Athens, Ga. – Graduate students K. Scott Eggert and Karen Sweeney Gerow are the first winners of the University of Georgia Arts Council’s inaugural 4 minutes, 33 seconds: Spotlight on Scholarship competition.
The competition, which bestowed two prizes of $433, aims to give the campus community insight into scholarship and research in the arts conducted by graduate students at UGA. One of the winners was selected by a three-person panel of judges using defined criteria, and the other winner was determined by the audience. A part of the Spotlight on the Arts festival, the event was inspired by John Cage’s landmark 1952 composition 4’33,” which calls for a pianist simply to sit silently at a piano for exactly 4 minutes and 33 seconds, challenging audiences to think about art in a new way.
“Our graduate students are doing amazing scholarly work in the arts, and to see their research, their level of engagement and their ability to convey their work was inspiring,” said Vice Provost Russell Mumper, who chairs the UGA Arts Council and moderated the event. “It was very difficult for the judges to choose a winner from among the 14 competing students in art, music, theatre and creative writing programs at UGA.”
Eggert’s work at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music on harmonics and microtonality impressed the three-person panel of judges, which included experts within and outside of the arts. Eggert is a first-year doctoral student who earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Thomas Edison State College and a master’s degree in music theory and composition from Montclair State University. He is a professional musician who has been writing music since age 13.
Gerow’s presentation on the relationship between art education and science, technology, engineering and math education was chosen as the audience favorite through a poll in which audience members submitted their votes via text message. Gerow is a doctoral student in the Lamar Dodd School of Art who focuses on art education. She received her undergraduate degree from UGA in anthropology, has worked as both a teacher and administrator in local schools and is the founding director of Double Helix STEAM School.
About Spotlight on the Arts
Presented by the UGA Arts Council, the third annual Spotlight on the Arts features more than 60 events in the visual, literary and performing arts. The nine-day festival, scheduled for Nov. 6-14, includes museum tours, discussions with writers and concerts. For the complete schedule, see www.arts.uga.edu, and follow the Arts at UGA on Facebook or Twitter.
