Kimia Koochakzadeh | 4th-year music major

1) What did you use your FCAT Undergraduate Funding Award for?

 It was for a music composition festival/workshop taken place in Los Angeles, California.
 
2) How did it feel to receive the Award?

Receiving the award helped me feel more at ease by providing me with more free time to work on my compositions rather than having to work at my part-time job. More significantly, the fact that my career was being supported by the school was a huge heart-warming sensation and it created a sense of belonging which was very rewarding! 
 
3) How did receiving the Award help you meet your academic and career goals?

I got to work directly with wasteLAnd ensemble and also receive feedback and insight from well-known composers such as Michelle Lou and Micheal Pisaro. It created future opportunities for me; for example, two of the wasteLAnd ensemble’s performers, Racheal Beetz and Dustin Donahue, will be performing one of my pieces as part of wasteLAnd concert series in April in LA.  

4) What was the most memorable part of your experience? 

I attended this festival right after another fascinating and productive festival at Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. The support, the welcomeness, and the high energy and joy that I received from the faculty of wasteLAnd academy and the other participants gave me a great deal of strength to make the most out of the program! 

I also got to develop the piece, Evolvement II.b, which was written particularly for wasteLAnd ensemble. This piece was premiered by the ensemble in August 2019 at ArtShare LA. The academy, provided a high-quality video and audio documentation which has greatly impacted my portfolio. The fact that I can use it to apply for grants/awards and other workshops is a huge help in developing my career further while having a solid documentation of it.

5) How did your experience with this Award help prepare you for life after graduation?

It gave me a deeper insight into how the professional world works and how it is to work with established performers. The workshops and talks that took place during the academy provided useful information about the administrative aspects of being an active composer/musician.

Corrina Tang | 4th-year SIAT and Business joint major

1) What did you use your FCAT Undergraduate Funding Award for?

I travelled to Seattle to attend the Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC) 2019 - a tech and design conference which consists of presentations, workshops and networking events. 

2) How did it feel to receive the Award?

As a student, conferences and staying in Seattle for a couple days is quite an expense, SIC did spark an interest but I knew at the moment, I wouldn’t be able to attend. I saw a post about the FCAT Undergraduate Funding Award and I thought, this might be my chance to go to the conference. I was quite grateful and excited that I was able to receive the funding to attend the conference and take a little trip down to Seattle. 

3) How did receiving the Award help you meet your academic and career goals?

Going to SIC allowed me to widen my knowledge on interactive design and allowed me to meet and learn from others who are currently in the design and tech industry. The workshops and sessions have been beneficial and the knowledge I have gained have been shared with my peers in my program and can also be seen carried through the projects that I work on. The conference really helped reignite the passion I had for design and reminded me that design holds a lot of power and responsibility in our everyday lives. 

4) What was the most memorable part of your experience? 

For me, the most memorable part of the experience was that I was able to meet with other designers from Vancouver and Seattle. I really enjoyed being able to share notes we’ve taken at the different talks we went to with on another other. We would also grab lunch and then grab dinner after the conference and just chat about what it feels like to be a designer - the struggles and challenges we faced, the insecurities we have, what made us become designers. I really enjoyed being a part of the design community and being able to have these connections and conversations.

5) How did your experience with this Award help prepare you for life after graduation?

Seattle has always been a place for design. For a second year design class, we went to Seattle to observe the architecture around the city and to also compete in a design charrette. Recently, my friend and I went for a day trip in Seattle to attend The Design Lecture Series - the lecture for that night was given by Sheila Levrant De Bretteville. I love learning about different forms of design and other people’s perspectives and knowledge on design, so being so close to Seattle and having these opportunities has truly been a blessing.

This experience gave me perspective on the design scene in Seattle. It has definitely made me consider if Seattle is a place I would like to live and work in after graduation.