Erin Gaffney Award
“On May 19, 2007, Erin Gaffney was awarded an MA in arts management. She graduated second in her class with a 3.92 GPA. While here in our program, she received the very first dean’s award at the honors reception for Arts Management. She was accepted to and completed the Oxford University Honors Program. She created and implemented the first Filmmakers Film Festival at Mason and was instrumental in guiding the professional community of filmmakers and the academic community here at the university in creating the Friends of Film.
“Erin was, as are all of our Arts Management students, a special human being. With a passion for the arts, for life, and concern for her fellow man, for family, for decency, and for the very best in performance and exhibition, Erin knew how to find joy and promote hope. She was that lighted candle in the dark. Her beauty transcended the physical and was evident in the way she lived, the way she transacted her daily life, and the way she related to each and every one of us.
“For just a moment on July 10, 2008, that candle moved to a different place and all appeared dark. Erin passed away—the victim of a tumor that overwhelmed her brain but never her spirit even to the very end. Erin’s spirit remains with all of us who were blessed to know her personally and so that candle now has done what each of us has the power to do: pass along the potential of being a light to others. So Erin lives on in the hearts of her family, friends, and fellow students, and in the Arts Management program.”
–Richard Kamenitzer, Program Director, Arts Management, July 11, 2008
Eligibility: An MA in arts management degree holder or candidate who will receive the degree in the academic year that starts on August 25 of the preceding calendar year and ends on August 24 of the current calendar year.
Award: monetary (to be presented at the awards ceremony in May of the current calendar year).
To apply, please download the application form here.
Please attach to the completed application an essay of no more than 1,000 words (Times New Roman 12-point font, single-spaced with your name on each page) about why receiving this award is important to you and how you believe your life can inspire, transform, and convey the values that made Erin Gaffney’s life a symbol of the degree you so proudly bear and share with her.
You are to e-mail the application and essay to the program director: rkamenit@gmu.edu
It must to be received no later than 4 p.m. on April 5 The winning essay will be published in the next Arts Management newsletter, and the author of the winning essay agrees to permit the publication of this essay in such places as may best serve the purpose of promoting the program and the values and the memory of Erin Gaffney, as determined by the program director.
