42 IN FALL 2016, SCMA LAUNCHED MUSEUM GRANTS for Student Programs, funding for student-initiated programs that connect Smith students with their campus museum. These programs are sparked by student interest, selected through an application process, and produced in collaboration with the post-baccalaureate fellows in education, and marketing and communications. In addition to receiving funding, students gain professional mentorship to develop an event that brings together the Smith community and the museum’s collection. As of fall 2017, there will be two application cycles for Museum Grants, during which current Smith students can apply as individuals, as representatives of a house or as repre- sentatives of an active student organization. The Smith College Asian Students Association’s (ASA) grant proposal became Around the World in EighTEA Minutes, a global tea talk and tasting in the spring semester. Yao Wu, curator of Asian art, led a gallery talk in the Christ Gallery of Asian Art with Thomas H. Rohlich, professor emeritus of East Asian languages and literatures at Smith. Students also experienced a traditional GongFu Cha ceremony, performed by Crystal Zang ‘20 (see below). In addition, ASA organized samplings of tea from China, Morocco, India and South America—generously provided by Dobrá Tea in downtown Northampton. This collaboration was a success, and our community partner also trained ASA organizers how to prepare masala chai, zhu cha, Moroccan mint tea and yerba mate. Students were then able to apply their new hands-on knowledge as a complement to their extensive research on tea history. STUDENT ENGAGEMENT MUSEUM GRANTS FOR STUDENT PROGRAMS THE TRYON PRIZES FOR WRITING AND ART Each year SCMA awards prizes to students for out- standing writing related to art seen at the museum and for exceptional installation, performance, video, sound, digital, internet or interactive art. The prizes, named for the painter Dwight W. Tryon, who led the studio art department at Smith from 1886 to 1923, are awarded by an anonymous jury of faculty and museum staff. In spring 2017, two students received monetary awards for their work: Sophie Harreid ’17 received the Tryon Prize for Art for her 25-second rotoscope animation, “the space between.” Sophie describes her work as exploring “the buzzing energy of stillness within motion.” She writes, “Although I spent at least 40 hours on the actual rotoscoping of the animation in Adobe Photoshop, I also put considerable forethought into the exact choreography and framing of this micro-dance film.” The video was created for the course Introduction to Digital Media. Tessa Goldsher ’17 was awarded the Tryon Prize for Writing for her research paper, “Ghada Amer’s Kiss Cross: Crafting Sexuality and Cultural Hybridity in Diaspora.” The paper was written for the course Islamic Art and Architecture. ABOVE: Ghada Amer; Reza Farkhondeh. Amer: born Egypt, 1963. Farkhondeh: born Iran, 20th century. Kiss Cross, 2006. Lithograph printed in color with hand-sewn elements on paper. Purchased with the Josephine A. Stein, class of 1927, Fund in honor of the class of 1927 ABOVE: Participants observing a tea ceremony demonstation at Around the World in EighTEA Minutes STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: MUSEUM GRANTS/STUDENT PERSPECTIVE