40TH ANNUAL CREATIVITY AWARDS
SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
Front Cover Image:
Emerge, Wire Sculpture, 2021, Michael Simpson, Art + Design Creativity Award
GREETINGS FROM THE CENTER FOR CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS! Welcome! The Creativity Awards is a long annual tradition at Salem State, recognizing the achievements of ten students in art + design, creative writing, dance, music, and theatre. In honoring their achievements, we celebrate the next generation of artists and acknowledge the value of the arts in education, and in our lives. While this event celebrates these ten extraordinary students, we are presenting this event virtually versus our usual live celebration. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges to making art, beyond the absence of our live audience. As the arts faculty, staff and students began to determine what was feasible and safe to do during the 2020-2021 academic year, it became clear that everyone had adopted the word “how” as their mantra. How do we remove an obstacle? How do we do something differently? How do we perform in non-traditional spaces, including all the virtual ones? How do we work together and apart at the same time? Moreover, how do we move our students’ education and artistic development forward? The answers to those questions was an academic year filled with art! Whether Zoomed, Webinared, livestreamed, filmed or presented live outside in the bitter cold, the resilience of our students, faculty and staff in these unique circumstances was nothing short of extraordinary. Bravo to all for demonstrating that art will find a way! Now, sit back and enjoy the work of the 2021 Creativity Award honorees. See you in person for the 2022 edition of this event! Sincerely,
Karen Gahagan Director Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Special Recognition Essex County Community Foundation Creative County Initiative The Salem State arts faculty and the Center for Creative and Performing Arts are pleased to recognize the work of the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF) for its support of artists during the COVID-19 Pandemic, as well as its Creative County Initiative (CCI). In spring 2019, ECCF established the Essex County Artist Fund, in collaboration with administrative partner Rocky Neck Art Colony, Inc. in response to the immediate and everyday needs of artists across the county and across sectors. In 2017, ECCF embarked on the Creative County Initiative (CCI), in partnership with the Barr Foundation and many other arts funders across Essex County. This
Karen Ristuben Program Director Creative County Initiative
effort, over a 5-year period, will invest more than $2 Million in the arts, culture and creative sector in Essex County. The Creative County Initiative, together with its communities, “is committed to supporting a strong ecosystem for arts, culture and creative enterprise that is sustainable, equitable and accessible for all in our region.” At a time when the Covid-19 Pandemic has severely impacted the creative sector in systemic ways, the work of ECCF and its Creative County Initiative could not be more important.
PROGRAM Parker Goodreau Public Universal Friend Written and performed by Parker Goodreau Assisted by Christopher Raul Vega Clifmon Leroy Featured Art – Graphic Design J Lyons Kaida in teental, performed on tabla Documentary film excerpt – Dentro de la Pasamontañas / Under the Balaclava Molly Quinn Shot at the Brass Ring Performed and choreographed by Molly Quinn Music – Rond de Jambes a Terre by Michael Wall, edited by Molly Quinn Dylan Deforge Homeric Masculinity, Neat Freak, and Andro Written and read by Dylan Deforge Annabelle Dionne Dr. Holly Zagaria, accompanist “Giunse alfin il momento/Deh vieni non tardar” from Le nozze di Figaro W.A. Mozart (1756-1791) Kayma Snook Sestina Written and read by Kayma Snook Michael Simpson Featured Art – Printmaking, Mixed Media and Sculpture Christopher Raul Vega The Motherfucker With the Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis Dance Nation by Clare Barron Abbie White Noitcelfer (s) “Speak of Infinity” – Music by Nick White
ART + DESIGN STUDENT HONOREES
Clifmon Leroy Clifmon Leroy, Class of 2022, is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design. He is the recipient of the 4-year Harold T.and Alice M. McCarthy Memorial Scholarship Award and holds a 3.66 GPA. Clifmon served as a volunteer for MassPIRG during the 2018 Fall semester and served as treasurer for the Multicultural Student Association during the 2019-2020 school year. Outside of school, he works on personal art projects and tries to engage in activist spaces. In the summer of 2020, he designed stickers to be sold at a fundraising event for the Black Lives Matter Movement held by the Waltham Black Future Fund. He has previously worked part-time at the Waltham Public Library and is participating in an upcoming event that they are holding this summer as a panelist for a talk about art and activism. After recently participating in the “Virtual Creative Boot Camp” hosted by The One Club, Clifmon was granted a 2021 summer internship with Team One, an advertising agency. The boot camp was specifically for Black students interested in the advertising field. Future plans include pursuing both freelance graphic design and illustration.
