2006 Gallatin Newington-Cropsey Foundation Fellows Awarded
In 2005 the Gallatin Interdisciplinary Arts Program, in conjunction with the Newington-Cropsey Foundation Academy of Art, created a new fellowship for graduate-level students at the Gallatin School. The purpose of the Gallatin Newington-Cropsey Foundation Fellowship Program is to help graduate students advance towards the completion of their master’s thesis projects.
To determine the 2006 fellows, faculty members were asked to submit nominations of students whose concentrations are in the areas of the Performing Arts, the Creative Arts, Shakespearean Studies, the Classics, or Art History. From the nominations, five outstanding Gallatin graduate students and one undergraduate student were chosen to receive fellowships:
Heather Arnson is studying Italian and theatrical studies by looking at Italy’s political and social history, with a particular emphasis on directing, theory, gender, and the structure of text. Arnson received her undergraduate degree from UCLA and has studied theatre and Italian language in Verona .
Melissa Boswell’s work combines arts administration, education, and public service. She graduated with honors from the theatre program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is cofounder of the Kiva Theatre Company, a nonprofit based in New York City.
Adam Hocke's studies focus on leadership and social justice, and his passion is to translate his artistic sensibilities into a world beyond the theatre. An honors graduate from the dramatic writing department at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he recently spent time in South Africa, where he began the research for his master's thesis on Nelson Mandela.
Keith Byron Kirk’s thesis is a study of representations of cultural memory in African American dramatics texts, which he is using as a lens for examining the racial and gender politics of the early twentieth century. Kirk graduated from Empire State College with a concentration in theatre and is an accomplished playwright, singer, and actor who has appeared on television and Broadway.
Elyssa Ohiso is exploring art, culture, technology, and the ways in which art influences culture, with an emphasis on the relationship between art, politics, and activism. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Queens College with a major in studio art, and she has been a visual arts instructor at the Hebrew Culture Center and Conservatory and the art director of Ideas, Inc.
Christine McDermott is an extremely accomplished Gallatin undergraduate student interested in art history, business, and finance. A painter, McDermott is deeply involved in museum work and has an ongoing internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she has been praised for doing work that is on par with that of the graduate school level or beyond. She is also a member of the prestigious Albert Gallatin Scholars Program, and was chosen to receive the fellowship because her scholarship and curatorial endeavors were considered to be highly commendable and in keeping with the Foundation's vision.
On October 22, 2006 the Newington-Cropsey Foundation Academy of Art hosted a luncheon at their site in Hastings-on-Hudson to confer the awards. Gallatin's Director of Enrollment Fran Levin and Gallatin Professors Michael Dinwiddie, Patricia Lennox, Antonio Rutigliano and Greg Wyatt were in attendance and participated in the award presentations.
Fellows will attend the Academy of Art at the Newington-Cropsey Foundation to utilize the research library, grounds, and facilities. Throughout the 2006-2007 academic year they will each receive a monthly stipend of $500 to advance their research. Fellows also participate in seminars throughout the year to discuss research topics, and attend an annual trip to Washington , D.C. to visit The Folger Library, the Library of Congress, The National Gallery Archives, and The Harvard Library of Hellenistic Studies. In addition, Gallatin Newington-Cropsey Foundation Fellowship Program Coordinator Josephine De Caro and Gallatin Professors Antonio Rutigliano, Laurin Raiken, and Michael Dinwiddie are available to fellows for advisement and forums.