MIT artists are well represented in the latest round of the LEF Foundation's New England Contemporary Work Fund grants. The LEF Foundation is a private foundation that supports the creation and presentation of contemporary work in the fields of visual art, performing art, new media, literary art, film, architecture and design.
LEF's Contemporary Work Fund recently awarded 31 grants totaling $303,000 to support a wide range of artists, individuals and projects in New England.
Associate Professor Wendy Jacob of architecture was awarded funds to support "Traversals," a series of live walks in which performers traverse spaces on tightropes in Somerville, Mass., and Reykjavik, Iceland, to suggest possibilities for multiple, seamless border crossings.
Andrea Sutton, program coordinator of the Graduate Consortium of Women Studies, received funds to support the National Bitter Melon Council, a social performance project that uses food promotion to inspire artistic dialogue.
Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music Evan Ziporyn will benefit from an award indirectly. Real Time Opera received an award to support a new dance opera, "A House in Bali," based on the memoirs of Canadian composer Colin McPhee with music composed by Ziporyn and the libretto by Paul Schick.
Ziporyn's efforts with Ensemble Robot, led by alumna Christine Southworth, have also been recognized by the LEF, which presented funding for Ensemble Robot to build new robots and commission a new work by Ziporyn.
MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies received funding to support the Resident Artist Program featuring performance/installation artist Michael Smith and the art/design collective Center for Urban Pedagogy.
And, the List Visual Arts Center received funding to support the exhibition "Sensorium," which showcases works by nine artists exploring the impact of new technologies on human senses.
