ANNOUNCING 2023-2024 INNOVATION GRANTS FOR FACULTY AND STUDENTS
The Office of Entrepreneurship & Career Development is thrilled to announce the 2nd round of innovation grants that are being made available to Jacobs School of Music students and faculty! Approximately four student awards of up to $2,000 are available and a single faculty award of up to $6,000 will be granted.
At a time in which the performing arts are expanding in new and unimagined directions, the grants can be used to support a project designed to be completed by June 30, 2024. Collaborative projects that include creatives from departments across the IU Bloomington campus and/or projects that are embedded in community are strongly encouraged. The grants are generously supported by donors of the Jacobs School of Music.
MORE INFORMATION: Student Grant Information Page | Faculty Grant Information Page. Both have links to a form that can be used to apply for funding.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2022 WINNERS!
FACULTY GRANT
- Amanda Draper: The MusiColAbility Project: IU Collaborative Learning Project
STUDENT GRANTS
- Eliana Barwinski: The Embodiment of African American Song
- Aislin Carpenter: Conserve Bloomington
- Michael Klinberg: Music in Games Society Video Music Concert
- Yabing Lyu: MOOD+
THE PROJECTS
The MusiColAbility Project: IU Collaborative Learning Project
Establishing a community outreach program that fosterers collaborative music learning and creative music making between IU students and individuals with disabilities.
“I am so grateful to the committee and Dean Bush for their investment in a project that I believe will have value for the students of IU and make a significant impact on musicians with disabilities in our community.” – Amanda Draper
Amanda R. Draper is an Assistant Professor of Music Education and the 2022-2023 Gretsch Fellow in Children’s Music with the Fred Rogers Institute. Her academic interests include investigating musical experiences for diverse learners with a focus on music and autism research, Disability Studies in music, and teacher preparation for special music education. Dr. Draper has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally and has articles published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, and Music Educators Journal. She previously taught elementary and middle school general music, most recently for Chicago Public Schools.
The Embodiment of African American Song
This collaborative, cross-disciplinary performance of Margaret Bonds’ Three Dream Portraits and other music by black composers, with choreography and poetry recitation by PhD students of the Neal-Marshall Center.
“I am incredibly grateful and humbled to be chosen as a Student Innovation Grant Award recipient. The embodiment of African American Song has been a project of mine for several years, and I could not have done this without the support of Baba Stafford C. Berry Jr. and students of the African American Dance Company here at IU.” – Eliana Barwinski
Eliana Barwinski is currently a second-year Doctoral student in Voice, minoring in Music Education and Historical Performance, and holds degrees from the University of Michigan. In addition to opera, research interests include early and sacred music, Anglican choral music, and art songs from underrepresented cultures. Barwinski’s teachers and mentors, Dr. Louise Toppin, Dr. Eugene Rogers, and Dr. Allan Armstrong, have been instrumental in supporting her research efforts and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work. This mentorship also reflects in her positions as Manager for IU’s African American Dance Company and Reimagining Opera for Kids.
Conserve Bloomington
Conserve Bloomington is a community-integrated environmental education concert program. Using creative resources from the Jacobs School of Music and scientific expertise from IU’s biology/ecology department, the project aims to celebrate the natural world through the commissioning and performance of new music that is inspired by local environmental settings.
“Conserve Bloomington began as a modest response to the overwhelming sense of climate doom that many of us face on a daily basis. This grant will help maximize the local impact of the initiative, and will help me ensure that all participants are fairly compensated for their efforts. I feel so honored to have been given the opportunity to bring this project to fruition, and I sincerely hope it will encourage people to engage with their natural and musical surroundings.” – Aislin Carpenter
Aislin Carpenter is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying trumpet performance with John Rommel. Here at IU, she has performed with a variety of ensembles including the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and her beloved quintet, the Limestone Brass. She has received orchestral fellowships at the Music Academy of the West and the Round Top Festival Institute, and was named a semifinalist in last year’s National Trumpet Competition. Aislin is also a passionate administrator – she serves as the Communications Specialist for the OECD, performs engagement work for IU’s Classical Connections, and pursues additional studies in arts management through the O’Neill School.
Music in Games Society Video Music Concert
The Music in Games Society Video Game Music Concert is designed to create an interdisciplinary platform for students and faculty of IU, as well as Bloomington community members. This project will involve collaboration between, but not limited to, the composition, visual media scoring, and performing departments at Jacobs, as well as with communities engaging in video game music participatory culture across Bloomington.
“This exciting project will gather chamber ensembles and composers to create a concert experience centered on the appreciation and championing of video game music, an artform which has captivated many and will assuredly captivate many more who experience it!” – Michael Klinberg
Michael Klinberg has completed a BM in Violin Performance at Indiana University, where he studied with Mimi Zweig, and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Music Education at Indiana University. He holds a diverse career as a classical violinist, researcher, and educator. As a pedagogue, he has been teaching at the IU String Academy for four years, and in August 2020 he established his own private violin studio as a faculty member of the program. During this time he has researched the convergences between video games and the classical space, and in 2022 he founded the Music in Games Society at Indiana University, where he currently holds the office of President.
MOOD+
A project inspired by Asian pop music from the last century. The taste and preference of songs at that time were similar in Asian countries. By picking ten well-known songs through decades, a group of writers and musicians will work together to write English version of lyrics for these melodies. A group of musicians will adapted, rehearse, and perform the repertoire in community performances.
“MOOD+” is a project based on performing 80-00s popular songs among in Asia, arrangements made by student composers and writers at IU, to explore the possibilities of popularizing disparate genres of music within a different cultural setting. MOOD+ will host several seminars, public performances, and a final concert.” – Yabing Lyu
Yabing Lyu is a freshman studying piano performance at the Jacobs School of Music. From Xinjiang, China, her interests involve a number of artistic fields, including the visual arts. She has worked at the National Museum of China and, at IU she is pursuing studies in both advertising and the music industry. Yabing Lyu’s artistic life is deeply influenced by Sheena Ringo and Ryuichi Sakamoto.