Among the 38 innovative and experimental performing artists and groups recently awarded grants of between $10,000 and $25,000 by the Rockefeller Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund are many designers in the dance, multimedia, and theatre fields.
This year's winners include the Wooster Group in New York, for a theatrical collaboration with a Dutch theatre company; the Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin, TX, for the creation of a video opera; Duke University in North Carolina for a dance-opera based on an East African folk tale; and Danspace Project in New York, for two new dance works created in a cultural exchange between Argentine and US artists.
Designers participating in "winning" productions include: Costume designer Dori Quan, who is collaborating with playwright Lisa Loomer, composer Michael Abels, photographer Dauna Whitehead, and director Bill Rauch on a multilingual theatre work at Cornerstone Theatre Company in LA; visual projection artist Kryzystof Wodiczko, who will create a site-specific production titled Picture Red Hook in Brooklyn, with choreographer/ director Joanna Haigood and composer Lauren Weinger, for Dancing in the Streets of New York; visual designer Mimi Goese, who will create a multidisciplinary dance work with composer/performer Hahn Rowe, photographer Maria Anguera de Sojo, and Margarita Guergue for New York-based The Field; costume designer Liz Prince, who will work with puppet artist Basil Twist, set designer Zeke Leonard, and choreographer Mark Dandy on a piece entitled Bible Stories, a dance/drama/musical sponsored by the Foundation for Independent Artists in New York; theatre artist Meredith Monk and visual artist Ann Hamilton, who will present Planetary Memories, a multimedia theatre work sponsored by the House Foundation of New York; production designer Kevin Cunningham, stage and video director Rick Mordecon, and director/dramaturg Victor Weinstock, who will collaborate on Automatic Earth, another multimedia theatre work; Tom Bonauro, who will work with actress Olympia Dukakis and choreographers Margaret Jenkins and Ellie Klopp on Time After, a theatre-dance work presented by the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company of San Francisco; and designer Laurie Olinder, who will work on a Ridge Theatre (New York) production based on the art and writings of Henry Darger with playwright Mac Wellman, composer Scott Johnson, filmmaker Bill Morrison, and director Bob McGrath.
Since 1988, the MAP program has provided private support for artists "attempting to grapple with issues of contemporary life through the creations of live performances of new work," according to a press release. Including this year's winners, 357 artists and organizations have received support to date from the MAP program.
Past MAP grant winners include the Dance Theatre Workshop, the Annenberg Center, the Redwood Cultural Work, the Japanese-American Cultural Arts Center, the Circle Repertory Theatre Company, and the Walker Arts Center. The MAP Fund has also supported the works of Meredith Monk, Ping Chong, Donald Byrd, Robbie McCauley, June Watanabe, and Bill T. Jones.