性视界传媒鈥檚听听(CVPA) announced the second round of听听award recipients this week.听The three alumni were chosen based on the artistic excellence, career impact and feasibility of their proposals and will receive financial, marketing and production support to have their projects presented by the college at a Mason venue during the 2020-21 season.
Leila Mire
Leila Mire, BFA听听鈥18, has received the award and $5,000 in commissioning support for 鈥淪cheherazade Retold,鈥 an evening-length dance piece that explores the nuanced history of appropriation in the ballet world and beyond. The work draws on Arab and Western devices to comment on various renditions of 鈥1001 Arabian Nights.鈥
Mire听is a Lebanese American performer, choreographer, educator and writer. She has performed for ClancyWorks, Silk Road Dance听Company, in freelance work and as a solo artist. Her work has been commissioned for the National Cathedral鈥檚 1 Journey Festival and performed at venues all over the听country.
Kevin Elam, BM听听鈥14, and Donovan Jones, BA听听鈥18, were awarded Young Alumni Creative Development Awards and will each receive $2,500 in commissioning support.
Kevin Elam
Elam, the 2019 All-Ireland Champion in Men鈥檚 Singing, will be using the award to record a full-length听album of Irish traditional music called 鈥Roots and Beginnings.鈥 Elam has performed at the Kennedy听Center, the National Gallery of Art, and the Library of Congress, as well as at the Virginia听Scottish Games, Acadia Trad Festival, Appaloosa Festival, and many other folk music听festivals in the D.C. area.
Donovan Jones
Jones will be directing and producing 鈥淒o Better,鈥 a music video for up-and-coming DMV recording artist Hakeem. Since graduating from Mason, Jones has worked on several major film and television productions, such as 鈥淲onder Woman 1984鈥澨(2020), 鈥淗arriet鈥澨(2019) and Showtime鈥檚 鈥淭he Good Lord Bird鈥听(2020). He is currently working on the upcoming Apple TV series 鈥淪wagger.鈥
鈥淩ound Two of our commissioning program is now out in the world doing its good work,鈥 said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. 鈥淚 am excited by what these young artists in dance, music and film have proposed to create鈥攅ach project shows insight, expertise and a deep sense of humanity鈥攁nd I can't wait to see what they bring back from their explorations.鈥
Applicants for the award were required to be a graduate of the College of Visual and Performing Arts from the class of 2009 and after, and proposals could be for an original new work in any art form, suitable for performance, exhibition or screening in a Mason venue during the 2020-21 season.
The Young Alumni Commissioning Project is made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of Linda E. Gramlich for the support of young artists, and by donors to Mason鈥檚 Giving Day, including Shugoll Research.