The first ICE Project Grant program emerged from the desire to allow projects to determine the direction of ICE. A call for proposals was announced and three projects were selected to receive grants for up to $5,000 each. The first call for proposals was purposefully fast-tracked to gain a quick sampling of project ideas that exist locally and on campus. The grants required that the lead applicant be a UGA faculty member or graduate student and the finished projects be delivered by the end of May, 2003. This approach allowed the grant program to be initiated without delay and provided for feedback to help shape the next grant cycle.
A Good Man Is Hard to Find, a chamber opera based on story by Flannery O’Connor. George Contini (Drama faculty), lead applicant. Features an original score by David Volk, a doctoral candidate in Music. The project is also supported by a faculty development grant from Piedmont College. The project will involve students from Drama and Music and is tentatively scheduled to be performed at Seney Stovall Chapel. It will also be performed at the Flannery O’Connor Conference in October 2003. The project is currently seeking a music director and two children, preferably with voice training and stage experience, to complete the cast.
Somos Pobres, Pero No Hay Pobreza Aqui (We Are Poor, but There Is No Poverty Here), a digital video cross-cultural documentary focusing on education in rural Mexico. H. James McLaughlin (Education),lead applicant. Participants include Kathryn Hammond (MFA Drama 2002), Jennifer McLung (Science Education), students and faculty in Drama and Education and recent UGA graduates. Professors McLaughlin and McLung are also supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, Rotary International Teacher Grant and a Teaching and Learning grant from UGA. The project follows the daily lives of three sisters who are teachers in a rural school in Xalapa, Mexico. The finished project will be shown simultaneously in Athens and Veracruz. The video will examine and critique the effects of dominant discourse on the perception of education in Mexico and Mexican immigrant children in US public schools. The project team will also conduct digital video workshops while in Mexico.
eco-log, a multimedia performance that explores the impact of urban sprawl on local ecology. Kate Ross (Visual Arts MFA candidate), lead applicant. The performance will be a synthesis of dance trapeze, recycled fiber installation, music, spoken word and digital video projection at Canopy Studios, non-profit arts center in Athens. It is a large-scale collaboration involving Canopy Studio, UGA students and recent graduates, and volunteers from the community. The project follows on the recent successful run of Big Box Blues at Canopy Studios, a similarly issue-driven performance that received a positive response from the community.