Call for student participants in Spotlight on Scholarship competition

The UGA Arts CouncilJohn Cage is seeking graduate students to participate in the inaugural “4 minutes, 33 seconds: Spotlight on Scholarship” competition. The event, which will award two prizes of $433 each, will give the campus community insight into the scholarship and research in the arts conducted by University of Georgia graduate students.

For the competition, graduate students have 4 minutes, 33 seconds to describe their research. They can use up to 33 visual aid slides to help explain the topic. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10 in the Chapel, as part of the Spotlight on the Arts festival.

The Spotlight event is 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. Cage’s 4’33” challenged audiences to reconsider the function of art and the borders between traditional art disciplines and between artistic practice and philosophy.

Points will be awarded based on performance, originality and passion, as well as conciseness, comprehension, engagement, and ability to convey the research to a non-specialist audience. Sound and props are permitted.

Two winners will be chosen: one by a panel of faculty within and outside the arts and another chosen as an audience favorite. The winners will receive support for their research in the form of an award of $433 each.

Graduate students pursuing master of arts or doctorates in the arts must sign up by Oct. 17 Oct. 24 by emailing camiew@uga.edu and CC’ing your department’s Arts Council representative (a list of Arts Council representatives is available here). The email should contain your name, degree objective and a paragraph that clearly, succinctly and compellingly describes your research topic and its significance to a non-specialist audience. A subcommittee of the Arts Council will determine the participants.