OFA Grants: The Wackier The Better Wacky

"The wackier the better," Myra Mayman laughs, as she describes the types of creative endeavors that received grants this year from the Harvard Council on the Arts. Mayman, director of the Office for the Arts at Harvard and Radcliffe (OFA), is one of 10 members of the standing committee that plans to dispense over $20,000, in grants ranging from $50 to $1,000, to various creative and innovative student projects this year. This fall the council has awarded a total of $7,295 in support of 21 "wacky" under graduate art projects. The remainder of the $20,000 will be awarded for spring projects, with an additional $5,000 for similar projects during the Arts First festival.

Mayman explains that the grant program was established by the OFA in 1974 with "the purpose of integrating creative thinking into undergraduate education." It is supported in part by Harvard's main operating budget, and in part through private endowments. Grants are made for projects in the areas of dance, literature, multi-disciplinary projects, music, theater, traditional/cultural arts and visual arts.

According to Mayman, the committee looks for two key elements in the creative proposals. First, "we encourage students to try things that they otherwise may not." That means that "experimental" is the main criterion; as Mayman says, "You can always find ticket buyers for and produce a typical 'Guys and Dolls' production, but it is unusual and very hard to find support for the projects that we fund." The second important element is that the project must be "of educational benefit to a range of undergraduates--the project [should] have a ripple effect among undergraduates."

"Sonic Jigsaw," as the name might suggest, is just the type of adventurous project the OFA loves to fund; it received one of the largest grants, $500. Coordinated by the student group EMBRYO (Experimental Music BRing Your Own)," Sonic Jigsaw" is an interactive exhibit in which participants will become "noise artists," as they play with various experimental disguised sounds. People will be able to select sections of sound and modulate those sounds, while they move the noise from chaos to one individual harmony.

This complicated project is coordinated by Sasha Costanza-Chock '98, who explains that participants will be given a series of recorded sounds, created by a team of five student artists. Each "piece" will begin with a common sound, such as applause, and then bury that sound under various electronic mutations with the help of a surge machine. The original sound will then slowly, over the course of the composition, be revealed and become identifiable. A minimum of five such pieces will be offered in the exhibit, and participants will be able to freeze sections of these individual compositions and then combine any number of them in order to create a sound of their own. Costanza-Chock explains, "It is all about collage, taking pieces from different places and then putting them together in different ways."

These self-described "experimental noise artists" will be modulating the various sounds with the surge machine and various CD players in the electronic studio in Paine Hall. They are looking for students who are interested in experimental noise to join them: "There are just a lot of amazing sounds out there that we just ignore."

A $300 grant was also awarded to The Cellar Door for its effort to produce a new and completely untraditional outlet for student art being created at Harvard. This fall they plan to print the third issue of the square-shaped publication, as well as launch an updated, improved version of their Web site. The theme for this fall is "glass, nails, and other hazards," which Maika Pollack '98 describes as an "accessible theme that will help to break down the traditional formats of publications."

As for launching the Web site, Pollack sighs, "It's a lot of work with a staff of only 12. But we're excited, because there is just no other outlet for this kind of stuff at Harvard." "This kind of stuff" refers to the recent mass of new media products and projects that are being generated for the Web, such as animated shorts and 3-D images. Pollack explains, "There are just so many things out there that are not meant for a magazine format. The Web is a whole new and exciting area." The Cellar Door plans to launch its site and publish at the end of the semester.

So why the name? Well, Edgar Allan Poe said that those were the two most exciting words in the English language--and, after all, their offices are in the basement of the Advocate.

The most important grant awarded, hands down, was the $700 given to Harvard Radcliffe Television (HRTV), which will insure the continuation of the spellbinding, deep and meaningful series "Ivory Tower"--what would Harvard undergraduate life be without the soap opera? But the money will also allow HRTV to produce a variety of other shows, including "Crimson Edition" (a news show), "Survey Says" (a quiz show on Harvard lore), "The Common Room" (a comedy talk-show, like a cross between "Saturday Night Live" and "The Late Show"), "Great Performances" (a rebroadcast of various student performances) and "Yard Tales" (animated cartoons).

The majority of students are probably not familiar with these shows, as screenings seem to be rare and hard to catch. In addition, none of them have a particularly large following or super reputation. But, financial manager Alexander Gildengers '97 explains, "These shows will get better. We just got a new studio and new digital video cameras which will improve the image quality of all of the shows."

As for plot tips, Gildengers laughs hesitantly. "Well, not all of the scripts are complete, but there is definitely going to be sex involved and a few new twists; new twists on steamy stuff, that is!"

Although the grant helps to insure the continuation of all six shows, the majority of the money is being allocated to buy software for the production of "Yard Tales," and for new multi-media Web ventures. HRTV plans to launch a Web site that would include short clips from student-created videos. Gildengers explains that often students miss other student work precisely because exhibits are short and hard to find. He hopes that making them accessible on-line would help give the student artists exposure. In addition to student clips, HRTV would like to include clips from the Ig Nobel awards, which are to be presented this weekend.

Other student projects will be up and around throughout the year-so be on the look-out. And if you're on the look-out for a source of funds, keep in mind Mayman's final words: "We want students to use this grant money. This type of thing is very hard to find in the real world--and applying is great practice for the future. Even if your project is not yet complete, apply."

The deadline for applications for spring projects is October 13. Arts First grant proposals will be due February 6. Finally, a chance for Harvard students to get paid for being wacky.