Arts Impact Report
Sep 1, 2020–Jul 31, 2021September 1, 2020–July 31, 2021
Dear friends, fellow artists, and arts supporters,
With this report, I invite you to pause and reflect on the tremendous accomplishments of Duke University’s creative community this past year. We witnessed how artistic expression helped us heal and process the trauma of COVID-19, of police brutality, of loss. Experiencing art together—even if virtually—sustained our spirits.
Our accomplishments in the 2020–2021 academic year would have been unimaginable eighteen months ago! This report represents resilience, innovation, and collaboration among staff, faculty, and students during a time when the arts were severely impacted by the pandemic. While we lost much, in some ways our audiences expanded. We found we are stronger when we join forces. Last year marked the first-ever collaboration between Duke Arts, the Nasher Museum of Art, and Duke Health, as well as the first spring student showcase video collaboratively presented by our academic art departments.
Looking ahead, I am pleased to announce that Duke Performances is more closely aligning with Duke Arts. We are working behind-the-scenes to ensure that the best of Duke Performances’ programming, commissions, artist residencies, and community engagements grow stronger with the support of a larger staff, more central university resources, and increased connection with our academic curriculum. Very exciting days ahead!
I am deeply grateful that Duke’s stages, galleries, and rehearsal rooms are reopening for the fall semester. The return of in-person audiences will indeed be joyful, and may we always remember that art and artists are essential. The past year proved that beyond a doubt.
With gratitude,
John V. Brown Jr., J.D.
Vice Provost for the Arts
Director of the Jazz Program
Professor of the Practice of Music
Duke University President Vincent E. Price, Provost Sally Kornbluth, Vice Provost for the Arts John V. Brown, and 2021 Commencement speaker John Legend on Commencement Day.
“The next phase of the arts at Duke puts people first: Deeper engagement with visiting artists, a welcoming arts culture, curricular development, and accessibility.”
—Sally Kornbluth
Duke University Provost
36
Academic Art Programs
Undergraduate & graduate degrees, minors, & certificates
89
Arts Faculty
Spanning six academic departments and programs
123
Student Groups
In arts, media, & publications
256
Virtual Art Events
September 1, 2020–July 31, 2021
198,106
Virtual Art Event Attendees & Video Views
September 1, 2020–July 31, 2021
Vice Provost for the Arts Initiatives
2020–2021 Duke Arts Priorities
September 2020
RESIST COVID/TAKE 6!
Aerial view of RESIST COVID on Nasher Museum of Art and Rubenstein Arts Center.
Duke Arts collaborated with the Nasher Museum of Art and Duke Health to present RESIST COVID/TAKE 6!, an outdoor exhibition and public awareness campaign by the nationally renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems.
The exhibition, presented on campus and in Durham, emphasized the disproportionate impact of the deadly virus on communities of color, through large-scale banners and window clings, posters, street signs, and more.
Learn moreFall 2020
Support for Arts at Duke
Trout Clout Quintet. Photo by Rodrigo Dorfman.
Funds from Duke Arts supported the Nasher Museum of Art RESIST COVID/TAKE 6! exhibition and musicians performing for Duke Arts & Health, provided free student tickets to virtual Duke Performances concerts, assisted with documenting student performances, and purchased USB microphones to empower the Duke Music Department to deliver improved virtual lessons. The DukeCreate program, supported by Duke Arts, also hired 29 MFA students and local artists to teach free virtual workshops.
October 2020
DEMAN Weekend-ish
Ritza Bloom ’13, Robb Chavis ’98, and Vanessa McGee virtually came together for a conversation with Professor Mark Anthony Neal for DEMAN Weekend-ish on October 21.
In April 2020, the Duke Entertainment, Media, and Arts Network (DEMAN) launched DEMAN Live, a virtual series featuring alumni panelists and a signature program of Duke Arts. DEMAN presented 14 original, live conversation events in 2020–2021, and made another 29 videos with alumni accessible on the DEMAN Lounge, Duke's hub for the creative industries.
In October 2020, DEMAN partnered with Duke Black Alumni to present “DEMAN Weekend-ish.” The event featured alumni working behind the scenes of the TV series black-ish & grown-ish. In February 2021, DEMAN set a new attendance record of 2,669 registrants and 900 attendees for a screening and talkback for Assassins, a feature documentary directed by Ryan White ’04.
Spring 2021
Support for Community Arts & Artists
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke Arts, in partnership with the Office of Durham and Community Affairs, continued to support the regional arts ecosystem. Funds were donated to “Big Night In for the Arts,” a fundraiser for arts councils from Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties, in partnership with WRAL-TV. Duke Arts and the Duke Office of Durham and Community Affairs also provided funding to Durham’s Hayti Heritage Film Festival and the Carolina Theatre.
