ASTEP Leadership Seminar 2012

To sign up, please email Mauricio Salgado at mauricio@asteponline.org

To get updates and video of their experiences, check out the links below.

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ASTEP and SPACE on Ryder Farm will award two 5-day 4-night residencies with a goal of supporting socially conscious artistic endeavors. These endeavors include creation processes, residencies, exploration or research, exhibits, and performances. The residency will provide each artist with room, board, working space, and artistic support from Ryder Farm faculty for the 5-day 4-night stay. Applicants will be required to pay for their transportation to and from the farm.

Scholarship Requirements

• Scholarship applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have either participated as a student or teacher in one of the ASTEP programs.
• The project proposed by the applicant must directly relate to the theme: Overcoming Discrimination Through Art

Applicants must submit a cover page, project summary, and logistics

• Cover page: must include a project title, your name, email address, phone number, and the ASTEP program that you participated in.
• Project Summary: The project summary must be between 250-400 words. Please explain why you are pursuing this project, how the theme is connected, and the impact you hope the project will have on you as an artist and/or your community. (Project summaries that exceed the recommended length will not be reviewed.)
• Project Logistics: Please specify a timeline for your project from inception to completion and your budget (if you already have or plan to seek funding from outside sources, please list them as well).

Reviewing Process

• Four members of the ASTEP community have been randomly selected to review eligible applications. Panelists represent student alum, volunteer alum, and board members (ASTEP staff members will not serve on the panel).  Panelists will remain anonymous.
• Panelists may contact applicants with comments and questions. In the second phase of the review process, panelists will score the application, including any modifications.  The scholarship will be awarded to the artist with the highest score, based on the following areas:

Clarity – how clearly the idea is presented and how it connects to the theme.
Practicality – how feasible is the project as a whole based on the budget and timeline presented.
Impact – the potential for impact on the artist and the community.

Scholarship Deadline
Applications will be accepted starting on February 27, 2012. Email applications to Mauricio Salgado at mauricio@asteponline.org. The application deadline is March 2, 2012 at 11:59pm.

Award winners

• All applicants will receive a response by April 1st, including Award winners. The winners will also be announced on the ASTEP website and Facebook page.
• Winners will have to confirm their residency dates by April 15th. (SPACE on Ryder Farm suggests that the residency take place between June 1 and June 16.)
• Winners will also be required to create four blog posts about their creative process for the ASTEP website and should include photos or videos.

For questions, please contact Mauricio Salgado, Director of Domestic Programs, at mauricio@asteponline.org

We look forward to hearing from you!

– ASTEP

“One of the most inspiring people I met was “Lolly” Laura Foy, who attended both ASTEP workshops and introduced me to a dozen of her students and co-workers. She was the Region’s 2010 Irene Ryan Finalist, and is now a professor at Winona State University. She went to Grad School at the age of 48, after having fallen in love with a Street Artist in the Renaissance Circuit in her 20?s and literally “Ran away with the Circus.” Now with 2 kids, and the un-censored artistic passion of a child, she inspires her students to think out of the box and that there is no one way to live your life or hone your craft and give back. Needless to say, the student she coached was one of this year’s Irene Ryan Finalists going to DC!

And these were just a few of the many powwows that happened during the 3 days, because our goal seems to be something alot of Collegiate communities need desperately. But, that necessarily can’t be developed in house because even Professors have to focus on writing papers and research as a means of keeping their jobs by attaining tenure– so even their passion and story gets lost in the fight for survival getting limited to safe commercial art in programs also supported primarily by ticket sales instead of University Funds. So, the poverty of free thought is occurring in all aspects of the collegiate community not just the students. If all this can be discovered in 3 days in Iowa, I a cannot wait to see what Region 4 brings!”

– Nick Dalton, ASTEP Volunteer

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Video contribution from KCACTF 5 student

Vicky Stafford, Iowa State University

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Nick with JESSE SHERMAN and DEON HAIDER

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Nick with Rich Sommer (actor, MAD MEN), Amanda Duffy (actress, wig mistress to Broadway shows) and John Plumpis (actor, BARRYMORE)

The Addams Family National Tour

presents

A Benefit Cabaret for ASTEP

Featuring the Cast of The Addams Family

Hosted by
Douglas Sills (The Scarlet Pimpernel, Little Shop of Horrors)

Featuring
Brian Justin Crum (Wicked, Next to Normal)
Sara Gettelfinger (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Nine)
Blake Hammond (Billy Elliott, Hairspray)
Cortney Wolfson (Les Miserables, Legally Blonde-1st Nat’l)
and
many more…

Boston, MA— The Addams Family National Tour is proud to present A Benefit Cabaret for ASTEP at Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA on February 16th, 2012 at 11:00pm.

The cast of the Addams Family National Tour brings its talents together for a diverse evening of musical performances to support ASTEP. Raffle and silent auction will be held.

Tickets can be purchased through the Oberon website [www.cluboberon.com] and are $20 for General Admission and $15 for Students (a valid student ID will be required when picking up tickets). All seating is General Admission and first come, first serve. Once all seats are filled, standing room will be available.

All proceeds will benefit ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty).

It’s never too late to share some holiday cheer, right?

If you weren’t able to attend our 4th Annual NYC Christmas Concert on December 12, 2011, then we invite you to take a look at the highlights. It was an evening full of festive songs, memorable performances, and some of Broadway’s biggest stars who came out to support ASTEP.

Thank you to everyone who made this night a success!

Now, who’s looking forward to the 5th Annual NYC Christmas Concert in December 2012?

We’d love to share photos from the fall 2011 visual art classes, including some of their collages and individual student photography. Creativity and energy abounds!

On Thursday, attention turned from the stage to the community, when Mauricio Salgado of Artists Striving To End Poverty offered two workshops centered on making the world a better place. In the first session, “The Artist as Citizen,” 15 students and educators took part in a lively discussion in Cogswell Hall about the role of the artist in the community.

“This is a dialogue that we need to be having,” he said. “I have a perspective, and I’d like to hear the rest of yours.”

The Juilliard-trained actor opened by reciting an inspirational piece created by an ASTEP volunteer working with disadvantaged youths in Florida, where the organization does much of its work. It included rap lyrics, humor, a little profanity and the line: “No one on this planet can tell you what you’re worth.” The group was impressed. (Read the complete article here!)

Brenna Kempf, University of Wisconsin Parkside

Sean Hartman, Alvernia University

Elizabeth Gannaway, Eastern Mennonite University

Rob Lunak, Concordia University-Chicago

Ashley Frankhouser, Alvernia University

Bridget McCarthy, Hope College

Annie Walaszeck, University of Wisconsin Parkside