Fairfield University MFA student receives Artist Fellowship Award from Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism | Press Releases

Chris Belden, a graduate student in Fairfield University's Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program, is a recipient of the 2009 Artist Fellowship Award from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism (CCT). He was awarded a grant of $5,000 to continue his artistic development and to enable the creation of new works.

The Fairfield University MFA in Creative Writing program is a new two-year program in which students have the opportunity to work under a mentor, attend four 10-day residency periods off the coast of Mystic, Conn., and work independently on writing and developing reading lists. Belden, a current student in this program, was awarded the CCT grant based on his work in the field of fiction writing.

The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism bases their awards on artistic merit. Grants in the amounts of $5,000 and $2,500 were awarded in the categories of choreography, fiction, film/video, music composition, playwriting and poetry. The highly competitive applicant pool consisted of over 175 applicants, of which 36 were selected to receive grants in their respective fields. The grant is given in hopes of enabling recipients to devote substantial amounts of time towards their new projects.