Yale College Arts will now offer a new grant to fund undergraduate artists pursuing artistic projects that celebrate the 50th anniversary of the matriculation of women in Yale College and the 150th anniversary of the first women students at the University, who studied at the Yale School of Art.

Kathryn Krier, the assistant dean for the arts and director of production at Yale College, announced the new Women at Yale Arts Grants in a University-wide email Thursday, Aug. 29. She noted that the idea for the Women at Yale Arts Grants was finalized early this fall.

“I was inspired to offer these grants after being involved in something similar during the Shakespeare at Yale festival in the spring of 2012,” Krier said. “That too was a campus wide festival bringing together offerings from every part of the University and beyond. That year we used grants like these to inspire undergraduates to engage with the festival. The resultant body of work included some of the most thoughtful and creative student work that I had seen.”

Krier added that she looks forward to “being wowed” by the ideas that students come up with this year. Recommended project proposals include student-written plays, musical compositions, dance performances, visual art, poetry or multimedia presentations.

In order to qualify for a Women at Yale Arts Grant, projects must be produced by Yale College students. The project must be inspired by or affiliated with the Women at Yale celebration and should culminate in a performance or exhibition that is free and open to the public during the 2019–2020 academic year.

The grants, which range from $250 to $1000, are intended to supplement Creative and Performing Arts (CPA) funding. CPA awards are administered by the Council of Heads of College and support campus art projects in each of the residential colleges. Any student is eligible to apply for CPA funding after consulting with their head of college. The CPA funding application deadline for fall 2019 was Monday, Sept. 2. Another opportunity to apply for CPA funding will occur in the spring semester.

Ultimately, the art projects proposed must engage with the Women at Yale celebration by engaging with the themes and histories brought about by the anniversaries. Linda Lorimer, a former vice president of Yale who is also one of two co-chairs of this programming, noted that the grant program excites her because it allows “undergraduates the freedom to interpret how to animate the anniversary and how to represent women through the arts.”

“It is so exciting that Yale College and every professional school and museum are sponsoring projects and mounting events that focus on women this year,” Lorimer said. “Some are bringing history, maybe we should say her-story, to life; others are celebrating women’s accomplishments; and others are focusing on the unfinished agenda for women in society.”

Students must apply for funding via a web form, which can be found in the Yale College Arts announcement email.

Rianna Turner | rianna.turner@yale.edu