An Evening with Neil Gaiman at ArtPower

An Evening with

Neil Gaiman

ArtPower at UC San Diego presents performing arts that engage, energize, and transform the diverse cultural life of the university and San Diego.

Through vibrant, challenging, multi-disciplinary performances, ArtPower seeks to develop more empathetic students and community members who are better prepared to engage in the world around them through their participation in highquality artistic, educational, and engagement programs that broaden thinking and awareness, deepen understanding, and encourage new dialogues across UC San Diego and the community.

OUR IMPACT • ArtPower brings artists from around the world into UC San Diego classrooms • ArtPower provides students with free artist master classes • ArtPower integrates artist-led discussions into on-campus curricula.

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About the Artist

ArtPower presents

“I make things up and write them down” is the way Neil Gaiman describes his varied art. Today, as one of the most celebrated writers of our time, his popular and critically acclaimed works bend genres while reaching audiences of all ages.

Neil Gaiman

May 5, 2022 at 8 pm Balboa Theatre

Gaiman’s groundbreaking Sandman comics, which received nine Eisner Awards, was described by Stephen King as having turned graphic novels into “art.” The Los Angeles Times called it the greatest epic in the history of the form, an issue of Sandman was the first comic book to receive the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.

Gaiman is the bestselling author of Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), Smoke and Mirrors, Fragile Things, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Sleeper & the Spindle, Hansel and Gretel, Norse Mythology, and The View from the Cheap Seats (non-fiction essays). He is also the author of American Gods, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, and Locus awards and proclaimed one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years by the New York Public Library. In 2020 he published The Annotated American Gods, The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction, and for children, Pirate Stew, illustrated by Chris Riddell.

His works for younger readers include The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, The Wolves in the Walls (made into an opera by the Scottish National Theatre and a puppet show by the Little Angel theatre), Odd and the Frost Giants, The Dangerous Alphabet, Cinnamon, and Fortunately the Milk. His young adult story, Coraline, won the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, and Locus awards and was adapted as a musical by Stephin Merritt in 2009 and into an opera by composer MarkAnthony Turnage and librettist Rory Mullarkey in 2018. His children’s novel, The Graveyard Book, is the only work to win both the Newbery (US) and Carnegie (UK) Medals.

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Much of Gaiman’s work has been adapted for visual media including Stardust, Coraline (BAFTA winner for Best Animated Film), Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties (directed by John Cameron Mitchell). The hit series American Gods ran for three seasons on the Starz network. Good Omens, an Amazon Prime series, won the 2019 Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation for the episode “Hard Times,” the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation–Long Form, and has been renewed for a second season. The Sandman was developed as a live-action TV series for Netflix, Anansi Boys is in development for a six-episode series on Amazon, in addition Gaiman is producing a series based on Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast books for Showtime. His novelette turned performance piece “The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains” has been performed widely, including at Carnegie Hall. His novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane was adapted as a play for a sold-out run at England’s National Theatre, the acclaimed production transfers to the West End from October 2021.

Gaiman’s commencement address “Make Good Art,” received 1.5 million views, and was released as a book illustrated and designed by Chip Kidd. He is also the author of Art Matters, illustrated by Chris Riddell. In 2021 he starred in the Audible Original production The Neil Gaiman At The End of The Universe which benefited the mental health nonprofit, This Is My Brave.

A self-described “feral child who was raised in libraries,” Gaiman credits librarians with fostering a life-long love of reading. He is a passionate advocate for books and libraries, and a supporter and former board member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. His blog has more than a million regular readers, and over two million people follow him on Twitter. Born in England, Gaiman lives in the United States and teaches at Bard College.

He is married to artist/musician Amanda Palmer, with whom he sometimes performs.

Neil Gaiman has been honored with 4 Hugos, 2 Nebulas, 1 World Fantasy Award, 4 Bram Stoker Awards, 6 Locus Awards, 2 British SF Awards, 1 British Fantasy Award, 3 Geffens, 1 International Horror Guild Award, 2 Mythopoeic Awards, and 15 Eisner Awards. Other honors include the Shirley Jackson Award, Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Prize (for his body of work), Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Defender of Liberty award, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts. In 2017 UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, appointed Neil Gaiman as a global Goodwill Ambassador.

