Announcing the Inaugural Tisch Creative Research Collaborative Impact Grantees

Tisch Creative Research is proud to announce the recipients of the first Tisch Creative Research Collaborative Impact Grant. This innovative program empowers faculty-student partnerships to drive groundbreaking, interdisciplinary creative research addressing critical global challenges. The grant fosters partnerships between Tisch faculty, students, and recent alumni, connecting faculty expertise with student/alumni perspectives to catalyze transformative research that extends beyond traditional boundaries and demonstrates the power of the arts to engage with and influence pressing societal issues.

These inaugural grantees represent diverse disciplines and research interests aligned with our key impact areas: climate crisis, arts and health, global perspectives, civic engagement, and the convergence of arts and science.

Meet Our Inaugural Grantees

dance prompts | AI Choreographer

Collaborators: cari ann shim sham* (Arts Professor, Dance), Meenah Nehme ('24, Dance), Karsen Tengan ('22, Dance), and Demetris Charalambous ('22, Dance)

This project develops an open-source community AI choreographer biased toward inclusive and accessible movement. "Dance prompts" incorporates images, text, games, sound, exquisite corpse techniques, improvisation, and the morphic field, allowing humans to act as AI to develop prompts that train a neural network to choreograph.

Assessing the Impact of Sustainable Practices on Theatrical Productions

Collaborators: Harry Winer (Arts Professor, UGFTV), Skye Muthuramalingam (Student, UGFTV), Celeste Yeany (Student, UGFTV), and Rosa Sandoval-Carlsten (Student, UGFTV)

This project aims to assess the impact and encourage the use of sustainable production practices in film, theater, and dance productions, promoting environmentally conscious approaches within performing arts.

Beyond the Storm

Collaborators: Yuliya Parshina-Kottas (Assistant Arts Professor, ITP/IMA), Maryia Markhvida ('24, ITP)

This immersive visualization project combines climate science, AI, and storytelling to help vulnerable NYC communities experience potential storm damage in their neighborhoods, bridging the gap between abstract climate data and tangible local impact.

The Yāḻ: Reviving a Lost Sound

Collaborators: JD Samson (Assistant Arts Professor, Clive Davis Institute), Hitha Yelluru ('23, Clive Davis Institute)

Focused on the Yāḻ—a curved string instrument similar to the harp dating back to at least the 2nd century B.C.E.—this research explores how the extinction of this historically and culturally significant ancient Indian instrument affects present-day musicians and communities. The project will uncover the historical timeline of the Yāḻ, examine barriers faced by musicians who play it, and develop strategies to sustain the practice and bring visibility to both the instrument and those who uphold its tradition.

Bridging Theory and Practice within a Classroom Setting

Collaborators: Luis Rincon Alba (Assistant Professor, Art & Public Policy), Shamar Watt (MFA Candidate, Dance)

This pedagogical initiative integrates Zimbabwean movement technique Nhaka into classroom teaching to bridge the theory-practice divide, connecting students to ancestral knowledge and embodied learning practices.

Touchy-Feely Algae

Collaborators: Yeseul Song (Assistant Arts Professor, ITP/IMA), Priyanka Makin ('24, ITP)

This research investigates and develops sustainable materials and their creative possibilities, focusing on agar agar as a compostable plastic alternative. Building on their 2023 launch of Material Kitchen, the team will further explore agar agar's properties and design applications relevant to physical computing.

We look forward to sharing updates on these innovative projects in the coming months. For questions about Tisch Creative Research or interest in future grant opportunities, please contact: tisch.research@nyu.edu