March 2021
Live Music at Duke Health Vaccination Sites
Duke Arts partnered with Duke Health to hire local musicians to perform at COVID-19 vaccination clinics. This was a win-win: a work opportunity for artists and individuals receiving the vaccine received the welcome surprise of live music. Duke Arts also sponsored Duke Arts & Health activities and organized outdoor pop-up performances to celebrate Duke Health employees.
Local musicians perform outside the Duke Medical Pavilion on June 18, 2021. Photo by Nina Wilder.
March 2021
Duke Receives $3.75 Million to Support Next Phase of the Arts
The grant from The Duke Endowment, a private foundation based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is supporting areas vital to the arts at Duke, including Duke Arts. Notably, it helps realize a new vision for the arts at Duke, now directed by the university’s first full-time Vice Provost for the Arts, John V. Brown.
“Arts and culture programs are perhaps the most deeply affected by COVID-19, and they will take the longest to recover. Understanding this—and knowing Duke can lead in sustaining and supporting arts on campus, in Durham and beyond—means this grant comes at a particularly important juncture.”
—John V. Brown
Vice Provost for the Arts
April 2021
Student Showcase
In a typical year, spring showcase events are presented across campus. Duke Arts produced a video showcase highlighting the accomplishments of undergraduates in academic arts departments—Theater Studies, Dance, Music, English, and Art, Art History & Visual Studies.
The “Duke Arts Students Showcase” received a Platinum Hermes Award presented by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals for “Electronic Media (Video) / Social Media Content.”
Watch ShowcaseApril 2021
DukeCreate Presents Jacob Collier
DukeCreate, a free hands-on arts workshop series for the Duke community, transitioned to hour-long virtual classes in April 2020. Attendance for DukeCreate programs grew substantially in 2021–2022; 141 hour-long workshops spanning meditation to graphic design to weaving were offered. Participants gave feedback on how much they valued the chance to do creative projects together, online. In April 2021, DukeCreate reached new heights with a songwriting workshop with Jacob Collier, Grammy-award winning pianist and YouTube sensation.
“I heavily relied on DukeCreate workshops to give me a designated hour or so of relaxed art that I could look forward to. Having the social interaction, even on Zoom, made my weeks a little less lonely.”
—Anonymous
Duke undergraduate survey response
Fall & Spring
In Conversation in Collaboration with Duke Performances
This virtual conversation series presented by Duke Arts and Duke Performances provided a platform for 17 artists in and around the Duke community to share their work in the spirit of the in-person “Ruby Friday” programs at the Rubenstein Arts Center.
In Spring, a special session hosted by seven Duke faculty members (pictured above) provided students guidance on receiving funding to support their artistic practice.
Spring ’21 in Conversation VideosFall & Spring
StudioDuke & Benenson Awards in the Arts
2021 Benenson Art Awardees.
The fourth year of StudioDuke, a virtual creative lab presented by Duke Arts, DEMAN, and Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship, paired 16 students with professional mentors to develop projects in creative writing, film, music, visual arts, and more. In April 2021, Duke Arts administered the Benenson Award in the Arts, providing funding to 14 students to support summer artistic development.
“The hope is that these funds will support and sustain their artistic work that continues to compromise and comply with COVID-19 restrictions,” shared Jules Odendahl-James, chair, Benenson Selection Committee.
