Announcing the Inaugural Henson Week Mini-Grant Recipients
A program providing affordable outdoor equipment to foster active play. A multimedia musical drawing on the aesthetics of Jim Henson Studios in the 1980s. A fairy village workshop encouraging participants to connect with loved ones across space and time.
These are among the projects selected for Henson Week Mini-Grants, a new funding opportunity honoring the legacy of University of Maryland alums Jim ’60 and Jane ’55 Henson. Presented by Arts for All, Office of Innovation within the Division of Research and the Office of Marketing and Communications, the grants provide up to $500 in seed funding to individual students, student groups or staff who want to explore an idea, test a novel approach or initiate a project that sparks creativity, fosters collaboration or impacts the community.
All recipients took part in at least one of the 50 Henson Week events across campus September 20-26, in celebration of the theme “Create. Make. Play.” While these mini-grants will provide seed funding for an initial idea, awardees will be further supported by the Office of Innovation team to connect with resources across campus that will help them refine and further develop their idea.
Learn more about the recipients and their projects:
Students
mei bowyer, Ph.D. candidate in urban education
bowyer’s project brings together archival recovery and speculative storytelling through a collaborative, public-facing workshop. Participants will engage archival fragments through creative writing, collective storytelling and visual making to explore the voices, histories and imagination that archives often leave unfinished or unrecorded. The workshop will use creative experimentation to reimagine how we engage the past and present while envisioning the unlimited possibilities of the future.
Katherine Macyshyn, master’s student in studio art
Macyshyn will develop M(vs+ic)TV, a multimedia musical that draws on the aesthetics of the 1980s Jim Henson Studios, using song, set design and play to support inner child healing and reparenting. She will record 3-5 original songs with percussionist Steve Bloom, exploring how synchrony can be achieved by combining live percussion with their layered vocals.
Student Organizations
VIPS Biosensor Team
The VIPS Biosensors team will develop a portable, low-cost dengue detection system prototype for communities with limited laboratory resources. Their prototype combines DNA amplification with a paper test strip for an easy-to-read result. By integrating a compact heater, they aim to work through the practical challenges of turning a lab assay into an impactful tool outside the lab.
Terrapin Think Tank
Terrapin Think Tank will develop “Park in a Box,” a pilot program that provides affordable outdoor equipment that will increase youth physical activity. Terrapin Think Tank members, led by Zoe Razunguzwa, will facilitate activities while allowing children to experiment, collaborate and develop their own ideas for movement. Through this pilot, Terrapin Think Tank aims to make existing community spaces more accessible for active play.
Staff
Katherine Brandt, Dean’s Office, College of Arts & Humanities
Brandt will create Sara’s Fairy Village, a one-day, interactive, community artwork project rooted in the belief that imagination need not be abandoned in adulthood. Using natural sustainably sourced materials, participants will create a tiny world of woodland cottages and winding paths that reflect Jim Henson’s spirit of imagination and play. Inspired by a desire to connect with loved ones across space and time, participants can leave messages for someone they miss, providing an outlet to connect with those who are separated by oceans, time or silence.
Amy Chester, Dean’s Office, College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences
Chester will work with teachers at University Park Elementary School to inspire creativity and career exploration for students through an outdoor community mural. The project will highlight stories of successful alumni, encouraging students to dream big about future careers. In addition,the project will foster art exploration, appreciation and education.
Erica Estrada-Liou, Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Estrade-Liou, through her role in the Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, will collaborate with teachers and staff at College Park Academy (CPA), to bring innovation skills into middle school classrooms. CPA teachers will lead nearly 400 middle schoolers through the Sock Puppet Making module, a design challenge she created drawing on Jim Henson’s legacy of creativity and play. Students will imagine, sketch and build their own sock puppet characters, practicing idea generation and prototyping along the way.