Musicschool faculty and staff granted funding through Chancellor's Arts Initiative.
In a significant move to foster the arts and promote cultural understanding, the Chancellor's Council on the Arts (CCoA) and UCLA's Office for Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) have awarded research grants. These grants aim to support scholarly and creative activities that engage with critical and theoretical traditions, interdisciplinary studies, and innovative approaches to arts and humanities research.
One of the funded projects, led by Music Education Professor, Lily Chen-Hafteck, is titled "Cultural Understanding through Music Education." This project will provide 30 teachers with training and teaching materials to increase students' cultural understanding and appreciation, reducing racial prejudice. The project will cover various musical genres, including jazz, gospel, rap, film scores, and more.
Another notable project is "Researching, Teaching, and Performing a Folk Tradition of Northeast Thailand," led by Supeena Adler from the Department of Ethnomusicology. The work will take place in 10 Los Angeles schools serving students of low socio-economic backgrounds. Adler's project will document a specific folk tradition from Northeast Thailand, acquire instruments and costumes, and offer UCLA students the opportunity to explore it through her Music of Thailand Ensemble course.
The CCoA is also launching GO ARTS UCLA, an online portal that highlights the role of the arts at UCLA and their place within L.A.'s cultural ecosystem. GO ARTS UCLA brings together a full array of UCLA arts and humanities events and content in a central location. The site offers a full calendar of events, recent feature stories, and the latest news on arts-related research at the university.
The UCLA Library will co-sponsor an exhibition titled "Celebrating Black Music in Los Angeles" with the Ethnomusicology Archive. This exhibition will be the first large-scale exhibition at UCLA to present a comprehensive look at the city's Black music. The exhibition will feature both well-known figures and those often excluded from history, such as Black women musicians and composers, music educators, and owners of important music venues.
The grants aim to recognize the arts as essential to life, inspiring innovation, creativity, and breaking down barriers while building empathy and connecting across fields, cultures, and attitudes. The Initiative provided $150,000 in funding for arts research projects that demonstrate originality and contribute to sustainability, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
The CCoA has expanded its membership to include Darnell Hunt, May Hong HaDuong, Cindy Fan, and David Yoo. The council is committed to advancing the role of the arts as a vital part of the rich and diverse UCLA experience through initiatives like the Chancellor's Arts Initiative and GO ARTS UCLA.
The arts research grants awarded demonstrate the power of the arts within the UCLA community and throughout the world. By supporting diverse, innovative projects, the CCoA and ORCA are encouraging critical engagement with various theoretical and cultural frameworks and fostering original and exploratory artistic projects at UCLA.
- Professor Lily Chen-Hafteck's project, "Cultural Understanding through Music Education," is a valuable contribution to the Chancellor's Arts Initiative, encouraging lifelong learning and fostering appreciate for various musical genres in the context of education-and-self-development.
- As part of the CCoA's ongoing commitment to fostering cultural understanding and promoting diversity, Supeena Adler's project, "Researching, Teaching, and Performing a Folk Tradition of Northeast Thailand," introduces an underrepresented musical tradition to students from low socio-economic backgrounds, combining elements of both online-education and entertainment.
- Recognizing the importance of arts in fostering social connections and breaking down barriers, the UCLA Library's exhibition "Celebrating Black Music in Los Angeles" showcases various black music genres and figures, contributing to the university's goal of creating a more equitable and inclusive community through lifelong learning and cultural appreciation.