Academics
Duke's culture of creative innovation is fueled by our arts faculty
Meet the Duke Seniors Behind Theater Studies’ Mainstage Production of Medea
Best of Biddle: Duke Music’s Virtual Concert Series
Art as Public Intervention: Carl Pope’s “The Bad Air Smelled of Roses”
MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts Class of 2021 Thesis Exhibitions
Spectral Seas: Tackling Climate Change Through Storytelling
New Interdepartmental Degree: Computational Media: Computer Science and Visual & Media Studies
Artists as Researchers: Dancing Through STEAM
10 Works of Fiction by Duke Authors
New Faculty Appointments
Sophia Enriquez, assistant professor in music
Deonte Harris, assistant professor of the practice of music (secondary appointment)
Zaire McPhearson, post-MFA instructor of photography (Art, Art History & Visual Studies)
Franklin Cason, assistant professor of the practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Stephen Hayes, assistant professor of the practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Marie Cochran, founding curator of Affrilachian Artist Project, 2020–21 Lehman Brady Professor, Center for Documentary Studies
Iyun Ashani Harrison, associate professor of the practice of dance (Duke Dance Program)
Faculty Retirements
Don Eagle, instructor of music, trumpet (Duke Music)
Mark Antliff, Mary Grace Wilson Distinguished Professor Emeritus (Art, Art History)
Tyler Walters, associate professor of the practice of dance (Duke Dance Program)
2020–2021 Highlights
Theater Studies Mainstage Addresses Racism Against Black America (Theater)
Sara Galletti, Associate Professor, Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (Art, Art History, & Visual Studies)
Stephen Hayes Receives 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art (Art, Art History, & Visual Studies)
Photographer MJ Sharp Receives Fulbright for 2021–22 Art/Science Collaboration (Center for Documentary Studies)
John V. Brown Chairs the Jury for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music (Music)
Spaces & Community
Connecting Duke to Durham & Beyond
2020–2021 highlights
Nasher Museum of Art Joins Google Arts & Culture
Online Duke Chapel Messiah Performance Attracts Large Audience
Nasher Museum Launches Virtual 360° Interactive Tours
CDS’s Scene on Radio Podcast Receives Peabody Nomination for Season 4 Series on American Democracy (May 2021)
Audio-Visual Exhibition at Duke Chapel to Highlight Black Women Pastors
In Its 24th Year, a Virtual Full Frame Still Captures the Documentary Spirit
CDS Announces New DocX Archive Lab for BIPOC Artists
Transforming the Arts During COVID-19
Celebrating resilience, innovation, and collaboration
The Ruby, Reconfigured
The Rubenstein Arts Center and the staff that support it transformed to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Closed to the public, the space was dedicated entirely to academic use. Early in the pandemic, Venue and Production Management staff, part of University Center Activities and Events in Student Affairs, supported Duke’s Innovation Co-Lab in the Office of Information and Technology by making bands for face shields. Later on, this staff supported the COVID-19 Isolation Care Team, using the Ruby as a base. In Fall 2021, the Ruby will re-open to the public for limited in-person events. Learn more.
Ava LaVonne Vinesett's African Dance Technique course. Photo by Robert Zimmerman.
“Our university staff are unsung facilitators and heroes, making all we do possible.”
—Thomas Rankin
Director of the MFA EDA and professor of the practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
RESIST COVID/TAKE 6!
The Nasher Museum collaborated with Duke Arts and Duke Health to present an unprecedented outdoor exhibition and public awareness campaign by nationally renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems. RESIST COVID/TAKE 6! emphasized the disproportionate impact of the deadly virus on the lives of communities of color, through large-scale banners and window clings, posters, street signs, and more.
Thousands of small art objects (buttons, masks, yard signs) were distributed with the help of 14 community partners, the exhibition was installed at 15 locations on and off campus, and 7 organizations offered related programming. The Nasher Museum of Art partnered with the American Dance Festival to present eight choreographic responses by North Carolina dancers on social media. Learn more.
Caption: RESIST COVID/TAKE 6! at the downtown Durham Transit Station. Photo by J. Caldwell.
“I have started to be so much more grateful for the small moments. Any interaction I get to have with and share with friends are so much more significant for me now than they were before. The weather being nice or a great conversation that I have I will never take for granted again. COVID-19 has given me a chance to reflect about all the good in the world and become a more positive person.”
—Anonymous
Respondent to the survey, “Your Stories Matter: Resisting COVID-19, Embracing Loss, Transforming Our World”
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Goes Virtual
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival successfully made an ambitious transition to online-only events. The School of Doc filmmaking camp’s virtual showcase kicked things off in September, followed by a film screening and question-and-answer session, two Speakeasy Conversations with documentary film gatekeepers and contemporary Black filmmakers, four installments of the Teach the Teachers professional development series, and finally, the 2021 virtual festival in June, with 36 short and feature films, a panel introducing the BIPOC Editors Database, and more than two dozen filmmaker Q&As. Learn more.
Still from Faya Dayi, three-time 2021 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival award winner.
“In a year unlike any other, we are grateful to the filmmakers for allowing us to be a part of celebrating their work.”
—Sadie Tillery
Artistic director and interim festival director, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Duke Performances
While stages were dark, Duke Performances transformed. Eight artists performed from their homes into their phones for the April–June 2020 livestream series. Staff collaborated with local film teams in Durham and around the country to produce 36 performance videos. The summer 2020 “Music in Your Gardens” virtual series is now available to watch on NPR Live Sessions. We offered 12 shows free to Durham Public School educators and students and dropped into 11 classrooms for virtual artist visits. All of these activities helped sustain artists through the height of COVID-19. Learn more.