Michael Simpson Michael Simpson is currently in his final year at Salem State University where he is working towards a degree in art and design with a focus in printmaking. During his time at SSU, he has received a Presidential Creativity Award in 2018, as well as Certificates of Excellence in printmaking in 2018 and 2019. He currently has a 3.656 GPA. He is the recipient of the Presidential Arts Scholarship, as well as a Summer Student Artistic Development Grant (2021) from the Center for Creative and Performing Arts. Outside of school he always finds time to create. Michael likes to try new things and finds that he feels unproductive if he does not create regularly. Since the fall of 2020, he has made works in sculpture, mixed media, monoprint, woodworking and drawing. From now until the end of the fall semester in 2021, he is working on a group of relief prints that revolve around unexplained phenomena.
CREATIVE WRITING STUDENT HONOREES
Dylan Deforge Dylan Deforge graduated summa cum laude with his BA in English from SSU in fall 2020. He won runner-up in the Claire Keyes undergraduate poetry contest in 2020 and has forthcoming work in the anthology Love Letters to Gaia. He also received the Arts Makes A Difference 2020 award for creative writing. His senior thesis — a chapbook titled Muscle Memory — explores mental health, toxic masculinity, and accepting one's sexuality. He is an active member of the Salem Writers Group and virtually performs his poetry for groups like the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. He lives with his family in Saugus, MA. Along with writing fiction and poetry, Dylan is a multi-instrumentalist and aspiring songwriter with plans to attend Berklee College of Music.
Kayma Snook Kayma Snook graduated through the Honors program in fall 2020 with an English degree from Salem State University. Her freshman year of college she self-published her first poetry collection To Burn to help fund her education. Her creative thesis, a collection of poetry titled Tiny Victories is available for viewing through the Salem State Honors Program's online archives. She received the Claire Keyes poetry award for her piece AntiSonnet in 2020 and represented Salem State at this year's Greater Boston Intercollegiate Undergraduate Poetry Festival. She served as the poetry editor for the 2021 issue of Soundings East literary magazine, which will be published in June. Throughout her years at Salem State she hosted the radio show Mademoiselle Madness through WMWM where she curated playlists and read short stories over the air waves. She was also a member of the Spoken Word group within the student organization Urban Arts Theatre where she found inspiration, appreciation and the meaning of community. Kayma's post-undergrad plans include getting more involved in community work, writing for publications and earning money as a bartender to eventually go to graduate school. Outside of writing, she enjoys reading novels and poetry, roller skating, gardening, philosophy and singing.
DANCE STUDENT HONOREES
Abbie White Abbie White is a curious dance artist creating work reflective of the world around her. She is a graduating senior receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance with a concentration in hip-hop, a minor in education, and a certificate in dance education. During her time at Salem State, Abbie has been a dancer and choreographer for Salem Dance Ensemble. Abbie has also been a dancer, choreographer, and the Vice President for Repertory Dance Theatre. She has also served as a Dance Program Associate for the 2020-2021 academic year. Abbie was awarded the Presidential Arts Scholarship twice for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years. She was the 2019 recipient of the Center for Creative and Performing Arts Summer Artistic Development Grant. She used that grant support to attend the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine. Abbie hopes to dance, choreograph, and teach professionally after graduation and would like to thank the Center for Creative and Performing Arts for this honor.
