Campus Projects


Crossing Bridges: An Inter-Media Work of Music and Visualizations 
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
8:00 p.m.
Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Sqare

Cecilia Smith

Composer Cecilia Smith's stunning new multi-media piece “Crossing Bridges: An Inter-Media Work of Music and Visualizations” was the culmination of a year-long residency and collaboration with Tri-C students and faculty which premiered at the 30th anniversary of Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland last April.  Shaped from stories submitted by students, the Joyce Award winning composition uses video, music and spoken word to explore issues of identity and the collective human experience.

This uniquely collaborative undertaking included contributions from a wide array of academic departments at Cuyahoga Community College, including Health Sciences, English, Anthropology, African-American Studies, Women’s Studies, Theater, and Media Arts/Film, with students directly involved in every phase of the piece’s completion.  Under the direction of faculty member and filmmaker Miriam Bennett, the Tri-C Digital Cinema Group provides original video and animation inspired by the music and stories and in synchronization with the live performance.

Cecilia Smith
Cleveland native and Shaker Heights graduate, Cecilia Smith is one of the leading four-mallet vibraphonists in the country.  During her teen years she studied at Cleveland Institute of Music and then earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston.  After graduating from Berklee, Smith stayed on as a teacher for four years.  She then worked with music in therapeutic settings at various organizations around New York City.  Smith has aced as a visiting artist/lecturer/performing jazz artist since 1984 at various colleges and universities around the world.  She has performed in concert halls, nightclubs and festivals throughout North and South America and is also the artistic director of the Mary Lou Williams Resurgence Project.