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Contacts: Sally Corbett, sacorbe@emory.edu, 404-727-6678
Jessica Moore, jkmoore@emory.edu, 404-727-1687
For more information, visuals, or to arrange an interview, please email creativity@emory.edu.
Grants and Future of Evolution Artist Commissions to Bolster Collaboration and Creation
For immediate release: May 30, 2008
Contact: Sally Corbett, Director of Communications & Marketing, Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts, 404.727.6678, sacorbe@emory.edu
In recognition of the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s ground-breaking publication, “On the Origin of Species,” nationally-renowned artists and scientists will gather at Emory for a major interdisciplinary symposium on the future of evolution on October 23-24, 2008. The new Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts (CCA) has invited leading choreographers, sculptors, composers and playwrights to attend the conference through the auspices of the Center’s Future of Evolution Artist Commissioning Program (http://www.emory.edu/evolution). Each artist will then return to Atlanta in February of 2009 to publicly share new work inspired by the themes and ideas addressed in the October symposium.
The “Future of Evolution” commissions are just one example of the programs launched by the CCA in February 2008 meant to stimulate artistic production and discourse on the Emory campus and beyond. A similar Evolution Project Grant program and a Center for Creativity & Arts general project grant were established to support faculty, staff and student cultural endeavors outside of regular academic work.
Commissioned artists and grant recipients for the 2008 summer and fall semesters will be announced in early June. Major funding for the Future of Evolution Commissions and Project Grants is provided by the Emory University Creativity & Arts Initiative and the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts. Grant details follow.
Project Grants
Departments, students, student groups, faculty and staff may apply for support for creative projects that are original in nature. All are encouraged to use the opportunities to experiment and to cultivate new forms of artistic work in a single discipline or a mixture of art forms. Grants are awarded three times annually for projects that have the potential to engage a wide audience. The deadline for Spring 2009 grants is September 26, 2008.
Future of Evolution Symposium Artist Commissions & Project Grants
In anticipation of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on February 12, 2009, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of Darwin's “On the Origin of Species” in 2009, the Computational and Life Sciences (www.cls.emory.edu) Initiative of Emory University hosts a major interdisciplinary symposium on the future of evolution on October 23-24, 2008. CCA-commissioned performing, literary and visual artists will participate in the symposium which features speakers Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino Professor Emeritus, Harvard University; Olivia Judson, evolutionary biologist, award-winning author and New York Times contributor and online columnist; Emory’s own Frans de Waal, Candler Professor, Emory University and Yerkes National Primate Research Center; along with other distinguished scientists. The symposium will explore the future of evolution as a theory and a process. With leading experts in the field, we will explore such issues as how our evolutionary inheritance affects our emotions, values, and mental make-up; how the interaction between genes and environment affects our health; and how research into the origins of life is providing us with new knowledge and tools to engineer evolutionary processes to the point of enhancing existing life forms and possibly fabricating new ones. These themes will provide ideas for participating artists to explore in developing new work. In February 2009, Emory and non-Emory commissioned artists will take part in a new works festival featuring the commissioned work.
To find out more about CCA grants and new works festival, please email creativity@emory.edu.