Molly Quinn Molly Quinn is a senior at Salem State studying dance and education. Molly is a dancer and choreographer for the Salem Dance Ensemble and Repertory Dance Theatre. She is the current president of RDT, a dance program associate for the dance department, an ambassador in the LEAD office, and a supervisor at the Gassett Fitness Center. Molly is also a two-time recipient of the Presidential Arts Scholarship. When she is not at school, you can find her teaching dance classes at Shield Rosanio’s School of Dance & Gymnastics, Aspire Dance Center and Mini Movers Studio. Post-graduation, Molly plans on continuing to teach with hopes to one day open her own dance and fitness studio.
MUSIC STUDENT HONOREES
J Lyons J Lyons is graduating from Salem State University this spring with a Bachelor of Arts in music as well as minors in Spanish and history. In their studies, they have focused on piano performance under Dr. Sanae Kanda, and tabla, first under Dr. Peter Kvetko, then Aditya Kalyanpur. Lyons has also found much solace in experimental electronic music which they have performed at several events on campus throughout the years, such as the Arts Coffeehouse, Queer Arts Festival, and the Composer’s Performance. In the last two years of University, they have found a passion for researching music and cultural movements from other parts of the world. With mentor Dr. Peter Kvetko, Lyons links their studies and aims to contribute to meaningful social change by embracing and learning from the voices of international contexts. This semester, J Lyons has worked with their partner Sumaq Ramirez Lopez to interview two rappers from La Paz, Bolivia. J Lyons will combine the biographical information and artistic experiences shared in the interviews with research into the rappers' environments to form a documentary. This is just the first seed of what will become a garden of public archival work.
Annabelle Dionne Annabelle Dionne will graduate this May, having published her Honors Thesis on the subject of Richard Wagner and German history, with a BA in music and minors in English and history. She has maintained a 4.0 GPA and has developed a passion for musicology and ethnomusicology while at Salem State. Annabelle plans to continue her education in musicology/ ethnomusicology and hopes to teach these subjects at the collegiate level. In addition to her academic inclinations, she is very involved in performance. She has performed at Carnegie Hall as a participant in the Young Adult Honors Performance Series, and she will be traveling to Berlin this summer for her role as Zweite Knabe in Berlin Opera Academy’s production of Die Zauberflöte. She has also maintained a job as a liturgical singer for seven years, and performed her Senior Recital, Remembering Voices, at Salem State at the end of April. While at Salem State, Annabelle has been involved in the radio club, serving as president and treasurer, and has participated in Alternative Spring Break trips working with Habitat for Humanity. She has been involved within the music department through her work on the Curriculum Committee, as a Peer Mentor, and as a tutor of various music classes. She
is very grateful for her time at Salem State and the encouragement she has received from her professors. “Giunse alfin il momento/Deh vieni non tardar” from Le nozze di Figaro are a recitative and aria are from W.A. Mozart’s 1786 opera Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). Le nozze di Figaro is a farcical comedyof-errors-type involving mistaken identities, disguises, marriages, and tricks between both spouses and servants and their masters! In this piece, Susanna tricks her betrothed and beloved Figaro by pretending to sing this aria to the Count, their master who is quite smitten with Susanna, though the Count is not present when she sings this. This very romantic song is enough to fool anyone into thinking that they are in love and Figaro falls victim to her ruse, declaring his love for her in order to separate Susanna and the Count. Translation Recitative: Giunse alfin il momento
Has arrived at last the moment
Che godrò senz’affanno
that I will enjoy without worry
In braccio all’idol mio.
in the arm of the beloved mine.
Timide cure, uscite dal mio petto,
Timid worries, get out of my chest,
A turbar non venite il mio diletto
do not come to disturb my delight!
Oh come par che all’amoroso foco
Oh, how it seems that to the amorous fires
L’amenità del loco
the comfort of the place
La terra e il ciel responda
the earth and the heaven respond,
Come la note i furti miei seconda
as the night the ruses mine seconds!
