School of Arts and Sciences names first recipients of fund for practicing artists

Two faculty members from the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences have been named the first recipients of the Amy M. and Roger C. Faxon Fund for Practicing Artists. Screenwriter Roberto Busó-García and filmmaker Matthew Porterfield teach in the school's Film and Media Studies Program and will hold the named positions effective immediately.

A native of Puerto Rico, Roberto Busó-García has broad experience in film acquisitions and independent production. He is founder and president of Alquimia Films, a production company that identifies emerging and established screenwriters and matches them with funding opportunities. His seven-year tenure as chief film evaluator and manager of film programming for HBO Video, HBO Latino, and Cinemax gave him the opportunity to analyze thousands of films and screenplays. Busó-García has also written, directed, and produced two feature-length films, a television miniseries, and multiple award-winning short films. He will teach Introduction to Dramatic Writing: Film, and Intermediate Dramatic Writing.

Matthew Porterfield studied film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. To date, he has written, directed, and produced three highly acclaimed feature films: Hamilton, Putty Hill, and the recently released I Used To Be Darker. In 2012, Porterfield was named as an exhibiter in the 2012 Whitney Biennial, a renowned series that portrays the current state of contemporary art in America. In 2011, he was named the winner of the Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize. Porterfield's films have been screened all over the world, and his first two films were recently acquired for the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Harvard Film Archive. In fall 2013, Porterfield will teach Producing the Independent Film and Directing Actors.

The endowed fund was started by Krieger School alumnus Roger Faxon '71 and his wife, Amy, to support teaching faculty in the various disciplines of the arts. The named position will be awarded for several years in an area in need of growth. After that, the school will have the opportunity to award it to another area in the arts.

"I'm so grateful to Roger and Amy for taking a leadership role in the arts and humanities at Johns Hopkins and setting up this fund," said Katherine S. Newman, dean of the Krieger School. "It will allow us to bring to campus artists whose reputations are based on their practice, not just scholarship about practice. This is exactly the type of gift that will help us take our arts education to the next level. The first Faxon scholars are well positioned in the world of film and will give our students unique opportunities to be engaged in the business. Roberto and Matthew will leave an important mark on the students and on the visibility of the arts programs themselves."