Center for the Arts

On Sept. 11, the Center for the Arts celebrated the student music scene at The MASH. Inspired by Fete de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, this fourth annual festival highlights Wesleyan's student musicians. The event took place inside Usdan University Center, Patricelli '92 Theater and Crowell Concert Hall. More than 15 bands performed including Locus, described as “one man with psychedelic textures and experimental beats;” Mom, a funky band full of post-pubescent mystery rock; Quasimodal, Wesleyan's oldest co-ed A cappella group; Veeblefetzer, Wesleyan's finest Klezmer ensemble; Lo-Qi, a rap duo “here to denounce corporate oppression;” Sleep Kid,…

Wesleyan's Center for the Arts 2015-16 season includes two world premieres, one United States premiere, one New England premiere, four Connecticut debuts and the following events: • Sept. 11: The Mash at Olin Library, North College, Center for the Arts and Foss Hill. • Sept. 11: "Bach to School" at the Memorial Chapel with Artist in Residence and University Organist Ronald Ebrecht • Sept. 13: Music at The Russell House: Julie Ribchinsky Bach and the Modern World • Sept. 16-Dec. 13: "R. Luke Dubois—In Real Time" exhibition in Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery • Sept. 17-Nov. 7: Eiko Otake — "A Body in Places" • Sept.…

Pam Tatge ’84, MALS ’10, P’16, director of Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts (CFA), was appointed to the board of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). Noted for facilitating Liz Lerman’s "Ferocious Beauty: Genome" at the CFA, an exploration of repercussions of genetic research in 2006, Tatge received the 2010 William Dawson Award from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, given to an individual or organization in the presenting field for sustained leadership, innovation and vision in program design, audience building and community involvement efforts. Additionally, Tatge worked closely with former NEFA executive director Sam Miller ’75 to…

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Wesleyan’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) has been awarded a four-year, $100,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to support the participation of low-income students and students of color in ICPP’s master’s and certificate programs through the ICPP Scholarship Fund. Founded in 2010 and housed at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts, ICPP is a center for the academic study of the presentation and contextualization of contemporary performance, and offers an interdisciplinary, graduate-level education in innovative and relevant curatorial approaches to developing and presenting time-based art. Starting in July 2015, the institute will offer a master’s degree in performance…

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On Feb. 5, the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center hosted dancers from the Connecticut premier of Tari Aceh! (Dance Aceh!). The performance features a group of nine female performers from Aceh, Indonesia on their first-ever tour of the United States. Their dances, inherited from their ancestors, are stunning in their synchronicity and include rhythmic body percussion and the singing of both Islamic liturgical and folk texts, accompanied by percussion. The dancers are between the ages of 14 and 24, and study at Syiah Kuala University, located in Banda Aceh, the capital of the Aceh province on the western Indonesian island of…

Beginning this month, Wesleyan's College of the Environment, Center for the Arts and other outside partners will present "The Elements: An Annual Environmental Film Series." The first film, Elemental, will be screened at 7:30 p.m. March 30 in the Center for the Arts Hall. The award-winning film follows three activists as they work to protect air, water and earth around the world, and offers a call for global action. The second film in the series, WATERSHED, will be screened at 7 p.m. May 4 in Middlesex Community College's Chapman Hall, 100 Training Hill Rd. in Middletown. Executive produced and narrated by Robert Redford, this film tells the story…

Wesleyan's "Music at the Russell House" series concludes with a free concert by the Connecticut-based jazz quartet Stanley Maxwell at 3 p.m. March 1 in the Russell House. The group plays music that blends tight arrangements with intricate group improvisations. The concert at Wesleyan will feature acoustic arrangements of original tunes from the past decade, including several world premieres. Stanley Maxwell features the CFA's Press and Marketing Director Andy Chatfield on drums, Mark Crino on bass, Eric DellaVecchia on alto saxophone, and Evan Green on piano. The group has built a grassroots name for themselves at colleges and festivals throughout…

A Body in Fukushima, a series of color photographs and video presented in a groundbreaking exhibition across three Wesleyan galleries, is on display through April. The series is an exploration into the area around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which destabilized and melted down after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The power plant released radioactive materials into the surrounding environment. In 2014, dancer-choreographer Eiko Otake and photographer/historian William Johnston followed abandoned train tracks through desolate stations into eerily vacant towns and fields in Fukushima, Japan. Otake is a visiting instructor in dance and Johnston is professor of history, professor of…

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The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded Wesleyan's Center for the Arts a $20,000 grant to support the 2015–2016 Breaking Ground Dance Series. The CFA is one of the 919 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Breaking Ground Dance Series, now in its 15th season at Wesleyan, features cutting-edge choreography, world-renowned companies, and companies pushing the boundaries of the art form. Upcoming performances this season include the return of Montréal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard on Feb. 6-7, 2015 and Tari Aceh! Music and Dance from Northern Sumatra on Feb. 27. Compagnie Marie Chouinard will be…

Student Music Scene Celebrated at the 4th Annual MASH

The Mash, “Bach to School” Kick Off CFA’s New Season

Tatge Joins Board of the New England Foundation for the Arts

Art Thesis Exhibition on Display in Zilkha Gallery

ICPP Receives $100K Doris Duke Grant

Wesleyan Orchestra Performs for Local Children

Indonesian Dancers Perform, Lead Workshop with Green Street TLC Students

New Environmental Film Series to be Presented by COE, CFA

Jazz Quartet Stanley Maxwell to Perform World Premieres March 1 at Russell House

A Body in Fukushima: Photo, Video Exhibit on Display at 3 CFA Galleries

Faculty Curate Picture/Thing Exhibit in Zilkha Gallery

NEA Supports Center for the Arts’ Breaking Ground Dance Series