usitt.org: The 2013 Student International Travel Grant program opens September 15, 2012. Students who are looking for support to travel and work on international research projects are eligible. The grant, offered every other year, can support students seeking funding for theatre design, technology, and research related international travel. The award amount is $1,000, and is supported by the USITT International Fund and made available through the USITT International Committee.
3 comments:
This grant program is a great way to expand the experience of theatre practitioners who could more than likely not afford to travel outside of the country. It seems that this would also have a trickle down effect of bringing new methods and techniques into our small world in a big way. It is unfortunate that there is not a larger emphasis placed on USITT involvement here at CMU drama. I would love to see some CMU names on that list of recipients. It is great that the focus of these grants is to research through practical work for international companies. Overall this seems to be a great help for students who want to expand outside of their comfort zone.
Luke, we tend to get our names on the Tech Expo and award winners lists... :)
Agreed though, what a cool program. A grant like this could assist a student in doing a study-abroad experience, or help a professional make their way to a Fringe festival or experience a specific regional style of theatre to bring it back to the US and inform their designs. I have a harder time believing that technology is so vastly different internationally, since the Internet has done a great job of connecting technicians to each other and (maybe it's ethnocentrism, but) I see a lot more American companies being used to outsource, rather than American companies outsourcing to overseas for theatrical products. I'd be intrigued to find out if any studies or writeups have been done about these grant recipients' work.
While I agree that this program is a great idea, I'm not sure how much of an impact it will make in the overall picture of trying to travel internationally. While of course every bit helps, I'm not sure that $1000 is going to really support you that much when you are traveling to that extent. It most definitely would be a start, but it is not going to pay for everything, and you would still need to find quite a bit of money elsewhere.
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