The Arts Administration Program (ARAD) at Teachers College, Columbia University is pleased to announce recipients of the Spring 2017 Microgrant for Student Professionalization.
Through the Microgrant Program and with generous support from the Arts and Humanities Department at Teachers College, ARAD proudly supports student professionalization activities on campus and beyond. This award champions special projects proposed by Teachers College student groups (with ARAD student membership), as well as conference attendance for individual students in the ARAD program. Applications were invited through an open call process, and selected by ARAD faculty.
Congratulations Zamara Choudhary and Thanh Nguyen!
Zamara Choudhary graduated summa cum laude from CUNY Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in 2016, where she majored in History with minors in English and Arabic Studies. A native Brooklynite, Zamara enjoys exploring the diaspora of cultural organizations in New York City and dreamed of working in a museum as a child. Zamara has interned at Studio in a School, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Brooklyn Museum. She hopes to use her unique background and passion for social justice to facilitate cross-cultural understanding and exchange through the arts.
The ARAD Microgrant will support Zamara’s attendance at the National Muslim Women’s Leadership Summit at the Harvard Kennedy School. The Summit brings together a select group of 50 diverse, young Muslim women from across the U.S. to empower them to tackle the most pressing issues facing minority communities.
Thanh Nguyen graduated from the Ohio State University (2012) with a BA in Theatre, a BS in Anthropological Sciences and minored in Spanish and evolution/ecology. Recently, he completed a year-long education fellowship at Shakespeare Theatre Company and tutors independently. Previously, Thanh worked with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of the Midwest, Central Community House, American Red Cross, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics Inc. and Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts and Culture. Artistically, he performed with InterACT, Worthington Community Theatre, Raconteur Theatre and Lab Series. Thanh will focus on diversity/inclusion practices within arts education programs.
Funding from the ARAD Microgrant will support Thanh’s participation in the Theatre Communications Group National Conference, in Portland, Oregon. Theatre Communications Group is a national organization that provides news, resources and ideas for Broadway, regional and community theatre development. At the conference, he will participate in the workshops related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Founded in 2002 by graduate students in the Arts Administration program at Teachers College, Columbia University, Student Advocates for the Arts (SAA) engages students in hands-on lobbying, workshops on advocacy and cultural policy, and discussions on the American system for funding the arts. Their mission is to empower and represent student voices to influence legislation and policy affecting the arts and public art
s funding.
The ARAD Microgrant will also support a delegation of six students to attend National Arts Advocacy day in Washington D.C. This trip provides students the opportunity to meet with leading arts policy-makers, attend workshops and other events hosted by Americans for the Arts, and advocate for arts issues with district representatives and state senators.
Arts Administration 