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Early Fall Greetings
from the College of Visual and Performing Arts!
This has been an exciting time because we have a very large class of freshmen and transfer students who have boosted our total enrollments to well over 1500 students. Part of the growth is due to our new arts residence hall known as
Studio 91.
The hall, also called Cone Residence Hall, accommodates about 350 students.
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This year about 60% of these students are arts students.
Studio 91
was renovated at a cost of over $12 million and includes music practice rooms, a dance studio with sprung floor, an art studio, and a multi-purpose computer lab. These specialized facilities turn the "dorm" into a living-learning community.
Studio 91 garnered local and national attention-
Another reason for our growth is the implementation of new programs. Our
Arts Administration Program
has expanded to almost 100 majors and about 25 minors. This growth has driven us to search for a second
arts administration faculty member this year.
Our
Musical Theatre Program
has also attracted strong student interest and is led by Dominick Amendum who is now full time. During the last academic year we hired a second
Musical Theatre
faculty member, Erin Speers.
We are also beginning searches for a Costume/Makeup faculty member, a Dance Music Director/Accompanist, and a tenure-track Art History faculty member.
This year's
University Concert and Lecture Series (UCLS)
got off to a great start with the appearance of renowned actor and author Alan Alda. Mr. Alda drew an audience of 1200 people to his evening University Auditorium event.
In addition, he presented two afternoon master classes primarily for students and faculty one of which was aimed at the campus science community while the other was for theatre students and faculty. These programs were also very lively and well attended. See photos from Alan Alda's visit.
The next University Concert and Lecture Series events are visiting artist
Ann Hamilton on October 11 and an evening with
Alexander Bernstein, son of Leonard Bernstein, and pianist Lara Downs on October 12th. This lecture/concert is offered as part of the worldwide hundredth-anniversary celebration of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. Other UCLS artists include jazz master Herbie Hancock, Broadway star Audra McDonald, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and visual artists Ann Hamilton and Carrie Mae Weems.
Get your tickets here.
This year UNC-G is producing its third expansive interdisciplinary collaboration
The 60's Exploring the Limits.
This series of lectures, concerts, plays, films, and discussions, is focused on a decade that was challenging and was responsible for creating huge changes in Civil Rights, Women's Rights, the Environmental movement, the Free-Speech movement, the Space Race, and the Anti-War movement.
Well over fifty events are included in
The 60's
. Project participants beside the College of Visual and Performing Arts, include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Lloyd Honors College, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, the Jackson Library and others on campus. Community participants include the Greensboro Symphony, Triad Stage, and the Greensboro Library as well as CVPA's very own downtown Greensboro Project Space. Read more here.
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The '60s: Exploring the Limits Series launched with featured events from the School of Music and School of Theatre.
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical had a bit of a delayed start due to Hurricane Florence, but once it opened, it hit a good groove- with sold out performances.
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And the Collage concert once again proved it is a command performance, filling UNCG Auditorium on September 8.
The evening, Collage: Bernstein at 100, celebrated the work of one of the most iconic American musicians, Leonard Bernstein.
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UNCG and CVPA make mark on Inaugural
NC Folk Fest
Music alumna Rhiannon Giddens was a special guest curator and played at the inaugural North Carolina Folk Festival in Greensboro in early September.
Giddens, who was a Grammy recipient as part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and a recent recipient of the MacArthur "genius" grant, is a highly regarded figure in Americana "roots" music.
While in town, she performed at the Songs of Hope and Justice concert, organized by fellow UNCG alumnus Laurelyn Dossett, MS Education '99. The concert was held in the Van Dyke Performance Space, named for the late, UNCG dance professor and alumna Jan Van Dyke '89 EdD.
Other UNCG alumni on stage during the three-day festival included:
Lalenja Harrington
Carol Thompson, Contra dance caller
Dom-Sebastian Alexis of B-Boy Ballet
Chuck Folds and Eddie Walker of Big Bang Boom
Giddens also participated in a post-festival discussion on campus with with Dr. Omar Ali, Dean of UNCG's Lloyd International Honors College, and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi on the topic of how African Americans have shaped musical traditions here and are the products of multiple traditions, including Muslim-influenced cultures and people from across the world.
UNC Greensboro, as a festival sponsor, transformed Davie Street into "Spartan Way", and Chancellor
Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. helped kick off the festival.
CVPA helped host activities for families by bringing the
Art Truck and a
"
Musical Petting Zoo", organized by
student members of our chapter of the
National Association for Music Education. NAfME(C).
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European Choral Tour for CVPA
Music students went abroad this summer to perform in Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Strobl, a small town outside of Salzburg, on a tour organized by Dr. Welborn E. (Bill)Young.
Young said that he had two major goals when putting the tour and subsequently the concert repertoire together.
"The first goal was to provide an opportunity for UNCG singers to experience the breadth, beauty, and diversity of areas steeped in an amazing musical history.
"The second goal addresses my own personal beliefs. First, the belief that quality music, particularly vocal/choral music, performed beautifully has a transformative power that speaks beyond the brain to a more personal and heart/spirit-centered place where healing and understanding resides. Second, the belief that participation in the arts, particularly choral singing, should be a lifelong endeavor. So, I set out to build the ensemble not only with UNCG singers but with community singers who also celebrate the joy of singing."
