On June 11, 2025, the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) announced the recipients of the first round of its 2025 Artist Projects grants. Grant applications were reviewed and scored by community members this spring. In total, 44 artists working in dance, fashion, literary arts, music, theater, visual arts and film were awarded $532,246, including $10,000 each to Ohio State Dance Assistant Professor Alfonso Cervera and Alumni Nico Lawson (MFA 2024), Joshua Manculich (MFA 2017), and Mollie Wolf (MFA 2023).
- Alfonso Abraham Cervera Jr. - En mi CueRPO / In my BoDY
- Nico Lawson - My body’s liturgies: A Grieving Landscape
- Joshua Manculich - A Simple Ode
- Mollie Wolf - (un)entanglement
GCAC also awarded Alumna Loren Bucek (MA 1980, PhD 2013) a Funds for Artists grant for June and July 2025 for art making/ painting, exhibiting in the community - e.g., Hammond Harkins Gallery, Verne Riffe Center for Government and Arts, Columbus Dance Theatre, Harvest Restaurant and Neurological Center at Riverside Methodist Church) and social media development. Additionally, Dr. Bucek is curating her first group art show, Chasing the Light: Artists Speak at the McConnell Arts Center from September 24,2026 - November 12, 2026.
Chasing The Light: Artists Speak is an intergenerational, community & theme-based art exhibition that explores the concept of light from literal, metaphorical, analytical, expressive, spiritual, social justice and aesthetic dimensions. 32 visual and performing arts from Ohio, New York, North Carolina and Florida including a few longtime affiliates of The Ohio State University Dance Department including alumna, full-time and adjunct faculty, former staff, and a former husband of faculty. Loren Bucek, Linda Yoder (Bauer), Marlene Robbins, Dave Covey, Carol Kane, Nico Eli Lawson, Chloe Napoletano, Sarah Hixon, Sarah Ramey, Brianna Rhodes, Orlando Hunter-Valentine, Ricarrdo Hunter-Valentine, Glenn Doell have all signed on to the project. There will many be others announced as the choreography unfolds...
A multi-arts performance will take place on October 2, 2026. Featured performing artists include: Brother(hood) Dance!, Hixon Dance, Perennial Movement Group (Columbus and Athens), Columbus Dance Theatre, Russell Lepley (Flux & Flow), Brianna Rhodes, and Lance Johnson. and one more surprise person to be announced closer to the performance date.
More information about this project will be available in Spring/Summer 2026.
