Congratulations to AEPG Awardees for 2025-2026

  line drawing of aepg logo.

Congratulations to all of the faculty awardees for an Artistic Excellence Programming Grant for 2025-2026! (Read on for the upcoming projects.)

What is AEPG?

Since this initiative began in 2018, it's grown into the H&A in Action college-wide initiative that focuses on melding teaching, research, and public programming to involve students and our surrounding San Jose community in the engaging public programming our college offers. These grants allow us to maximize students’ exposure to and interaction with high-quality, diversified programming in the performing, visual, literary, and culinary arts. The Hammer Theatre and other performing venues on campus offer an opportunity for SJSU to create a coherent arts and culture programming series that invites students to have hands-on experiences with world-class professionals.

For 2025-2026, we have initiated new themes that reflect the moment that we are currently living through: Home and Authenticity.

Bring Students into the Collaboration

While AEPG faculty are planning next year's events, we encourage as many other faculty as possible to read the descriptions, to get involved, to engage their students in the event's ground-floor creation (instead of only as passive viewers later in the audience.) Read the descriptions all of these exciting events here.

As event details are finalized, they will be entered into the SJSU Events Calendar, publicized on H&A in Action, and then publicized in the Dean's weekly Monday Mailers. But, don't wait for that last minute notice! If you're interested in integrating one of these events into your courses for AY 2025-2026, please contact the coordinator now. We have a bank of teaching materials and assignments that you could easily adapt into your curriculum.

Watch for all of these AEPG events in upcoming classes, on stages, across campus, and throughout the San José area next year starting in August 2025.

Full Descriptions Available

Awardees

  • Selena Anderson, Center for Literary Arts Reading Series 2025-26 (English & Comparative Literature)
  • Catalina Barraza, Sonic Canvas: A Journey Through Sound and Art (School of Music)
  • Jeffrey Benson & David Vickerman, A World Premiere & Guest Artist Residency by Jake Runestad (School of Music)
  • Apryl Berney, Bla-sian Bay Digital Archive & Interactive Map (Film, Theatre & Dance)
  • Corie Brown, Hildegard Festival featuring Andrea Ramsey's Suffrage Cantata (School of Music)
  • Sukanya Chakrabarti, Kingdom of Cards (Film, Theatre & Dance)
  • Fred Cohen & Luis Orozco, Spring '26 Opera Double Bill (School of Music)
  • Fred Cohen, Kaleidoscope 2026 (School of Music)
  • Barnaby Dallas & Fred Cohen, Company, Fall Musical (Film, Theatre & Dance)
  • Thomas Hornig, Seraph Brass Residency (School of Music)
  • Midori Ishida & Kaoru Hollin, Hibakusha stories on nuclear weapons and messages for peace (World Languages and Literatures)
  • Elise Knudson, Nex2NOW (Film, Theatre & Dance)
  • David Malinowski, Translate San José (Linguistics & Language Development)
  • Brook McClurg, Long Story Short: A Community-Activated Exploration of Home through Abbreviated Forms (English & Comparative Literature)
  • Eleanor Pries & Virginia San Fratello, Waste to Wonder: Home Goods (Design)
  • Dana Ragouzeos & Joshua Nelson, Design in Process: Evolving with AI and Beyond (Design)
  • Daniel Rivers & Maite Urcaregui, Public Humanities Salons (Humanites)
  • Alena Sauzade & Irene Carvajal, Modern Macgyvers: Printmaking from Costa Rica (Art & Art History)
  • Matthew Spangler, "Wolf Play" by Hansol Jung (Film, Theatre & Dance)
  • Teresa Veramendi, Shadow Lines (Film, Theatre & Dance)

Thank you to the Awards Committee for their dedicated work in considering all proposals: Dean Shannon Miller (Chair), Christopher Luna-Mega, Alena Sauzade, Kathleen Normington, Cheyla Samuelson, Chafin Seymour, J. Michael Martinez, Eleanor Pries, Chris Burrill (advisory), Katherine D. Harris, and Mary Anderson (observer). 

Previous AEPG Projects & Awardees

To read about the more than 500 wonderful AEPG-supported events and programming since 2018, check out our previous awardees and program reports. For articles and information on Public Humanities & the Arts, check out our resources. 

Apply Next Year!

If you're interested in applying for AEPG funding for 2026-2027, watch this space for the release of the new request for proposals in November and announcement of mandatory informational sessions and consultive open office hours to brainstorm about creating a robust, collaborative project. 

-Author: Katherine D. Harris (updated April 18, 2025)