Thirty UNCG singers were joined by 12 community singers, the latter from First Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir, Bel Canto Company, retired choral music educators, and the Winston-Salem Chorale.
Conductors:
Welborn E. (Bill) Young, Director of Choral Activities
Carole Ott Coelho, Associate Director of Choral Activities
Brett Nolker, Director of Choral Music Education
Jonathan Emmons, DMA Choral Conducting, candidate
Christian Albee, MM Choral Conducting, graduated May 2018
(Christian and Jonathan also served as accompanists.)
Tadeu Coelho, Flute
Adam Ward, Organ
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ALUMNI NEWS AND NOTES
Alumni news and notes are compiled from individual submissions
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You never know where CVPA alumni will pop up!
Spotted on the side of a bus in Seattle- Cheryse McLeod Lewis (MM '00).
Thanks Carla LeFevre (Music) for snapping this shot.
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Dexter Benedict (MFA Art '70) has been commissioned to create a bronze statue of Cazenovia, NY's founder on the occasion of the town's 225th Anniversary. He also created the Ben Franklin statue in Syracuse and the Stone Throwers Statue on Tipperary Hill.
Brenda Lilly (BFA Theatre '74) has adapted Henrik Ibsen's 140-year-old drama "A Doll's House" and set it in the 1960s. Her play, "Doll," opens April 19 at the Magnetic Theatre.
Read more.
Joe Gbaba (MFA Theatre '83) directed and Andre Minkins (MFA Theatre '87) starred in the classical African production, "Love for Mymah" at the The Ibrahim Theater in Philadelphia this summer. The event was in celebration of the 41st Anniversary of the founding of Dehkontee Artists Theatre at the University of Liberia.
Candace Bailey (BM '85) has been awarded an American Council of Learned Societies Project Development Grant and an invitation to attend the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute at CUNY Graduate School, "Visual Culture of the Civil War and Its Aftermath' for 2018.
Hugh Hysell (BFA Theatre '88) is on tour with Million Dollar Quartet.
Chris Chalk (BFA Theatre '01) will star in an upcoming Netflix Series about the Gotham Park Five case of 1989, about a group of teenagers wrongfully convicted of raping a woman.
Arkansas State University has announced that associate professor Tim Bohn (MFA Theatre '05) will serve as co-chair of the Department of Theatre.
Carol Lowe (DMA '08) is the principal bassoon for the Orchestra of Northern New York and the Northern Symphonic Winds and is teaching bassoon performance, reed making, repertoire, pedagogy, orchestral studies, chamber music and music history at The Crane School of Music.
Sherrill Roland (BFA Art '09, MFA Art "17) has been awarded a post MFA Fellowship at Duke's Center for Documentary Studies. He has also been touring
"The Jumpsuit Project"
, his performance art about his prison time after a wrongful conviction. This summer, Roland was invited to the Skowhegan program, an incredibly competitive residency and an invaluable opportunity for emerging artists.
Anne-Clair Niver (BM '12) is on tour promoting her 2nd album, I Still Look For You, making a recent stop to play at The Crown in Greensboro with Chad Eby, Director of the Miles Davis Jazz Studies at UNCG's School of Music.
Read more.
Harriet Hoover (MFA Art '13) serves as the associate department head of fine art and foreign language at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh. She currently has an exhibit at Barton College.
Read more.
Melanie Greene (MFA Dance '13) has been invited to join the Bogliasco Fellowship in Italy this Fall where she plans to continue developing her current work, Sapphire.
Jackson Cooper (BA Arts Administration '13) was recently named Tar Heel of the Week by the News and Observer, acknowledging dedicated service to the community through contributions to the Arts.
Justin Cowan (BA Music '14, MM '16, DMA '18) is an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Alabama.
Ashlei Chestnut (BFA Theatre '15) has been cast in a lead role for
upcoming Amazon series Panic, based on the novel by Lauren Oliver, author of The Hunger Games.
Brooke Bradley (BFA Theatre '15) played her first post-apprenticeship role in Serenbe Playhouse's Titanic this summer.
Stoney B. Mootoo (BFA Theatre '16) is touring with Book of Mormon, and was able to visit her home state this summer for an appearance at DPAC.
Sheena Rose (MFA Art '16) has been invited to the
Fountainhead Residency in Miami. This is a very prestigious opportunity, as evidenced by the artist immediately preceding Sheena there, Amy Sherald, who created the official portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Congratulations to two recent Choral Education Alumni:
Jordan Lee (BM '17) has been named "Rookie Teacher for the Year" for Guilford County.
Carly Hutton (BM '17) has been named "New Teacher of the Year for Rockingham County". Both awards are for ALL first-year teachers from any subject area.
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FACULTY NEWS AND NOTES
Faculty news and notes are compiled from individual submissions
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John Locke,
Director of Bands and Founder & Director of the UNCG Summer Music Camp, will retire in December 2018 after more than 36 years as a member of the UNCG faculty and over 44 years of teaching in higher education.
