Faculty Grants
CAST awarded four grants of $2,000 each for research and creative projects related to the minor to Brandeis faculty members for work undertaken between December 2014 and August 2015.
The stipends were designed to support creative and scholarly inquiry into theory and practice at the nexus of arts, culture and social change; enhance teaching and advising related to the educational objectives of the minor; and animate an interdisciplinary conversation about creativity, social justice and peacebuilding through the arts.
Grant recipients shared their work with the Brandeis community in the fall of 2015.
Read the original call for proposals.
Inaugural Recipients
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"The Birdsong Project"
Professor of the Practice of Music Judith Eissenberg collaborated with Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Dan Perlman, students, a composer and guest artists to produce a new musical work incorporating the songs of birds at risk of extinction.
"Musicians and scientists will be working together to amplify the voices of our fellow non-human beings in an effort to forge a more positive relationship between humans, animals, and the environment," said Eissenberg.
"My American Girls"
Lecturer in Hispanic Studies Azlin Perdomo created an interactive art website that engaged students in the lives of five undocumented women she interviewed.
"Visually and structurally, it will closely resemble the American Girl website to invite the viewer to compare and confront how these immigrant women, not legally recognized as citizens, are indeed Americans," said Perdomo.
"Choreographing the Disabled Body: Gender, Performance, and Zionism in the work of Tamar Borer"
Prof. Ilana Szobel, the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Assistant Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature, engaged students in her research into the work of prominent Israeli artist Tamar Borer. Despite a car accident that left her paralyzed in both legs, Borer continues to dance, create, teach and perform.
"The project addresses Tamar Borer’s art in relation to Israeli dance and culture in order to explore control and fragility, as well as sexuality, along with femininity and sexual vulnerability," said Szobel. "Additionally, this study contextualizes Borer’s work within its larger Israeli political settings."
Faculty grants are made possible by a generous contribution from Elaine Reuben '63.