Growth, Funding and Research Define STUDIO’S History … With More to Come
Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry
written by
Harrison Apple
The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University gets its name from the powerful insight and generosity of alumni Edward Frank and Sarah Ratchye. In 2012, they created the Frank-Ratchye Further Fund (FRFF, originally named the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier) to thwart the obstacles that stunt research at its most nascent and vulnerable stages. Based on Chaucer’s “from little acorns, mighty oaks grow,” the Frank-Ratchye Further Fund has brought Ed and Sarah’s mission to life through more than 700 interdisciplinary research proposals and $800,000 of funds. The everyday life of the STUDIO is invigorated by the FRFF, attaching their name to work at the scales of the microscopic and the interstellar and reflective of their own time as students across the Schools of Art and Computer Science.
The Further Fund is an exceptional tool available to the entire CMU community. It stands out among CMU’s peer institutions by accepting proposals from faculty, students and staff. The Further Fund program broadens the network of research support to capture interdisciplinary innovation and steward its progress through a social membership nurtured in our historic room at the STUDIO. Meeting with CMU affiliates in the warm interior of CFA’s original library room, the STUDIO staff solicits and awards upwards of 70 FRFF awards per year with amounts ranging from $10 to push small purchasing problems out of the way, to $5,000 investing into large-scale collaborations with stakeholders all around the world.
"Sound Hologram" (left/top), "Permanent Visibility" (right/middle) and "Lucky After Dark" (bottom).
The Further Fund works year-round to transform hesitancy into action with a support network that grows with every project documented in our online archives. It is a foundational part of what makes the STUDIO an irreplaceable asset for the College of Fine Arts (CFA) as we continue to draw and retain creative researchers to our five schools. The STUDIO’s founder, Lowry Burgess, is among its awardees, supporting the grand-scale MoonArts collaboration. Current and past directors, respectively, Nica Ross and Golan Levin have supported their individual research and teaching as FRFF awardees, and Associate Director Harrison Apple received an FRFF award that propelled their undergraduate social practice work into the first doctorate published on LGBTQ History in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
As we push past a milestone of $800,000 in creative research funding across CFA and the entire university, we look forward to a rich future of the STUDIO’s research profile, supporting projects that share the passion and drive of CMU’s academic community to an international audience.
Second life: from waste to oasis, Vicky Achnani, School of Architecture Faculty
Sound Hologram, Daniel Rosenberg Munoz, School of Design Faculty
Permissible Dose, Erin Mallea, IDeATe Adjunct Faculty
Another Coast, Elle Thoni, Dramatic Writing MFA
Workhorse Queen, Angela Washko, School of Art Faculty
My Heart is a River, Freida Abtan, School of Music Faculty