$10,000 to New Sun Rising to support the development and documentation of Casop: A Requiem for Rice, to be staged in Pittsburgh in 2018.

A true marriage between West African and European classical traditions, Casop: A Requiem for Rice is composed for full symphony orchestra and choir, an African and African-American inspired take on a classic requiem. Casop draws on funerary traditions among the Diola-Fogny to recount the stories of enslaved laborers building Lowcountry rice fields.