We invite friends and former students join us on November 17 and 18, 2018 as we celebrate Dr. Locke and his accomplishments.
For more information on the schedule of events and to register to attend, click here.
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While visiting Myanmar (formerly Burma) studying contemporary theater and marionette puppetry, Gavin Douglas (Music) conducted a series of guitar concerts and workshops for Burmese musicians. Over a week long tour throughout the country Douglas performed and taught at the Mandalay Music Association and at music clubs in May Myo, Kyauk Me and Thanlyin. Gavin was also in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo where he participated in a Symposium on Performing Arts in Southeast Asia. Douglas presented new research based on fieldwork in Myanmar titled, "Human/Other relations in Burmese Performing Arts: Dissolving the Boundaries of the Self".
Jim Fisher (Theatre) has been elected a Fellow in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. He will be formally inducted on April 21, 2019 at the Kennedy Center.
UNCG Symphony Orchestra, led by Kevin M. Geraldi (Music) has achieved Third Place in The American Prize in Orchestral Performance competition, 2017-18, in the university division. UNCG Symphony Orchestra was selected from applications reviewed recently from all across the United States. The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit, national competitions unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings. The American Prize has attracted hundreds of qualified contestants from all fifty states since its founding, has awarded more than $50,000 in prizes in all categories since 2010, and is presented annually in many areas of the performing arts.
Mila Parrish (Dance) has been named as the NDEO 2018 Outstanding Dance Educator - Postsecondary (Higher Education), an award given to a stellar dance educator from the membership who has had a significant impact in their school community and inspires and motivates their students.
Dr. Parrish will be presenting
at the NDEO Conference in San Diego this month: "Cultivating Champions: develop leadership skills with technology" with dance education students, Kaykeel Dillard, Kahilia Brown, Juliana Gaglino, Katherine Dammon and "
Creating Student Leaders: Personalization of Assessment and Reflection in Dance Pedagogy" with
MA Dance education students Amy Crow and Katrina Brown.
Alejandro Rutty (Music) and the Composition Studio collaborated with the Greensboro Symphony on a project to showcase the musical work of young students.
Read more here.
Neil Shepherd (Business Officer in the School of Music) is featured in
this article for his work to revive a local theatre.
On Saturday, September 29, UNCG clarinet studio, led by faculty members Dr. Anthony Taylor (Music) and Dr Andy Hudson (Music) hosted Clarinet Day, a fun-filled day of clarinet activities, including performances, audition prep classes, exhibits and vendors, and clarinet choir. The featured guest artist was Dr. Deborah Bish, a North Carolina native and Associate Professor of Clarinet at The Florida State University.
Thomas Taylor (Music) was awarded a Diversity mini-grant which he used to present a two-day series of concerts in his hometown of Elizabeth City, NC , which culminated in a live recording. The CD is complete and is titled "The Seeker". The project also included Brandon Lee (Jazz Faculty), Annalise Stalls (BM '13), Tymain Robbins (BS '18), and William Ledbetter (rising senior Jazz Studies major), along with other North Carolina based musicians.
Read more here.
A memorial service was held on September 29, remembering 2 UNCG Theatre professors, Marsha Paludan and Alan Cook, and theatre alumna Marian Smith.
Read more here.
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FINAL ROUNDUP
Points of pride that we may have missed in previous publications
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM DANCE EDUCATION:
Isabelle Collazo (MFA with K-12 teacher certification) was selected as part of UNCG's University's Brand Anthem Video project. Her work in the Dancers Connect community program was considered an exemplar of excellence in teaching and service.
Isabelle Collazo (MFA with K-12 teacher certification), Lisa Wilder (MA Dance Education), Janai Fennell (MA Dance Education) co-presented with Dr. Mila Parrish their work in the session titled Creating Citizen Movers - An inclusive approach to dance pedagogy at the North Carolina Dance Education Organization Cultivating Community: Transforming North Carolina Through Dance conference in February, 2018 in Charlotte, NC.
Gabby Tull (MFA in dance) co-presented with Dr. Mila Parrish their work in culturally responsive curriculum, in the session Celebrating community: Cultivating collaboration, culture, and identity amongst students at the North Carolina Dance Education Organization Cultivating Community: Transforming North Carolina Through Dance conference in February 2018 in Charlotte, NC.
Dr. Parrish and MA Dance education student, Amy Crow will be presenting their work in educational technology, in the session Advocating with our thumbs: BYOD to the dance class and Collect, collide, collaborate, create! Building responsive cultures in the dance class at the Dance and the Child International conference, Panpapanpalya in Adelaide, Australia.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM ART EDUCATION:
Art Education students (4 students in Fall 2017 and 5 students in Spring 2018) received travel funds/scholarships from the UNCG Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Office (URSCO) they used these funds to travel to NAEA Conference in Chicago in Fall and the NCAEA Conference in Wilmington in the Spring.
Art Education students participated and led in creating a community mural at Murphy Traditional Academy in Greensboro, NC.
Ibrahim Said made the cover of Ceramics Monthly magazine.
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