Urban Bush Women in a week-long immersive residency.
“The pandemic allowed Duke Performances to extend its impact within the Durham Public Schools system through virtual field trips: free online performances recorded by artists from around the world and made available district-wide to be streamed into virtual classrooms.”
—Brian Valentyn
Manager of campus and community initiatives, Duke Performances
Reopening Duke Chapel, Duke Gardens, & the Nasher Museum of Art
Duke’s arts venues began to reopen, first to students, faculty, and staff in the fall, and then more broadly in the spring.
The Nasher Museum, while closed to the public throughout the year, welcomed Duke students, faculty and staff to enjoy exhibitions on self-guided visits from September 8, 2020 to April 2021. The Nasher will re-open to the public on September 9, 2021.
Duke Chapel worked with Duke Venue and Production Management in the fall to set up a system for students, faculty, and staff to register to spend time in the Chapel for prayer, meditation, or reflection. In May, the Chapel expanded the system to allow for a limited number of people to attend Sunday morning worship services in person.
Duke Gardens collaborated with students, faculty and staff during its temporary closure, offering by-appointment visits for academic, cultural and wellness activities. On April 1, the Gardens reopened to the full Duke community with timed ticketing. And, on June 1, the general public made its enthusiastic return.
Duke’s Japanese Cultural Club celebrating Hanami in March in the Cherry Allée. Photographed by Jared Lazarus.
“At the Nasher, I’m constantly surrounded by creative, inspiring individuals who’ve shown me there is still a place for me in the art world.”
—Claire Lorraine Hutchinson
Duke Class of 2022
American Dance Festival
While the American Dance Festival had to cancel its 87th annual season in 2020, ADF never stopped dancing. Amidst the crisis, the organization transformed to create and reimagine virtual programs that support artists and engage audiences. Cumulatively, these programs have reached over 70,000 views.
ADF is bringing artists back to the studio and stage through a series of in-person, outdoor experiences this summer and fall. Learn more.
In October 2020, ADF staged a creative healing parade in driveways and lawns of Durham's Trinity Ridge neighborhood.
“Way to go, ADF, for supporting some adventurous, risk-taking, outcome-unknown art making!”
—Charles Slender-Whiten
Dancer and choreographer
Inaugural MFA in Dance Graduates
Equipping the Imagination for Social Transformation
MFA in Dance Class of 2021
The Duke Dance Program celebrated the graduation of the inaugural cohort of Duke’s MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis, a degree dedicated to embodied knowledge and practice-led movement discourses.
“The impressive resilience of the students and faculty allowed creativity to prosper, even amidst adversity. Working with these artists has been a time of wonder and growth, and I am grateful to have served as the inaugural director of this extraordinary graduate program.”
—Michael Kliën
Director, MFA in Dance, Professor of the Practice of Dance
Thank You
For supporting the arts at Duke University
Thank you to the thousands of donors and volunteers who continually support the arts. With your investments, we have created an exceptional arts culture and have woven the arts into the fabric of the Duke experience.
Donor Spotlight
“We’ve Come a Long Way”: Two Generations of Supporting the Arts at Duke
Suzanne Stevens Brock P’87, P’88, P’07 and Geoff Brock ’07. Photo courtesy Geoff Brock.
Duke Performances Advisory Board members Geoff Brock ’07 and Suzanne Stevens Brock discuss their relationship with the performing arts and their hopes for the future of the arts at Duke. “I don’t want Duke to only be known for its athletics or business or law programs; I want it to be known for everything,” shares Geoff.
Read the interviewSupport the arts at Duke
Help shape the arts at Duke by making a gift online at arts.duke.edu/support or contact Maggie Brandt (details below) to explore the many opportunities to give, from the performing arts and faculty professorships to the student arts experience.
In April 2021, members of the Duke Arts Creative Arts Student Team hosted a virtual meet-and-greet for prospective students interested in the arts. When asked, “How would you describe the arts at Duke in 5 words?” students responded with:
“Make what you want every day”
“Vibrant, diverse, horizon-broadening, eye-opening, fun”
“Creating unity, pushing the boundaries”
“Collaborative, ubiquitous/everywhere, inclusive, malleable, low-student-to-faculty Ratio”
“Creative, stimulating, engaging, collaborative, lots-of-fun!”
“Rewarding (1 million % of the time), smile-inducing, diverse, limitless, always something-new-to-create-and-pursue”
Brittain Peck created this illustration for the 2021–2022 Duke Arts commemorative poster and this year's Arts Impact Report.