Residency in Applied Arts
The only program of its kind in the country, the three-month Residency in Applied Arts was designed to encourage artists to apply their talents to working with older adults. This pioneering new initiative will link established artists from all disciplines to the rapidly growing field of elder care. Projects address the quality of life of people with dementia and raise public awareness about their capacities. The residency carries a $20,000 stipend, with additional funds for housing, travel, and supplies.
The Residency in Applied Arts is part of CAC's larger Creativity and Culture Initiative, the goals of which are to increase thoughtful, diverse representations of aging and to increase the number of applied arts projects geared toward older adults. The arts and humanities have been shown to expand communication and improve the quality of life for people with dementia and those who care for them. They also enable older adults to develop a sense of mastery and control, to build skills, and to participate in culture at large.
The Residency in Applied Arts is housed at the Center on Age & Community in partnership with the Peck School of the Arts at UWM. External support is provided by the Helen Bader Foundation and the Brookdale Foundation. Each year, a review panel is assembled to assess the applications for their artistic excellence, committment to the topic, and the quality of their proposed project.
2009 Artist in Residence
Laura Jacqmin's plays have been produced and developed with Ars Nova, Victory Gardens Theater, 2econd Stage Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Northlight Theatre, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, Culture Project, the 24 Hour Plays Off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater, and the inaugural NNPN University Playwrights Workshop at Stanford University, among others. Jacqmin is the recipient of the 2008 Wasserstein Prize for emerging female playwrights, and two of her plays have won Aurora Theatre Company's Global Age Project, in 2007 and 2009. She was a finalist for the 2009 Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship and the 2008 Princess Grace Award. Jacqmin has received grants and commissions from the Foundation for Jewish Culture, Ohio University, Victory Gardens Theater, Collaboraction, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Her full-length plays include AND WHEN WE AWOKE THERE WAS LIGHT AND LIGHT, SKI DUBAI, HOLIDAY GIRL, LOOK WE ARE BREATHING, ALBERTA/EINSTEIN, PLUTO WAS A PLANET, THE REVISIONISTS, and 10 VIRGINS. Some of these plays (and a few others) have been published by Smith & Kraus and Playscripts, Inc. She has taught playwriting at Ohio University, the Center on Halsted, 826CHI, the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, and Chicago Dramatists, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at Carthage College. From 2007 to 2008, she was a contributing writer for The Onion A.V. Club and Decider.com. She is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, a founding ensemble member of the New York-based At Play Productions, and a member of the Old Vic New Voices: New York network. She lives and works in Chicago.
THE PROJECT:
For the three months I'll be in residence at the Center on Age and Community, I'll conduct writing workshops and interviews with those suffering from dementia and their caregivers, using the material I gather to write a new, full-length play. I'm particularly excited to shape a story focused on aging, tying in my own experiences with my grandfather's dementia. I'm also interested in exploring the differences between daily ritual and memory. Ideally, the play will serve both as a touring production, as well as something suitable for a full-scale regional theater production.
2008 Artist in Residence
David Greenberger has been awarded the CAC Residency in Applied Art for 2008. His first job after graduating with a BFA in painting was as an activity director at a Boston nursing home in 1979. Since then, Greenberger has been dedicated to not just interviewing, but really talking with older people. He shares his conversations in myriad ways, including cds, radio pieces, books, graphic novels, newsletters, and live performances. For his residency, Greenberger will focus on interviewing people with memory loss in Milwaukee. He will work with a local composer/musician to set those interviews to music.
If you are interested in having Greenberger visit your Milwaukee-area facility, please contact Lori at woodburn@uwm.edu.
For more on Greenberger's work, see www.duplexplanet.com
2007 Artist in Residence
The 2007 recipient of the Residency in Applied Arts was Mr. Wing Young Huie, a Minneapolis-based photographer with more than 30 years of experience. He has photographed thousands of people from a wide variety of ethnic, cultural, spiritual, and socioeconomic backgrounds. He is perhaps best known for his project, "Lake Street USA," which documented fifteen neighborhoods over the course of four years - and resulted in a six-mile communal gallery containing 675 photographs.
Huie first became interested in elder care through the experiences of his father - who suffered from dementia at the end of his life. For his Residency in Applied Arts project, Huie photographed and interviewed people with dementia and those who care for them, with a particular focus on people from diverse backgrounds. Huie also provided cameras to people with memory loss in two adult day programs in Milwaukee. CAC is working with Huie to develop a guide for how to use photography with people with memory loss. Huie plans an exhibit in the fall of 2007 at Minneapolis' InterMedia Arts. He continues to photograph the expierence of memory loss and is working toward a multi-city, museum exhibit of his work.
For more information, see www.wingyounghuie.com
