Center for the Arts

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…

(more…)

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…

On Oct. 24, the Dance Department and Center for the Arts present "To Not Forget Crimea: Uncertain Quiet of Indigenous Crimean Tatars," a panel discussion and the Fall Faculty Dance Concert by Associate Professor of Dance Katja Kolcio. While international media and political leaders are ignoring the situation in Crimea, this event draws public attention to the widespread violation of the Tatars' human rights and the degree to which the Russian Occupation has forced them out of their ancestral homeland. The evening will begin with a free panel discussion, "Indigenous Ukrainian Perspectives of Crimea Post Russian-Invasion," from 6 to…

(more…)

(more…)

"A World of Dreams—New Landscape Paintings" by Professor of Art Tula Telfair will be on exhibit through Dec. 7 at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. "A World of Dreams" includes new large-scale paintings in which Telfair presents monumental landscapes and epic-scale vistas that are simultaneously awe-inspiring and intimate. This is her second exhibition in the Zilkha Gallery. Read more about the exhibit here. The exhibit's opening reception was held Sept. 16 at the gallery. (Photos by Dat Vu '15) (more…)

It was called "the war to end all wars." Causing the downfall of three major empires, and eclipsing all previous wars in its destruction, World War I changed the course of global history. And decades before television and sophisticated print advertising, it changed the way conflict was marketed to the American people. A new exhibit, Call to Action: American Posters in World War I, at the Davison Art Center, displays dramatic posters that recruited soldiers, celebrated shipbuilding, called women for war work and even urged homemakers to prepare alternative foods in support of the war effort. "The best illustrators of the day were…

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded Wesleyan's Center for the Arts a $750,000 grant to support the Creative Campus Initiative and the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance. Half a million dollars of the $750,000 grant will be matched by $1 million to be raised to endow continued cross-disciplinary Creative Campus activities. With support from Wesleyan alumni, the fundraising campaign to meet this challenge is being launched on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the CFA during the 2013-14 season. "This terrific grant is a recognition of the critical role the arts play at Wesleyan," said President Michael S. Roth.…

The Center for the Arts has received a grant of $200,000 to support the Muslim Women Voices Project during its 2014-2015 season. The project, part of the Creative Campus initiative, will present theater, music and dance performances by women from nine different countries. The award, announced Jan. 10, is from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, a national service and advocacy group. APAP distributes the grants (Wesleyan’s CFA is one of six organizations chosen this year), which are funded through the Building Bridges program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. Building Bridges…

A $10,000 grant from the state of Connecticut will support local partnerships or “placemaking” by Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts in 2014. The grant, announced this week, will be used to support CFA performances in February and March. The Arts Leadership grant is one of 104 to organizations and individuals around the state as part of the Arts Catalyze Placemaking program of the state’s department of economic and community development. The program was created to invest in the state's arts-based cultural activities, advancing the attractiveness and competitiveness of Connecticut communities. "Supporting the arts in our community is an important part…

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

Crimea, Tatar Rights Explored at Panel Discussion, Multimedia Performance

Music of South India Performed at Wesleyan’s Navaratri Festival

Miranda ’02 Speaks on the Origins of In the Heights at CFA

Telfair’s Paintings Celebrated at Zilkha Gallery

WW I Posters Shine at Davison Art Center Exhibit

Mellon Grant to Support Creative Campus, Institute for Curatorial Practice

CFA Receives Funding for Muslim Women Voices Project

CFA Receives Grant to Support Community Partnerships