30K National Endowment Awarded for New Commissions

TROY, NY—The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a $30,000 grant for the Center’s 2022 productions by Indian researcher and curator Nida Ghouse, American composers Bora Yoon and Miya Masaoka, and Taiwanese choreographer Su WenChi.

The multidisciplinary works create unique sensorial experiences of place, movement, and sound. These innovative installations and performances explore physical and political geographies and complex cultural identities with project themes ranging from archeo-acoustics, the physics of bodies in motion, and the interchange between acoustic and electronic music. Each work engages the audience through their production and presentation in Studio 1—Goodman, utilizing EMPAC’s Wave Field Synthesis array, high order ambisonics, and spatial audio expertise to construct unique sonic and musical environments.