PHILADELPHIA - Venissa Santi, a 2001 UArts vocal studies graduate of The University of the Arts, has been selected to receive a prestigious Pew Fellowship in the Arts and its $60,000 prize, according to Pew officials.
“It is a highly competitive process and each year I am awed by the dedication and commitment demonstrated by Philadelphia-area artists," Pew Fellowships in the Arts Director Melissa Franklin said of the program that is now in its 17th year and has awarded 220 fellowships to 225 artists, totaling more than $11 million. “By supporting the region's most talented artists, the Fellowships highlight the important contributions they make to the rich cultural life of Philadelphia and beyond."
Sant inherited her musical passion from her grandfather, a Cuban composer, and moved to Philadelphia when she was 17 to attended The University of the Arts. She became a trained vocalist with classical- and jazz-based technique, all the while seeking to find her own voice. Sant began an intense listening regimen of early Celia Cruz which inspired her to travel to Cuba and find a master to train her. At the same time, she began teaching at the Asociacin de Msicos Latino Americanos, a community music school in North Philadelphia. Sant has become an active participant in the Latin community and the Latin music scene of Philadelphia as a soloist in many world and jazz group's concerts and recordings. She has done four one-month research trips to Havana and Matanzas, Cuba. Working with master singers she immersed herself in African Yoruba religious music and Rumba. From 2002 Santi studied with master singer Jorge Salazar in Havana. She mentored with pianist Orlando Fiol from 2002-2006 and continues her studies with Elizabeth Sayre with whom she's been studying since 2001. Her first solo recording, Bienvenida (unreleased), is a bilingual album of jazz and Cuban standards and Afro-Cuban folkloric songs, she wrote and arranged herself.
Pew Fellowships in the Arts is located at the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. The goal of the program is to award outstanding artists who live and work in the five-county Philadelphia area, who have a demonstrated commitment and professional accomplishment within their field, and who will continue their artistic growth within the five-county Philadelphia area. The grants provide artists with economic freedom so that they have the opportunity to concentrate on their work over a considerable period of time--to explore, to experiment, and to develop it more fully. The program aims to provide such support at moments in artists' careers when a concentration on artistic growth and exploration is most likely to have the greatest impact on an artist's long-term personal and professional development. For more information, visit www.pewarts.org.
The University of the Arts is the nation's first and only university dedicated to the visual, performing and communication arts. Its 2,300 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs on its campus in the heart of Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts. The institution's roots as a leader in educating creative individuals date back to 1868.
“It is a highly competitive process and each year I am awed by the dedication and commitment demonstrated by Philadelphia-area artists," Pew Fellowships in the Arts Director Melissa Franklin said of the program that is now in its 17th year and has awarded 220 fellowships to 225 artists, totaling more than $11 million. “By supporting the region's most talented artists, the Fellowships highlight the important contributions they make to the rich cultural life of Philadelphia and beyond."
Sant inherited her musical passion from her grandfather, a Cuban composer, and moved to Philadelphia when she was 17 to attended The University of the Arts. She became a trained vocalist with classical- and jazz-based technique, all the while seeking to find her own voice. Sant began an intense listening regimen of early Celia Cruz which inspired her to travel to Cuba and find a master to train her. At the same time, she began teaching at the Asociacin de Msicos Latino Americanos, a community music school in North Philadelphia. Sant has become an active participant in the Latin community and the Latin music scene of Philadelphia as a soloist in many world and jazz group's concerts and recordings. She has done four one-month research trips to Havana and Matanzas, Cuba. Working with master singers she immersed herself in African Yoruba religious music and Rumba. From 2002 Santi studied with master singer Jorge Salazar in Havana. She mentored with pianist Orlando Fiol from 2002-2006 and continues her studies with Elizabeth Sayre with whom she's been studying since 2001. Her first solo recording, Bienvenida (unreleased), is a bilingual album of jazz and Cuban standards and Afro-Cuban folkloric songs, she wrote and arranged herself.
Pew Fellowships in the Arts is located at the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. The goal of the program is to award outstanding artists who live and work in the five-county Philadelphia area, who have a demonstrated commitment and professional accomplishment within their field, and who will continue their artistic growth within the five-county Philadelphia area. The grants provide artists with economic freedom so that they have the opportunity to concentrate on their work over a considerable period of time--to explore, to experiment, and to develop it more fully. The program aims to provide such support at moments in artists' careers when a concentration on artistic growth and exploration is most likely to have the greatest impact on an artist's long-term personal and professional development. For more information, visit www.pewarts.org.
The University of the Arts is the nation's first and only university dedicated to the visual, performing and communication arts. Its 2,300 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs on its campus in the heart of Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts. The institution's roots as a leader in educating creative individuals date back to 1868.
For more information contact University of the Arts, Media Relations.