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ARTPOWER DONORS 2021–22 CATALYST ($20,000+)

Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley Bobbie and Jon Gilbert Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation Patricia and Christopher Weil of The Weil Family Foundation

CREATOR ($10,000–19,999)

Bjorn Bjerede and Josephine Kiernan Phyllis and Daniel Epstein George Clement Perkins Endowment Marilyn and Charles Perrin

ADVOCATE ($2,500–9,999)

Joan J. Bernstein ArtPower Student Engagement Endowment Fund Maureen and C. Peter Brown Anne Marie Pleska and Luc Cayet In Memory of Jennifer A. Dennis Martha and Edward Dennis Ronald and Wynnona Goldman Hamburger Chamber Music Series Endowment Fund Jack Lampl Eva and Doug Richman Ruth S. Stern ArtPower Student Engagement Fund

GUARDIAN ($1,000–2,499)

Marilyn J. Colby Renita Greenberg and Jim Allison Edward and Arlene Pelavin Sharon Perkowski Robert and Lauren Resnik Edith and Paul Sanchez Kim Signoret-Paar Barbara and Sam Takahashi

CONTRIBUTOR ($500–999) Janice P. Alper Constance Beardsley Teresa and Sam Buss Janice and Nelson Byrne Natalee C. Ellars Turea Erwin Nora Jaffe Harry M. Mattheny Phyllis and Edward Mirsky Marilies Schoepflin

SPARK ($250–499)

Linda C. Allen K. Andrew Achterkirchen Mary L. Beebe Paulyne Becerra Jennifer and Barry Greenberg Barbara and Rodney Orth Carol Plantamura James and Kathleen Stiven

YORK SOCIETY

Donors who make provisions for ArtPower in their estate Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley Ruth Stern Kathryn Sturch

FOUNDATION/CORPORATE SPONSORS CORPORATE SPONSORS

The Parker Foundation National Performance Network New England Foundation for the Arts

ARTPOWER STAFF DONORS Carolena Deutsch-Garcia Jordan Peimer Kathryn Sturch

POWERPLAYERS

PowerPlayers are an exceptional group of donors that have made a three year commitment to support ArtPower.

Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Joan Bernstein Marilyn Colby Martha and Ed Dennis Phyllis and Daniel Epstein Elaine Galinson Bobbie and Jon Gilbert Renita Greenberg and Jim Alison Eric Lasley and Judith Bachner Sharon Perkowski Kim Signoret-Paar Paul and Edith H. Sanchez Pat Weil and Christopher Weil A portion of funding for ArtPower is provided by the UC San Diego Student Services Fee Committee.

Donor list and PowerPlayer list reflecting gifts and pledges allocated for February 1, 2021 through March 27, 2022.

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ARTPOWER STAFF

Joanna Christian, Associate Director of Marketing & Communications Carolena Deutsch-Garcia, Associate Director of Development Jennifer Mancano, Events & Performing Arts Business Manager Jordan Peimer, Executive Director Kathryn Sturch, Production Manager

STUDENT STAFF

Ashley Asadi '23, Junior Arts Org Assistant Karen Avila '24, Usher Olivia Bryan '22, Senior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Valen Chang '22, Usher Cameron Chen '22, Junior Arts Org Assistant Caleb Foley '23, Usher Katrina Graziano '25, Usher Julie Han '22, Junior Arts Org Assistant Avery Hom '22, Senior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Issac Ing '24, Usher Mandy Lai '25, Junior Arts Org Assistant Kaitlin Lee '24, Usher Julie Li '25, Junior Arts Org Assistant Emmalias '24, Production Assistant Jocelyn Obregon-Padilla '23, Usher Ashley Moon '22, Junior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Calvin Naraghi '22, Production Assistant Tracy Nguyen '23, Junior Arts Org Assistant Rachel Paner '24, Junior Arts Org Assistant Sierra Plys '23, Usher Yeji Shin '22, Junior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Musa Turner '24, Usher Hasmineh Sinani '22, Production Assistant Hao Wang '24, Junior Arts Org Assistant Xiaoxuan (Andrina) Zhang '24, Usher

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