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The Mitchell Center is proud to announce that it is one of only six organizations nationally to be selected for a Building Bridges grant, funded in part by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters; Building Bridges: Campus Community Engagement Grants Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

This grant will fund INTERSECTIONS, a project that engages four artists, Maya Zbib, Slavs and Tatars, eL Seed, and Ibrahim Quraishi, in residence directly with the University of Houston’s diverse student population over a two year period. Led by a steering committee of artists, arts leaders, UH faculty, and Mitchell Center program staff, INTERSECTIONS aims to increase knowledge about Muslim cultures through the arts.

INTERSECTIONS focuses on the complexity and diversity within Houston’s local Muslim population, with an emphasis on the University of Houston’s own student body. Through the initiative, four invited artists from throughout the world will develop contemporary performance projects that emerge from their engagement with UH students and local residents. These new works will focus on expanding knowledge and understanding of Muslim societies. While the UH community, particularly members of the millennial population, is the target audience for the grant, new works will be presented to the broader public in the Mitchell Center’s annual COUNTERCURRENT festivals in spring 2015 and 2016. Participating artists will be announced in the coming months.

INTERSECTIONS also includes a series of public talks and curricular connections through the Mitchell Center’s Interdisciplinary Art (IART) curriculum. The initiative is led by a steering committee of faculty, artists, cultural leaders, students, and others.

Steering Committee
Anjali H Kanojia
Asad Ali Jafri
Claudia Baba
Claudia Schmuckli
Dina Alsowayel
Emran El-Badawi
Hosam Aboul-Ela
Jim Granato
Nick Flynn
Pat Jasper
Sehba Sarwar
Sixto Wagan

Zahir Latheef, Research Assistant
Yatta Zoker, Program Assistant

 

Learn more about the Building Bridges grant initiative and view the list of grantees here.