Jennifer Holley Lux, writer/editor in the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, and her collaborator Danielle S. Willkens, associate professor of architecture, are recipients of a 2025–26 Catalyst Grant from Georgia Tech Arts.
Catalyst Grants support interdisciplinary projects connecting artistic practice with research, education, well-being, and public engagement across campus and the broader community. The annual grants advance Georgia Tech’s commitment to creativity as a driver of innovation, bringing together faculty, staff, students, and community partners from across disciplines. Grant recipients represent a wide range of academic units and professional areas, reflecting the many ways the arts intersect with teaching, research, and everyday campus life.
Lux and Willkens received funding for Penn Center Alternative Spring Break: An Arts Initiative for Transformative Learning. The multidisciplinary arts initiative rooted in community engagement will be held in partnership with the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
Georgia Tech students, staff, and faculty who were selected for the residency (in a competitive application process) receive fully funded residencies.
Over spring break, participants will travel to the Penn Center National Historic Landmark, creating artistic responses while learning from a site central to American history. On the campus of the former Penn School, one of the nation’s first schools for formerly enslaved people, participants will discover a place enlivened by the past and surrounded by natural beauty. During a four-day journey, participants will live and learn at the Center while creating artistic responses. Days will be spent exploring the campus, engaging with Gullah culture, and developing work. Evenings will feature work-in-progress critiques, fostering a supportive community of practice. Participants will share their artwork with the Georgia Tech community at a public event.
Scheller College of Business is providing additional support for this event.
Click below to read the article announcing the 2025-26 Catalyst Grant recipients.