For over 35 years, the Benenson Awards in the Arts has provided Duke undergraduates with funding to pursue summer arts training, research, or projects. But what happens after the grant? How does that experience shape an individual’s creative journey years down the line? We reached out to four Duke alums who received Benenson Awards to hear where they are today. From launching professional opportunities to shaping new creative directions, their stories reveal the lasting impact of this grant on their professional and personal journeys.
2019 & 2021 Recipient
I am currently a PhD candidate in Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford, as well as a practicing director, designer and puppeteer. My time at the National Theater Institute, supported by the Benenson, completely shaped how I do theater today. The connections I developed at The O’Neill led to me working in an off-Broadway theater in New York (until I started my PhD), and the training I received empowered me to make theater wherever I go. I learned that I don’t need anyone’s permission to make theater, and performance can happen anywhere and at any time. With that ethos, I seamlessly adapted to making theater at Stanford on a small budget and still created a deeply powerful staging about femicide in Mexico and Mexican women’s resilience. Taking the script from page to stage wasn’t as daunting after having done that six times over six weeks at the National Theater Institute.
2019 & 2020 Recipient
Today I am in the second half of my Studio Artist contract here at Opera Orlando, having obtained a Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. My journey to Frost began my junior year summer when I attended the Si Parla, Si Canta summer opera program in Arona, Italy. It was at this program that I met Kim Josephson, whom I identified as the person with whom I wanted to study voice in graduate school. At this Benenson-supported project, I sang my first full opera role (the title role in Gianni Schicchi), sang with an orchestra for the first time, and learned how to speak Italian (an extremely important skill for an opera singer). I made my first connections with people in the opera community; both my peers and mentors in the United States and abroad; some of these have lasted until today. This experience was made possible by the Benenson Arts Award I received while I was a Duke student. Even more importantly, it was at this program that I decided to pursue Opera singing as a career, a decision that altered my life completely and forever. Words cannot begin to capture the impact that the Benenson support has had in my professional and, thus, personal life, nor can they do justice to the profound gratitude I feel to this day.
2015 Recipient
“A Research Odyssey: Letters To Penelope”
My project built on my 2015 senior thesis, Letters To Penelope, a television pilot I wrote under the supervision of Neal Bell in the Theater Studies department. For my thesis I worked to adapt Homer’s Odyssey to a modern context, writing a pilot and submitting a research paper on the process. To extend this, I proposed a trip to Athens and Ithaca to conduct first-hand research on locations significant to the story, and also in regards to the intersection between the ancient and the modern. I received partial funding for my project and I was able to fundraise more.
I felt so fortunate to travel to Greece and walk in the probable footsteps of characters I had spent more than a year researching and writing. Although my television show will never see air, it produced foundational work that I was able to bring to my good friend Shannon Potter ’15 for her high school English classroom. Shannon was an inaugural Duke TeachHouse Fellow, and the Odyssey module we created together was so successful, we received a TeachHouse grant to create a “Teach the Teachers” curriculum to introduce it to others.
Writing and storytelling are still very important to me. I graduated from medical school in 2024, and I think it has never been more important to apply humanism and the humanities to healthcare. The Benenson Award helped prepare me to be a better physician, even if that wasn’t the stated goal of my project.
I also recently married a Duke alum and fellow 2015 Benenson Award recipient, Austin Powers.
2015 Recipient
“Multimedia Scenography and Object Theater at the Prague Quadrennial”
The first three times I traveled overseas, it was on scholarship from Duke to study art: two summer semesters (Duke in Berlin and Duke in London) and the Benenson project I proposed, attending the 2015 Prague Quadrennial. Torry Bend, a mentor in the Theater Studies department, drew my attention to this festival-exhibition and encouraged me to participate. With Benenson support I had the time and freedom to thoroughly explore this “World’s Fair of Performance Design” with a particular focus on multimedia scenography. Building on my 2015 senior thesis project, co-created with Jamie Bell (who received a 2014 Benenson Award in support of our research), I investigated the intersections of technology and socially responsive storytelling and worked to shape my artistic instincts and curiosity.
Ten years later, I earn my living as a technician-designer for theater, dance, and other performing arts. My work has been seen by thousands of patrons here in the Triangle and in six overseas festivals to date. It started in a major way with the Benenson Award, which let me be a serious artist on my own terms — no longer a student, no longer following a syllabus, but responsible for finding my own way in a world of possibility. I remain very grateful for this gift.
I also recently married a fellow Duke alum and 2015 Benenson Award recipient, Yara Alemi.
Do you have a project or experience you want to fund this summer? Apply for the Benenson Awards in the Arts. The deadline for 2025 Benenson Award applications is Monday, March 17!
Please note that due to a large candidate pool for Benenson Awards in the Arts, priority is given to first-time applicants.