Laura's Presentation - The City College of New York

2010 City Seeds Grants 

Mid-Project Presentations 

Collaboration & Encounter: 

Hans Richter and The Film 

Institute @ CCNY 

David Davidson, Professor 

Media & Communication Arts 

Paul Kozel, Assoc. Professor 

Music 

Chad Jenkins, Asst. Professor 

Music

Project Description 

• A multi-faceted exploration of collaboration in the arts 

through the life and work of iconic avant-garde artist, 

filmmaker and radical educator Hans Richter, who directed 

the Film Institute at CCNY from 1942 to 1957. 

• Faculty, students and visiting artists will converge to produce 

a series of interlocking creative activities timed to coincide 

with the 60 th anniversary of Richter assuming the directorship 

at CCNY and new exhibition of his work at The Centre 

Pompidou-Metz and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Goals and Objectives 

• Curriculum Development 

• Music BFA (SAC): 

SOUND AND PICTURE IN THE AVANT-GARDE FILM 

• MCA MFA and BFA: 

DOCUMENTARY FILM AND THE ARTS 

• Music Undergraduate BAs and MAs: 

Scholarly Writing on Richter and the Arts

Goals and Objectives 

• The Documentary Film 

HANS RICHTER: EVERYTHING TURNS 

EVERYTHING REVOLVES 

• The Oral History Project 

HANS RICHTER & THE INSTITUTE OF FILM TECHNIQUES 

AT CITY COLLEGE 

• The Conference 

CONSTRUCTING HANS RICHTER

Cross Disciplinary Nature 

• The Curriculum 

SOUND AND PICTURE IN THE AVANT – GARDE FILM (MUSIC S-12) 

Exploring Richter’s sense of visual rhythm in his films, 

students will create their own scores or develop research 

projects. Provides a framework for students to understand the 

parallel developments in music, film and painting through the 

20th Century from Dadaism to late-century performance art.



DOCUMENTARY FILM AND THE ARTS (MCA / S-12) 

• Students will collaborate in making a short documentary film 

exploring the process of “rescoring” of the Richter films by 

Music students.



• The courses are free standing with content unique to majors, but 

they will bring MCA and Music students together in the following 

modes: 

• Workshops with visiting artists 

• Combined sessions with Professor Jenkins providing a larger 

historic/cultural context in which Richter and his colleagues 

functioned. 

•


• The Documentary 

HANS RICHTER: 

EVERYTHING TURNS - EVERYTHING REVOLVES 

• Long-form film on the life and work of Hans Richter in Europe 

and at The Institute of Film Techniques at City College. 

• Faculty Collaboration 

• Learning laboratory for Music and MCA majors.

Roles of PI’s 

• David Davidson 

• Curriculum design (DOCUMENTARY FILM & THE ARTS) 

• Produce Video Modules for cross disciplinary portions of S- 

12 courses 

• Direct the documentary film, HANS RICHTER: 

EVERYTHING TURNS – EVERYTHING REVOLVES 

• Select and mentor MCA students as interns on the 

production of HANS RICHTER: EVERYTHING TURNS – 


• Identify grantors for external funding


• Paul Kozel 

• Curriculum design (SOUND AND PICTURE IN THE AVANT- 

GARDE FILM) 

• Field recording and mixing for video modules to be used for 

cross disciplinary portions of S-12 courses 

• Mentor BFA Music students in creating sound design and 

original composition for Hans Richter films 

• Supervise BFA Music students as sound design assistants 

on HANS RICHTER: EVERYTHING TURNS– EVERYTHING 

REVOLVES 

• Identify grantors for external funding


• Chad Jenkins 

• Curriculum design units of a courses exploring the 

historical/cultural aspects of the work of Richter and his 

colleagues 

• Mentor BA and MA Music students in devising and carrying 

out scholarly projects culminating in a presentation-worthy 

paper 

• Supervise students as they organize a scholarly conference 

on Richter and the arts that will feature papers by established 

scholars and students 

• Convene a program committee to evaluate abstracts 

submitted for inclusion in the conference

Challenges in Conducting the 

Cross-Disciplinary Project 

• Creating an architecture for courses across 

departments within traditional course boundaries 

• Time management with up to five full time faculty 

involved at various times 

• Funding for visiting artists

Student Involvement 

• MCA 

• Production interns on HANS RICHTER: 

EVERYTHING TURNS-EVERYTHING REVOLVES 

• Production interns on video modules of artists 

rescoring Richter films to be integrated into S-12 

courses

Student Involvement 

• Music 

• Music and Sound Design interns on “Hans Richter: 

Everything Turns-Everything Revolves” 

• Music and Sound Design interns on video modules 

of artists rescoring Richter films to be integrated 

into S-12 courses

Budget 

• Personnel 

• Faculty (6) $30,800 

• Students (6) $ 6,900 

• Material/Supplies 

• Various $11,919 

• Total Budget $49,619

Progress to Date 

• Principal photography for documentary film 

complete. Film in assembly. 

• First two of five video modules complete 

• Oral history project 50% complete and available 

through the City College Archives 

• First outline for separate courses and collaborative 

sessions complete

Future Steps 

• Building on the City Seeds Grant 

• Major event(s) in late 2012 featuring output created under 

City Seeds grant. 

• Model for future events from the anticipated School of the 

Arts. 

• The components of the experience will be:

Future Steps 

• Building on the City Seeds Grant 

• Premiere of HANS RICHTER: EVERYTHING TURNS – 


• Concert / screening featuring the films of Hans Richter newly 

re-scored by City College students 

• Premiere of the student documentary, RICHTER RE- 

SCORED, chronicling the creative journey of City College 

students composing new music for the Richter films

External Grant Strategy 

• Build on external funding already received from Art 

- Acquest Fund for the completion of HANS 

RICHTER-EVERYTHING TURNS- EVERYTHING 

REVOLVES 

• Grant proposal to NYSCA for visiting artists and 

culminating event

External Grant Strategy 

• Grant proposal to the National Endowment for the 

Arts for completion funds 

• Submission to PBS for broadcast consideration 

and completion funding 

• Identify donors to fund an ongoing series of 

external events from collaborative courses 

emanating from a future School of the Arts at 

CCNY

Laura's Presentation - The City College of New York

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