SOFA Cushion Fund Projects

Regrowth

Regrowth, a collaborative dance piece performed at the Black culture show Essence on April 5, 2025, featured dancers from Smith, Hampshire, and Amherst Colleges with varied backgrounds in Afro-Diasporic movement. Through personal storytelling and shared choreography, the work celebrated growth, resilience, and creative expression in uncertain times, supported by thoughtful costuming and props that helped bring the dancers’ stories to life on stage.

Two Nuns

Two Nuns, staged at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA, is a full-length play independently written and produced by Smith students, providing hands-on experience in developing and staging work outside the theatre department’s resources. SOFA Cushion Funds supported industry costs and subsidized student ticket prices. The project encourages student-led creative initiatives and celebrates the supportive arts environment at Smith.

Smith Tap Ensemble Tap Boards

Smith Tap Ensemble created durable, portable wooden tap boards to support their growing membership and enable performances in multiple campus spaces. As the only regular tap group in the Five College community offering beginner classes, they needed safer, better-sounding boards larger than their old plastic ones. With SOFA support, they built interlocking 2-by-2-foot boards that can be easily transported and assembled. These boards allow full-ensemble performances and broader collaboration with other student groups. They now serve as a shared resource for the Smith arts community.

The Smiffenpoofs

Wellspring Recording Session

The Smiffenpoofs recorded their 12th digital album, Come Home to My Heart, at Wellspring Sound Studio in May 2025. They received support from the SOFA Cushion Fund to cover professional recording, mixing, and mastering costs. The album documented the group’s evolving sound, showcased new arrangements, and served as a polished representation of their artistry for streaming platforms, aiding in recruitment, collaborations, and outreach.

Bamboo Dance Workshop

Hosted by the Southeast Asian Student Alliance, this interactive and educational workshop shares and celebrates the art of bamboo dancing.

Behind the Lens

Uncovering Women Figures of Film History

This short documentary film brings to life the story of a largely forgotten woman who helped shape film as an art form. Through a lively, research-driven narrative guided by an enthusiastic host, the film blends archival footage, photographs, interviews with scholars, and personal discovery.

Crush Magazine Print Issue

Crush Magazine, Smith’s arts and literary magazine for students of color, focusing on poetry, prose, art, and more, published their second print issue with support from the SOFA Cushion Fund.

Commedia dell’Arte Workshops

This series of workshops introduced participants to the Italian theatre style, Commedia dell’Arte, and included Boston-based theatre company Pazzi Lazzi. The workshops were moderated by Italian actress Chiari Durazzi and a partner, a musician who plays music from the Renaissance.

Body Freedom For Every(Body) Mobile Exhibition

Body Freedom for Every(body) is a traveling exhibition project that takes place inside a 27-foot box truck featuring the work of more than 100 artists with an emphasis on bodily autonomy, community, and joy.

Earth Music Theater Live

A multidisciplinary program combining the unforgettable experience of astronaut-captured visuals from the International Space Station and Steve Thomas’ genre straddling Guitarscapes and Folktales and Fusions music. Former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman shared videos and inspiring stories from her book Sharing Space, An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder and Making Change. A cinematic, multimedia, educational experience, designed to provoke thinking about the whole Earth and planetary stewardship.

Worms Film Project

This short horror film was created with a collaborative crew of over 25 students, the project provided hands-on filmmaking experience beyond the classroom and fostered a creative environment that helped strengthen the Smith arts community through mentorship, rehearsal, and shared learning.

F.E.M.M.E.

A Music Video

Don’t Blink Media, Smith’s only student-run film production group, creates hands-on opportunities for students across disciplines to explore filmmaking outside of the classroom. With support from the SOFA Cushion Fund, they produced a collaborative, interdisciplinary music video for “F.E.M.M.E.” by emerging artist Molly Grace—a joyful yet powerful anthem about femme identity in the queer community. The project brings together dancers, actors, musicians, designers, and more, and helps foster a more connected, cross-disciplinary Smith Arts community.

Field Works

Field Works is an interdisciplinary exhibition that blends plant ecophysiology, conservation, and studio art through handmade botanical inks, highlighting the cultural and ecological significance of species tied to the Smith landscape.

Groove A Cappella Album

Groove A Cappella released their first album in seven years—a long-overdue project featuring over 25 previously unreleased songs recorded since before the pandemic, completed through extensive mixing, mastering, and licensing efforts. Led by two senior co-pitches, the group created the album to honor past members whose work was interrupted by Covid and to empower future Groovies to pursue new projects without the burden of unfinished work.