On April 7, 2022, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded Guggenheim Fellowships to a diverse group of 180 exceptional individuals. Chosen from a rigorous application and peer review process out of almost 2500 applicants, these successful applicants were appointed based on prior achievement and exceptional promise.
Gregory Ruzzin, Associate Professor of Production at the School of Film and Television was selected to support his work and his project “SMALL WORLD THIS: Cycling, Climate Change and Japan”. Ruzzin will travel to Japan with his family to film a series of short films that explore the links between climate change and cycling. The project is both a celebration of Japanese cycling and its unique traditions but also an exploration of how bicycles – such a simple and old technology – can be used to combat the existential crisis of climate change.
Ruzzin’s childhood passion for cycling was reignited when he was teaching in Bonn, Germany with LMU study abroad and commuted with his 3-year-old son, Zachary, from their apartment to school each day. Now 12 and an avid cyclist like his father, Zachary will join Ruzzin in joining a local cycling club to train and race with Japanese cyclists. In speaking of his project, Ruzzin said “The goal is to make a number of short “film haikus” capturing the beauty and passion of cycling as a sport and also a longer essay film engaging with climate change and cycling. Japan has invested heavily in bicycle infrastructure and I hope to showcase some of this so that we can begin to make similar efforts here at home.”
In all, 51 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields, 81 different academic institutions, 31 states and the District of Columbia, and four Canadian provinces are represented in this year’s class of Fellows, who range in age from 33 to 75. Many Fellows’ projects directly respond to issues like climate change, pandemics, Russia, feminism, identity, and racism. “Being awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship is a huge honor for me as a filmmaker and educator and at the same time is very humbling and uplifting. When I look at the other honorees from this year and from years past, I am humbled to have been selected.” said Ruzzin. To see the full list of new Fellows, please visit www.gf.org.
About the Guggenheim Foundation
Created and initially funded in 1925 by Senator Simon and Olga Guggenheim in memory of their son John Simon Guggenheim, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has sought since its inception to “further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions.”
Since its establishment, the Foundation has granted nearly $400 million in Fellowships to over 18,000 individuals, among whom are more than 125 Nobel laureates, members of all the national academies, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Fields Medal, Turing Award, Bancroft Prize, National Book Award, and other internationally recognized honors. The great range of fields of study is a unique characteristic of the Fellowship program.
