Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University has been awarded three grants to support Performing Arts Live, the conservatory’s premier guest artist series. The grants, totaling $15,500, were awarded by New England Foundation for the Arts and the regionally-based Marion Park Lewis Foundation in support of campus and community engagement.
Two of the three grants will support a September guest artist residency by CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater. The company’s weeklong residency in Winchester includes free community Salsa workshops, public school visits and masterclasses exploring dance styles from the Latin and African diaspora. The week culminates with performances of the company’s newest evening-length work, “joyUS, justUS.” CONTRA-TIEMPO’s residency is funded in part by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; and the Marion Park Lewis Foundation, a regionally-based foundation that provides arts education opportunities to residents of the northern Shenandoah Valley.
A March 2019 visit by award-winning American blues and soul singer Martha Redbone has also garnered support from New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theatre Project, with lead funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. During her time at Shenandoah, Redbone will present the concert version of a new musical theatre work-in-progress, “Bone Hill,” and conduct songwriting and Cherokee/Choctaw music workshops.
