Artist Vision Project (AVP)
Music Without Limits
The Artist Vision Project (AVP) is a cross-curricular initiative spearheaded and led by faculty member Kathryn Lockwood and overseen by the Cali School of Music’s Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program. While most students fulfill degree requirements through traditional recitals presented during their junior, senior, or graduate studies, the AVP encourages students to develop projects that reflect their broader artistic identity. These projects blend music with storytelling, multimedia, collaboration, and interdisciplinary exploration.
The Artist Vision Project serves two primary purposes during a student's time at the Cali School of Music:
- Alternative Recital Option
Students may choose to present an innovative alternative to the traditional recital format. Projects can take many forms, including podcasts, multimedia performances, collaborations with dancers, visual artists, actors, filmmakers, or other creative partners. The goal is to provide students with a platform to explore and present their unique artistic vision. - Independent Study and Creative Exploration
The AVP also offers opportunities for students to pursue non-degree projects through independent study for academic credit. These projects allow students to investigate artistic interests, develop new skills, and create original work outside the framework of traditional performance requirements.
To support student development, weekly non-credit classes provide mentorship, project guidance, and opportunities for collaboration, helping participants bring their creative ideas from concept to completion.
Lara Downes and the First Year of the Artist Vision Project
As part of the Immersive Residency 23-24, Lara Downes, pianist and host of NPR’s Amplify, led a small group of students during the inaugural year of the Artist Vision Project at the Cali School of Music. Here are two success stories from spring of 2024.
Rising Junior
Cellist and junior Cecilia Grossman’s interest was piqued when she learned of the Artist Vision Project, an alternate route to performing a regular solo recital to the possibility of expanding her voice beyond the canon of the cello repertoire. Cecilia chose to record her very first podcast.
“I found the idea for this project when I noticed that some of the repertoire I was learning had a common thread of being a transcription and centered around themes of grief and mourning. From there I went on a deep dive for the historical context around how various composers went about adapting the music through different settings and instrumentations. In my podcast I was able to explore music I love in greater detail than I have previously and understand it in a new way. I was able to interview artists or composers with a direct tie to each piece to gain further insight on the music.”
Podcast: Songs of Mourning and Remembrance
A podcast series exploring grief in music and the power of transcription as a medium through which artists can express music in their individual voice. This is achieved through listening, conversations and interdisciplinary collaborations.
Episode 1: Élégie, Jules Massenet
Episode 2: Incomprensión, Jorge López Marín
Episode 3: Erlkönig, Franz Schubert
Episode 4: “The Wandering Father”, Noah Stevens
Graduate Masters Student
Singer and Dancer Runyu Feng embraced the concept of the Artist Vision Project, and with the mentorship of Lara Downes, created a remarkable final Masters of Music recital. As an interdisciplinary collaboration, Runyu’s project explored issues of history and the inherited interpretation of gender and cultural norms. By combining Chinese Classical Music and Dance with Western Classical Music and Contemporary Dance practice, collaborators from disparate perspectives created diverse storytelling to reflect different expressions of nature. The performance project aimed (and succeeded) to create a space for the audiences to experience the possibility of empowerment and self-awareness, through examining and challenging boundaries and balances.
Rose and Nightingale Adorning
Her Hair with Flowers 簪花引