On Tuesday, August 13, the Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) presented the 2019 Princess Grace Awards, among which were four CalArtians: Ray Chang (Film/Video MFA 20), Salmah Beydoun (Theater MFA 20), Javier Barboza (Film/Video BFA 07) and Miwa Matreyek (Film/Video-IM MFA 07). They were awarded the Stephen Hillenburg Animation Scholarship, the Fabergé Theater Honor Scholarship and two Special Project Grants, respectively.
The Princess Grace Awards are distributed by the PGF-USA to those who display excellence in theater, dance and film. The foundation was established in 1982 and named after Grace Kelly, actor and Princess Consort of Monaco, to continue her legacy of “advancing excellence in the arts in America.” Past recipients include actor Oscar Isaac (2004), choreographer Kyle Abraham (2010), director Cary Fukunaga (2005) and ballerina Tiler Peck (2004).
Chang is a Taiwanese American artist completing an MFA in the School of Film/Video’s Experimental Animation Program. His recent installation Manufactured explores the “intersection of early cinematic principles and the early innovations pertinent to the Industrial Revolution.” Chang’s work investigates automation, visual phenomena and feelings of alienation. He recently collaborated with fellow School of Theater colleagues to showcase their “Ubu Roi” Toy Theater at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial.
Beydoun is a California- and Mexico-based performance designer and architect completing an MFA in the School of Theater’s Scenic Design Program. She is the co-founder of Colectivo Berenjena, an artist collective for youths that’s dedicated to creating original theater and film works. Beydoun designed Metaphysics of a Two Headed Calf, a collaboration between Studio Theater and the CalArts Center for New Performance (CNP), which was performed in the 2018 Divine Comedy International Theater Festival in Kraków, Poland. She also recently collaborated with director Monty Cole on a theater adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s nonfiction book Black Like Me.
Barboza is a Boston-based creative director who collects a Special Project Grant for his animated film El Coyote, based on a true story of a human smuggler, known also as a “coyote.” He is the founder of Kaleidoscope Media Studio, a media production company focused on 2D/3D animation, stop motion animation, live action and puppetry. His works explore migration and identity, employing magical realism, surrealist elements and documentary methods to offer audiences an immersive visual experience. Barboza previously won a Princess Grace Film Grant Award in 2012 and a 2017 Princess Grace Professional Development Grant.
Matreyek is an Los Angeles-based animator, designer and performer who takes home a Special Project Grant for her work Infinitely Yours. Her work commonly employs shadows and silhouettes to create dreamlike visual spaces, and has garnered numerous accolades from PGF-USA throughout her career. Matreyek previously received the Special Project Grant in 2012 for her work This World Made Itself, two in 2008 for her projects Under Polaris and Myth and Infrastructure and a 2006 Princess Grace Award for Film for her thesis Dreaming of Lucid Living. She is also the recipient of a 2016 Sherwood Award and a 2013 Creative Capital Award.
Chang, Beydoun, Barboza and Matreyek join a roster of CalArtians who have received the prestigious award, including Jenna Caravello (Film/Video MFA 19), Samantha Lane (Film/Video BFA 19), Thalia Fry (Film/Video BFA 14), Nora Sweeney (Film/Video MFA 14), Vincent Richards (Theater MFA 13), Nijla Mumin (Film/Video-Creative Writing MFA 13) and Virginia Grise (Theater MFA 09).
The winners will be honored at the Princess Grace Awards Gala in New York City on Nov. 25, 2019.