Awards honor creativity through music, dance, more

A dance work exploring the idea of liberty. A recording of new music for jazz quintet and string orchestra. A multi-channel, multi-screen video artwork examining the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

These are just a few projects recently awarded funding through the UW–Madison Awards in the Creative Arts.

Each year, the Division of the Arts provides over $84,000 in research support to faculty, staff and students in the arts. Five awards are offered annually and one award bi-annually. An awards committee then selects the recipients from a varied pool of proposals.

The grants are divided into three categories: Arts Faculty Research, Arts Faculty and Staff Outreach and Undergraduate and Graduate Student Achievement in the Arts. Awards were granted to individuals from the School of Education, the School of Human Ecology and the College of Letters & Science.

“The artistic research taking place on this campus is innovative and capable of resonating on both intellectual and emotional levels,” says Mark Hetzler, chair of the 2019 awards committee and professor of trombone. “Our evaluation and deliberation elicited conversations about our roles as artists, researchers, educators and members of the Madison community and greater society as a whole.”

For Anna Siampani, a doctor of musical arts student in piano performance and pedagogy, the award “will allow me to continue my performance research with intellectual rigor and depth.” She will use the David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts to record the solo piano works of Manolis Kalomiris, who is well-revered for his contributions to modern Greek music. Siampani’s doctoral lecture and recital will take place in April 2019.

“The award represents an acknowledgement that art enriches communities within—and beyond — the University system.” said Scott McKenna Campbell, Ph.D. student in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies and recipient of a Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Student Award in the Creative Arts.

While some awards support future projects, others are given based on an individual’s contributions to their field. Shiloah Coley, a junior majoring in journalism with certificates in art and African-American studies, received a Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Student Award in the Creative Arts for her work in arts research and education.

Last spring, Coley received a joint internship with the Madison Children’s Museum and Play Africa. She launched a new program called “This Is How We Do It,” an international cultural art exchange where children made art about their daily lives by responding to prompts like: “This is what I wear to school,” “This is where I live,” “This is my favorite toy,” and “This is who I live with.”

An exhibition to celebrate the art created is currently in the works at the Madison Children’s Museum. Coley says, “It’s really an honor to receive this award for my work in art programming over the course of this past year. Receiving this recognition gives me more confidence as I go on to pursue graduate studies in art research.”

The awardees will be honored at a reception on Tuesday, May 7, 2019.

Here’s the full list of 2019 Creative Arts Award recipients:

• Creative Arts Award
  Stephen Hilyard, Professor, Art Department
• Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts
  Peggy Choy, Associate Professor, Dance Department
  Johannes Wallmann, Associate Professor, Mead Witter School of Music
• Edna Wiechers Arts in Wisconsin Award
  Liz Sexe, Lecturer, Dance Department
• Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts
  Carolyn Kallenborn, Associate Professor, Design Studies Department
• David and Edith Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts
  Anna Siampani, Mead Witter School of Music
• Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Student Award in the Creative Arts
  Scott Campbell, Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies, graduate student
  Shiloah Coley, Art Department, undergraduate student