Melissa Rex-Flint

Melissa S. Rex, clinical associate professor in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre, is a recipient of the newly created and highly competitive Vibrant City Grant from the City of Tempe. Vibrant City Grants are made available to individual artists to help fund passing, short-lived, momentary, temporary, transitory, ephemeral projects that occur in Tempe in public spaces not traditionally associated with art. Rex's "Storytelling in the Park" project is focused on the expressed desire for community gathering and inclusion of community members in programmed arts and cultural offerings through storytelling. The project also utilizes the existing landscape of Kiwanis Park in a creative way. Through the construction of a mobile and re-usable performance/presentation stage, local artists and community members can share their stories of Arizona culture, history, folklore and more through (but not limited to) the mediums of spoken word, storytelling, dance and music.