Aria: Deh, vieni, non tardar, o gioja bella,
Ah, come, do not delay, my joy beautiful
Vieni ove amore per goder t’appella,
come to where love’s enjoyment calls you
Finchè non splende in ciel notturna face,
before the moon rises,
Finchè l’aria è ancor bruna e il mondo tace.
while the air is still dark and the world is quiet.
Qui mormora il ruscel, qui scherza l’aura
Here murmurs the stream, here plays the breeze,
Che col dolce susurro il cor ristaura.
which with sweet whispering the heart restores.
Qui ridono i fioretti e l’erba è fresca,
Here laughs the little flowers and the grass is cool,
Ai piaceri d’amor qui tutto adesca.
to the pleasures of love here everything entices you.
Vieni, ben mio, tra queste piante ascose.
Come, dearest mine, among these trees sheltering.
Vieni, vieni!
Come, come!
Ti vo’ la fronte incoronar di rose.
I want to crown your brow with roses.
THEATRE STUDENT HONOREES
Parker Goodreau Parker Goodreau is a BFA theatre major with a concentration in playwriting and a minor in English. They will be graduating at the end of the 2021 spring semester. During their time at Salem State, they appeared in the theatre department’s staged reading of She Kills Monsters and in Student Theatre Ensemble’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They also took part in the annual Tomorrow’s Playwrights Ten Minute Play Festival, and led the group during their senior year. They were awarded the Presidential Arts Scholarship and were a finalist for the 2019 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 1 10-Minute Play Award. Prior to returning to college as a transfer student, they worked as a freelance author and illustrator; they are currently pursuing publication for their debut novel. Their hope is to continue writing and creating, as well as finding opportunities to advocate for other marginalized artists in the worlds of theatre and publishing. Their first full-length play, a historical drama exploring queer life and relationships, will have its world premiere at Salem State next spring.
Christopher Raul Vega Christopher Raul Vega will graduate from Salem State in spring 2021 with a BFA in theater performance. Chris has been cast in six productions at Salem State: A Freeman of Color, Harvey, Ragtime, Gunplay: A Play About America, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Visit. Chris has worked at various jobs while being a full-time student, in the fields of theatre and food service. He has been a Teaching Artist for three years, working with young people ages 5 to 17, teaching dance classes, introductory theater classes, and improv classes. He is the recipient of the National Irene Ryan Scholarship award in 2019 and a Presidential Arts Scholarship, in 2020. Other awards include the NETC Best Partner award as well as the National Irene Ryan Best Partner Award in 2020. He was the recipient of the Salem State Irene Ryan Scholarship in 2020. Chris cannot wait to see what the future holds as he auditions for future opportunities and shares his journey and craft with the world!
The Center for Creative and Performing Arts thanks the following individuals and departments for their commitment to the arts at Salem State University. President John Keenan Provost and Academic Vice President David Silva Dean Gail Gasparich, College of Arts and Sciences Vice President of Institutional Advancement Cheryl Crounse and her team Campus Covid Team Leaders – Associate Dean, Elisa Castillo and Associate Vice President Gene Labonte (SO much thanks) CCPA faculty coordinators: Kevin Carey (creative writing), Mary-Jo Grenfell (music), Betsy Miller (dance), and Ken Reker (art +design) Department chairs: Gretchen Sinnett (art + design), Jerry L. Johnson (theatre), J.D. Scrimgeour (English), Peter Kvetko (music and dance) Faculty and staff in the art + design, English, music and dance, and theatre departments with special thanks to Donna Folino (art + design), Malynda Sykes (music and dance) and Ashley Preston O’Toole, Stu Grieve and Tim O’Toole (theatre) CCPA project manager Angelina Benitez and student assistants Justin Hatch and Hunter Mountz. and The parents, friends and all the fellow travelers who support our student artists.