Great ideas often begin with a spark of inspiration, but bringing them to life takes resources, collaboration, and opportunity. At the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance (SOMD), the Committee for Equity and Inclusion (CEI) helps turn those ideas into reality through its grant program. CEI grants create opportunities for students, faculty, and audiences to experience the arts in new and meaningful ways. In 2026, six grant recipients put that support to work, bringing internationally acclaimed performers to Eugene, championing underrepresented composers, commissioning new music, and sharing artistic traditions that cross cultural and geographic boundaries.
Bringing World-Class Chamber Music to Eugene
For UO faculty member Arnaud Ghillebaert, the opportunity to collaborate with the acclaimed Beo String Quartet began well before the ensemble arrived in Eugene. In March, Ghillebaert traveled to Pittsburgh to meet the quartet, rehearse, and build the personal and musical connections that would shape their upcoming performances.
Those preparations culminated in a two-day residency on April 25–26, 2026, featuring concerts at Cascade Manor and UO's Beall Concert Hall.
The programs paired familiar masterworks with contemporary compositions. Audiences heard music by J.S. Bach and Beethoven alongside El Balcon, a work by the quartet's own violist, Mexican American composer Sean Neukom. For the second half of each performance, Ghillebaert joined the ensemble on viola for Kenji Bunch's celebrated string quintet, String Circle.
CEI funding helped cover the quartet's performance stipend, making the residency possible and bringing an internationally recognized ensemble into direct contact with UO students and the Eugene community.
The performances also offered students a chance to encounter classical music in unexpected ways. Neukom's composition, which incorporated narration, singing, and unconventional instrumental techniques, made a particularly strong impression.
"It really did succeed in creating the awe and wonder that one would feel in experiencing something supernatural," one student reflected.
Another student found the program a powerful reminder that classical music is a living, evolving art form.
"This concert proves that it is still active," the student observed, noting the inclusion of works by living composers.
Rediscovering the Voices of Women Composers
While Ghillebaert's project brought new musical experiences to local audiences, Steve Rodgers looked to the past to bring overlooked music to listeners around the world.
His project, Imagined Song Cycles, explores the music of nineteenth-century women composers whose works have too often been absent from the standard repertoire. Through archival research, musical editing, and creative curation, Rodgers assembled independently composed songs into four newly conceived song cycles.
The result is a forthcoming recording on the Orchid Classics label, featuring internationally recognized performers and offering a fresh perspective on historically underrepresented musical voices.
CEI Mini Grant funding helped support the professional recording and production costs, an essential step in transforming years of scholarly and creative work into a finished album.
The recording sessions brought together mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, tenor James Gilchrist, pianist Jocelyn Freeman, and recording engineer Jan Capinski.
Scheduled for release in early 2027, Imagined Song Cycles demonstrates how artistic research can do more than illuminate the past. It can create new opportunities for performers and audiences to discover music that deserves to be heard.
Exploring Culture, Resistance, and the Power of Movement
The intersection of artistic practice and cultural identity was central to Amy Swanson's CEI-supported project, which welcomed scholar Esther Viola Kurtz to campus in March.
Kurtz presented a THEME lecture titled A Beautiful Fight: Researching Capoeira, Playing with Money, exploring the complex relationships among capoeira, racial politics, and resistance in Brazil.
Drawing on the ethnographic research behind her recent book, Kurtz invited attendees to consider both the possibilities and limitations of capoeira as a practice connected to antiracist struggle.
The lecture attracted approximately 25–30 faculty members, students, and community participants. Kurtz also visited Swanson's DAN 301: African Dance Aesthetics course, providing guest instruction to 19 undergraduate students.
For students, the visit connected classroom learning with contemporary scholarship and lived cultural practices. For the broader community, it created space for thoughtful conversation about the ways music and dance can express identity, challenge systems of power, and contribute to social change.
The project exemplified the CEI program's commitment to educational experiences that expand perspectives and encourage meaningful engagement with diverse artistic traditions.
Celebrating Latin American and Iberian Art Song
A similar spirit of cultural discovery shaped a January residency organized by Camille Ortiz, who welcomed internationally recognized soprano and musicologist Patricia Caicedo to the School of Music and Dance.
Widely regarded as a leading scholar and interpreter of Latin American and Iberian art song, Caicedo spent three days on campus, sharing her expertise through lectures, individual coachings, and a masterclass.
More than 18 voice students participated directly in the coachings and masterclass, while the larger SOMD and university communities benefited from her well-attended lectures.
The residency also offered an opportunity to celebrate student achievement and build connections beyond the classroom.
Following a student concert on January 21, a reception supported by a $400 CEI grant brought students, faculty, and their distinguished guest together for conversation and celebration.
Though modest in scale, the funding helped create an important moment of community, giving emerging performers an opportunity to connect personally with an artist whose scholarship and performances have helped elevate an important body of musical repertoire.
Creating New Possibilities for Voice and Percussion
For Nathan Juarez, the focus was not on rediscovering existing repertoire but on creating something new.
His Cycles and Spheres project seeks to expand the possibilities for singing percussionists, performers who combine vocal and percussion techniques in a distinctive and demanding musical practice.
With CEI support, Juarez led the Cycles and Spheres Commission Consortium, collaborating with 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner Susie Ibarra on her composition Wind Crossing and Brazilian American composer Felipe Lara on Blake's Infinity.
The funding also helped Juarez commission Danse Domestique by Randy Stagich and compose his own five-movement song cycle, The Scholar.
Together, these works contribute new repertoire to a specialized field, opening possibilities for future performers while encouraging composers to explore the relationship between the human voice and percussion.
The project continues beyond the initial commissions and premieres. Juarez is now documenting the works through video recordings and developing a full-length album devoted to music for voice and percussion.
Taking Dance to a National Stage
For Joshua Ikechukwu, CEI funding helped carry a creative vision beyond Eugene to a national gathering of dancers, choreographers, and educators.
Ikechukwu received a $700 grant in support of Zam Ekpele, a work presented at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) conference at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in March of 2026.
The funding supported the participation of a live percussionist, an essential component of the work's artistic presentation.
By strengthening the relationship between movement and live music, the additional percussionist enriched the performance's rhythmic complexity and expressive impact.
The conference also offered an opportunity for artistic exchange, professional development, and engagement with a broader community of dance practitioners.
For Ikechukwu, the support represented more than financial assistance. It was an investment in the artistic integrity of the work and in the opportunity to share it with audiences and colleagues beyond the university.
Small Grants, Lasting Impact
Across all six projects, a common thread emerges: the arts are strengthened when people have opportunities to collaborate, explore unfamiliar perspectives, and share their work with others.
Through its grant program, the Committee for Equity and Inclusion continues to support those opportunities, helping SOMD transform creative ambitions into experiences that enrich the university, the Eugene community, and the wider artistic world.