2022 Recipients

Michael Avitabile (BM ’13, flute)

Praised for playing that is “elegant and exacting” (Boston Globe), Michael Avitabile is an “enterprising” (the New Yorker) flutist, entrepreneur, and educator. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Hub New Music, a Boston-based chamber quartet that has been making waves in the national contemporary music scene. As Executive Director of Hub New Music, Avitabile has spearheaded commission projects with leading composers of our time including Andrew Norman, Tyshawn Sorey, Angelica Negron, Donnacha Dennehy, Carlos Simon. Nico Muhly, Nina C. Young and more. The ensemble maintains an active touring schedule, and has been featured by The Boston Globe, WQXR (NYC), WFMT (Chicago), New York Times, WBUR (Boston), Houston Chronicle, and The New Yorker. This season Avitabile looks forward to concerts presented by the Williams Center for the Arts, Celebrity Series of Boston, and Morgan Library and Museum with Hub.

Gina Rattan (BFA ’08, theatre)

Gina Rattan is a professional theater director who has been living and working in New York City for fifteen years. Favorite directing credits include; Dogfight (2EST concert), Borrowed Cash: Busted (ART), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (National Tour) and Camp American Girl (National Tour). Broadway associate directing credits include; Billy Elliott, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Matilda the Musical, Angels in America, and Company – for which she is currently serving as associate director. Gina is an active member of her union, SDC, as well as an avid teaching artist.

Briana Ashley Stuart (BFA ’13, dance; BA ’13, sociology)

Briana Ashley Stuart is a Brussels-based performer, choreographer, and entrepreneur born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. After studying Dance and Sociology at the University of Michigan she performed with US based companies StepAfrika and SJ Ewing & Dancers and has since continued her career in Belgium. She has collaborated with organizations and artists such as BOZAR, 4HOOG Kindertheater, ZIKIT, Cie Airblow, Les Brigittes, Nadine Baboy, Jana Roos, Dalila Hermant and Peter Spaepen. In addition, she has choreographed and performed her own works at KVS Brussels, Kaaitheater, The Delta (Namur), Schouwburg Kortrijk Theatre, Pianofabriek, Tomorrowland, among other venues. Briana’s interests lie in researching how the history and culture of art forms directly relate to the human condition and sense of expression, cultural exchange, live interaction, and intimate performances with audiences. She has also created, S.T.U. Arts Dance, a community-based arts organization dedicated to moving Belgium’s communities to “See. Think. Understand. the Art of Dance” for personal, professional and community development and her Creative Living for Dancers platform empowers and enriches the dance community in the digital sphere through professional development courses and funding to support the creation of digital dance works.