Three Projects to Receive the 2020 Baumanis Grant

DISPLACEMENT

Krista Svalbonas, Saint Joseph’s University

Krista Svalbonas holds a BFA Photography (Syracuse University) and an MFA Interdisciplinary (SUNY New Paltz). Her work has been exhibited in a number of exhibitions including at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, Spartanburg Art Museum in South Carolina, Klompching Gallery and ISE Cultural Foundation in New York. Her work has been collected in a number of private collections, as well as the Cesis Art Museum in Latvia. Recent awards include the Rhonda Wilson Award (2017), Puffin Foundation Grant (2016) and a Bemis Fellowship (2015) among others. In 2021 Svalbonas is scheduled to have solo exhibitions at the Latvian Museum of Photography in Riga, the Vilnius National museum in Lithuania and the Museum of Photography in Tallinn, Estonia. She is an assistant professor of photography at St. Joseph’s University. She lives and works in Philadelphia.

“NO MORE CREATIVE ACT”: A NEW NOVEL OF NATIONHOOD

Miles Beard, University of Strathclyde and Tallinn University

Miles Beard holds a PhD in English from the University of Strathclyde and will be joining Tallinn University as a Teaching and Research Fellow in the autumn of 2020. With a research background in authorship, critical theory, and literary culture, he looks forward to tackling some of these considerations from a Baltic perspective and manifesting new geopolitical connections to Scotland in his book.

TRANSLATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF OUR HOMELAND AND SOME APPENDICES BRIEFLY RECEIVED”

Madara Seile, Imants Ziedonis Museum

Madara Seile is the manager of the Imants Ziedonis Museum project “On the Way with Krišjānis Barons”. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Latvia, Faculty of Pedagogy, Psychology and Art. Madara has worked in the education sector for seven years. She supports Imants Ziedonis’ philosophy of life – to promote creativity, inspire the society in strengthening Latvianness, as well as to provide an opportunity for those interested to get to know themselves and the world in a creative way.
During its five years of existence, the Imants Ziedonis Museum has accumulated extensive and significant experience in research work and project management. The most significant projects are: Cinema Exhibition Enlighten Latvia, Creation of the Latvian Cultural Canon Lesson, participation in the concert performance All Truths. In cooperation with the publishing house Viegli, the museum has published the works of Imants Ziedonis, as well as their English translations, bearing the names of Imants Ziedonis and Latvia outside the country.