festival: B. Balasubrahmaniyan performance,…

Doris Duke Foundation Supports ICPP’s Performing Artist Case Studies

7 Students Graduate with MA Degrees from Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Supports ICPP’s Performing Artist Case Studies

16th Annual Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra Weekend to Feature a “Day of Percussion”

Szegedy-Maszak’s Photography Collection Displayed at Davison Art Center

Playwright Emily Mann in Conversation with Quiara Alegría Hudes

CFA Performing Arts Series Concert to Feature Italian Baroque Chamber Music

Art, Worker Rights, Globalization Topic of Panel Discussion

New Center for the Arts Exhibition Explores Duality

NEA Supports Center for the Arts, Wesleyan U. Press

Center for the Arts Announces New Director

Wesleyan’s Navaratri Festival Celebrates 40th Anniversary