CalArtians Named 2021 Fulbright Award Recipients

Four CalArtians have been named Fulbright Award recipients for the 2021-22 academic year.

The Fulbright US Student Program is a prestigious cultural exchange program that seeks to improve cultural understanding between US citizens and those of other countries. In 2020, CalArts was one of only 19 schools across the country—and one of two special-focus institutions—to receive a Top Producing Institution Designation of both Fulbright scholars and students for the 2019-20 cycle.

Learn more about the new Fulbright recipients’ project grants: 

Jesse Levesconte (Theater BFA 20) was granted an Open/Study Research Award in Installation Art in Germany. Per Levesconte’s proposal, the project ponders humanity’s relationship to environmental change by a public installation art piece. “Towards the Political Aesthetics of a New Epoch” is a combination of artmaking at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and research conducted by interviewing scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (both in Potsdam, Germany). Levesconte will present the final installation in an exhibition at UdK or a local gallery, tentatively scheduled for June 2022. 

Sam Shay (Theater BFA 12, MFA 16) was granted an Open/Study Research Award in Theater Arts – Directing, also in Germany. The project, titled “Cross Cultural Pedagogy and Aesthetic Diversity Through the Legacy of German Tanztheater,” will be conducted in association with the Folkwang University of the Arts (Essen, Germany) and the Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal theater company, named for the prominent German dancer and choreographer. Shay’s research will be largely conducted by engaging with theater’s history and those with whom Bausch worked directly, and put into practice by conducting a developmental workshop of the theater’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler. Shay intends to present the final work to US audiences with the aim of opening a dialogue about the importance of multicultural legacies in live performances, as well as textual interpretation and directorial style.

Joshua Sadinsky (Music MFA 21) was granted an Open/Study Research Award in Installation Art in Taiwan. His project, “Title: Sonic Meditations: Soundscape Preservation with the Soundscape Association of Taiwan,” investigates Sadinsky’s passion for environmental stewardship education and policy, as well as acoustic ecology and ethnography. Sadinsky will create artistic audio field recordings of Taiwan’s natural spaces in collaboration with the Soundscape Association of Taiwan (SAT), which also aims to further indigenous Taiwanese tribal rights through acoustic-ethnographic field work, linguistic diversity protection, and direct engagement with Taiwanese tribes.  Through the bioacoustic recordings, Sadinsky seeks to promote policies for the conservation of biodiversity and implement public engagement events. The final multimedia installation will be exhibited at the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB). 

Rosa Boshier (Critical Studies MFA 18) was also offered a Fulbright Award in Creative Writing to King’s College London in the UK, but opted to pursue a doctoral program at the University of Houston in Literature and Creative Writing in the fall semester. 

Find additional information about the Fulbright creative and performing arts awards and English Teaching Assistantships on the Fulbright website.


Current CalArts students or CalArts alums who are interested in applying to the Fulbright US Student Program through the Patty Disney Center for Life and Work at CalArts, please email Bailey Cool at bcool@calarts.edu. The internal CalArts deadline for fall 2022 is Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021, and the national deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, at 2 pm PDT. 

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