Bucknell alum, parent, and trustee Makoto Fujimura is offering a fantastic opportunity of mentorship to Bucknell students: Fujimura Fellows.
Interviews will be offered on an ongoing basis. Class of 2024 should apply before August 1. Class of 2025 should apply by August 30.
Fujimura Fellows is a collaborative venture initiated by Fujimura Institute that seeks to put into practice Makoto Fujimura’s generative Culture Care principles.* A Fujimura Fellow exhibits stewarding activities that uphold diversity found in creation and human culture. This program is operated by Fujimura Institute, which is affiliated with IAMCultureCare (501(c)(3) non-profit organization), and is offered in collaboration with Bucknell University. Applicants are “deputized” for their integrative and soul-renewing projects at Bucknell and beyond. Through joyous cohort community, gatherings, events, and interactive and collaborative educational opportunities they are further formed, trained, commissioned, and supported to continue their vivifying endeavors in and for the community.
Steps to apply:
Complete this Google Form: https://forms.gle/1gpq1i3tyMbt1p4M8
Ask a faculty member for a recommendation. Prompts for the faculty member’s letter can be found at the bottom of this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p3k03xc2GVzdq2-agZ36FAh-DofkIvt2ikuJj7yKHsg/edit?usp=sharing
Email Makoto Fujimura at fujimura@makotofujimura.com with:
-The letter of faculty recommendation
-Your application response (information below). Include your name, class year, college affiliation, and preferred phone number in the email.
Details for student application:
Listen to Culture Care Creative Podcast: Light Through the Cracks (available in any podcast venue) to the recent Susie Ibarra interview.
Write a short essay, create art, or present in an oral form a response covering the following: 1. What interested you? Have you had similar experiences with music, art, poetry, or theatre that blended into other disciplines? 2. What surprised you? 3. What is your generative creative response? How does what you desire to do be difficult to find at Bucknell?
Current Fellows (at Fuller Seminary) include Julia Hendrickson, Jeremy Hunt, Dea Jenkins, Brianna Kinsman, Chris Lopez, Carly Lopez, September Penn, Julie Tai, Eric Tai, Diana Wilburn, Rene Velarde, Jasmine White, Clover Zhou.
Fujimura Fellows Guidelines
Upon recommendation by a faculty, a student may apply to start in Summer 2021. The person has to commit to:
Once each month of mentoring time with Mako, either in person or in zoom; some of these sessions will be shared with a cohort group. The program is highly selective (only 3-5 Fellows per year) and Mako will select based on the goal of creating a Culture Care team comprising of three schools at Bucknell.
Research and execution of personal undertakings/mission, as well as collaborations/salons with other Fellows, and Mako-established activities during the breaks in academic years and after Bucknell. If the candidate is a visual artist, then hours can be spent outside the studio with individual creative projects mentored by Mako, or could include the facilitation of Culture Care conferences and other gatherings. Each Fellow’s unique contribution, context, and abilities are taken into consideration.
Participate in an annual Fellows Gathering (gathering may be retreat-style, an instructional seminar, etc).
This modified model of apprenticeship fulfills the following Culture Care principles:
Identifying/recruiting border stalkers (integrating your studies, art, and leadership)
Constructing spaces for Culture Care investigation and engagement
Training and Practicing Culture Care principles (leadership development)
Missional enactment (encouraging, supporting projects/missions)
Fellowship and support with other Culture Care leaders
Each Fellow, after a fulfilled time, will be designated as culture care leader at Bucknell and beyond. They will help to identify and nurture uniquely gifted individuals that represent the next generation of Culture Care ambassador within their community
A Fujimura Fellow is a movement leader to actualize Culture Care in the world.
Questions about this opportunity or the application can be sent to Missy Gutkowski, Assistant Dean of Experiential Learning at mmg019@bucknell.edu.
Brief Bio on Makoto
Makoto Fujimura is an internationally renowned artist, writer, and speaker. He is the founder of the International Arts Movement and served as a presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts. Recognized worldwide as a cultural shaper, Fujimura has had work exhibited at galleries including Dillon Gallery in New York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts Museum, Bentley Gallery in Arizona, Taikoo Place in Hong Kong and Vienna’s Belvedere Museum. In 2011 the Fujimura Institute was established and launched the Four Qu4rtets, a collaboration between Fujimura, painter Bruce Herman, Duke theologian/pianist Jeremy Begbie and Yale composer Christopher Theofanidis, based on T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. A popular speaker, Fujimura has lectured at numerous conferences, universities, and museums, including the Aspen Institute, Yale and Princeton Universities, Sato Museum, and the Phoenix Art Museum. Among many awards and recognitions, Bucknell University honored him with the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2012.