From sculptural installations, exhibitions and performances to a symposium on DIY electronics, 41 art projects by Cornell artists and organizations will be presented on campus this academic year with funding support from the Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA).

The CCA will provide a $2,500 grant to 16 projects by Cornell faculty, departments and programs, and $1,000 for each of 25 projects by students and student organizations. The council also awarded its annual block grants ($8,000 each) to Cornell Cinema and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art to support ongoing arts programming vital to the cultural life of the Cornell community.

During this grant cycle, the CCA received significantly more applications than in previous years from Cornell artists and arts departments -- applications were up 23 percent from 2011-12. CCA Director Stephanie Owens said she was not entirely surprised at the number of applications.

"It underscores the need for funding to Cornell artists and shows how support for the arts directly impacts the level of creativity and culture on campus," Owens said.

In addition to projects in traditional arts disciplines such as theater, music, art history and design, the CCA funded a collaborative media project by Ferdinand Kohle and Maximilian Spielmann, graduate students in the fields of chemistry and earth science, respectively. Funding decisions are based on a project's artistic merit, the degree to which it expands the boundaries of a particular discipline, and its potential impact on the community at large.

Seventeen student artists were awarded grants to create or present new work. In addition to Kohl and Spielman, they are: Matilda Ceesay, fiber science and apparel design; Joanna Baucic, Michelle Chen, Taber Elizabeth Colletti, Hannah Levy, Gaby Wolodarski and Raja'a Khalid, art; Carly Dean/Peter Gudonis, Katie MacDonald/Kyle Schumann and Sameera Razak, architecture; Michael Small and David Friend, music; and Spencer Whale, performing and media arts.

MacDonald and Schumann, both B.Arch. '13, will exhibit "Lightwave," a public seating design installation reflecting Ithaca's rugged terrain through an undulating form made of colored light and wood, in the spring.

Khalid, MFA '13, will present "PERSPOLIS: The Party of the Century" in February in Olive Tjaden Gallery. The sculptural installation, based on the former shah of Iran's lavish Persepolis celebrations of 1971, is intended as an "exploration of the relationship between art and power," according to Khalid.

Eleven student organizations received funding for publications, visiting artists, theater productions and exhibitions. They are: 4th and Verse Books, AAP Association, Contrapunkt!, Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players, Cornell Fashion Collective, Cornell Taiko (Yamatai), CU Jazz Voices, the Johnson Museum Club, History of Art Majors Society, Melodramatics Theatre Company and the Pakistani Students Association.

Faculty, department or program grants were awarded to: Graduate Artist's Group; Daren Kendall, art; John Zissovici, architecture; Xak Bjerken, Michael Compitello, Kevin Ernste, Judith Kellock and Steven Stucky, Chris Kim, Annie Lewandowski, Paul Merrill, and Cynthia Johnston Turner, music; Melanie Dreyer-Lude and Carolyn Goelzer, performing and media arts; Trevor Pinch, science and technology studies; the South Asia Program; and the LGBT Studies Program.

Pinch will present "DIY Electronic Symposium: Psychedelic Electronic Sound of a Generation," in the spring, bringing together musicians, artists, academics, students and community members for demonstrations, a panel discussion, and other events including a circuit-bending workshop.

Goelzer's "The Plant Society" is an installation/performance work based on Daniel Defoe's "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Infamous Moll Flanders" and Goelzer's experience of raising 200 plants from seed in her Minneapolis studio. An installation of geraniums in the Schwartz Center atrium will accompany a series of related performances this spring.