THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
The artists at the University of Utah are made of tenacious grit in addition to talent, determination, and vision. So often, what we share with the world are our finished works. Complete. Polished. Powerful.
What we appreciate about this publication, however, is that it gives a glimpse into the making, the behind-the-scenes, the love and care that goes into creating something out of nothing — whether a finished work or knowledge to be shared. We pull back the veil on our studios and classrooms to show how our spaces combined with our specialties and spirit become sway.
Because that — the manifesting and sharing of something new — is an act of courage, and one that can be mysterious to those of who don’t regularly engage in those processes.
See, facing a blank canvas, an empty theatre, a quiet concert hall, a room full of eager learners, or sheet music with lines but no notes are not endeavors for the faint of heart. They’re for the visionaries, the problem-solvers, the recorders of history, and the creators of culture.
Getting work ready for the world can be messy and challenging, but it’s the heart and soul of our work that takes us from inspiration to presentation. It’s where and when the magic happens. And it’s our gift to you to share these vulnerable moments of generating and sharing the knowledge that makes the University of Utah College of Fine Arts a rich incubator of excellence and influence.
We hope you enjoy. ■
JOHN W. SCHEIB Dean, College of Fine Arts
IN PURSUIT OF NEW KNOWLEDGE /
With dedicated time for research, faculty members’ sabbatical leaves accelerate discovery, serve communities, generate new knowledge, and inspire students.
REDEFINING CARMEN /
Music’s Kirstin Chàvez’s powerful voice and groundbreaking opera “Carmen Inside Out” shined on stage at Kingsbury Hall.
FIRST STEPS /
For more than 15 years, the CFA has provided life-changing arts education to SLC’s Glendale neighborhood through University Neighborhood Partners Hartland Partnership.
RAW AND RETRO /
What’s old is new again with the Department of Film & Media Arts’ resurgence of work with 35mm film.
MAKING DANCE, MAKING CHANGE /
The School of Dance’s celebration of Black History Month honored history, culture, and alumni.
BEGINNING WITH GITTINS /
The presence and brilliance of legendary portraitist and painting professor Alvin Gittins’ lives on in those who he inspired to follow in his footsteps and those who get to learn from them.
MORE THAN ART, MORE THAN TREATMENT /
The CFA launched a pilot suite of introductory Creative Arts Therapies courses, and the energy and interest was powerful.
SHINING BEHIND THE SCENES /
Theatre alumna Cara Pomeroy is now thriving as Pioneer Theatre Company’s first female technical director.
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY /
Raymond C. Morales Fellow Elisa Alfonso has brought new experience, interests, and interdisciplinary lenses to the School of Music.
GIVING HEART AND SOUL /
Gordon and Connie Hanks’ passions can be seen, felt, and most importantly, heard through their significant philanthropy.
ANNUAL REPORT /
It is with overwhelming gratitude that we name those who fuel the continued success of the College of Fine Arts with their generosity and philanthropy.
Photo: Elisa Alfonso
Photo: Photo courtesy of Satu Hummasti
By Marina Gomberg
V. Kim Martinez on scaffolding while working
Great Wall of Los Angeles
Beth Krensky at the art department where activist posters abound, Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil
Photo courtesy of V. Kim Martinez
Photo courtesy of Beth Krensky
For tenure-line faculty members at the University of Utah, research is part and parcel to the work. In addition to disseminating information, our researchers are hungry to explore, create, recreate, discover, analyze, and publish.
This pursuit of new knowledge is an important pillar of what faculty members at universities provide to their students, their communities, and the world at large.
Recognized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the University of Utah has the highest classification for research activity, designated as an R1. And the faculty members in the College of Fine Arts add to the body of creative and scholarly research profoundly.
Arts research — the generation, discovery, application, and integration of knowledge — takes many forms. It’s the premiere of a new choreographic work. It’s arts teaching and learning. It’s a new opera or symphony. It’s the set design of a play. It’s a mural made in and with community. It can also be distributed through traditional forms like textbooks, book chapters, research papers, and studies.
While the hum of research can always be felt and heard in the College of Fine Arts, the frequency and volume is amplified when faculty members apply for and are granted the unique gift of focus in the form of sabbatical leave.
The overall purpose of sabbatical leave is to increase faculty members’ scholarship and professional development by temporarily suspending teaching duties, thereby enhancing their capacity for continued research, teaching, and service. Leave of this type from academic duties is a privilege granted to afford the faculty member the opportunity for intensive study, investigation, and research.
Upon reflecting on her successful sabbatical, Associate Professor Kimberly Jew said it well: “I think what made the sabbatical work so well for me is that I had time to reflect on my writing projects. I had a bit of room inside my head to let ideas, questions, and thought process bounce around joyfully. It's truly a privilege to have time to think. Also, thinking and writing are inextricably connected: the more you think, the more you write, and the more you write, the more you think.”
We often get to see the fruits of our faculty members’ teaching endeavors, but this story goes beyond the classroom and studio. Here, we are getting a glimpse of the life and times of our faculty through their unique sabbatical experiences.
V. KIM MARTINEZ
Renowned muralist and Painting and Drawing Professor V. Kim Martinez is known for her large-scale, community-focused works that both involve and reflect the communities in which they exist. So, during her sabbatical from fall 2024 through spring 2025, she traveled the country from coast to coast in pursuit of connecting, making, learning, and ultimately using art as a mechanism for social change.
“Emerging from a Chicano art tradition, my work harnesses the power of art to reveal and critique societal issues,” Martinez said in an interview with Utah’s arts magazine, “15 Bytes,” before she had left for the residency. “My creative process is rooted in inquiry; I begin by posing critical questions that propel me on a journey of research and direct engagement with the individuals whose stories I aim to tell, employing iconography and symbols that resonate deeply within that context.”
Fueled, in part, by the University of Utah’s Presidential Societal Impact Scholar Award, Martinez completed two artist residencies, one in New York City with JVS Project Space and one with Los Angeles’ 18th Street Art Center.
The latter of which had two foci. The first was to create works for her series, “Tantalus,” which vibrantly reflects the impacts of industrial and human pollution. The 13 smaller pieces she created in L.A. reflect the floods’ devastating impacts and embody the human resilience it will take to address them.
Her second focus was collaborating with the SPARC LA design team on new sections of the Great Wall of Los Angeles, the mural project started by Judith Baca in the 1970s that portrays the perspective of women and minorities. Martinez was able to both submit designs and collaboratively paint on sections designed by others, all while learning about new techniques and materials that she can bring back to the U and employ with her upcoming student mural project for Murray City. ■
“Emerging from a Chicano art tradition, my work harnesses the power of art to reveal and critique societal issues.”
Photo courtesy of V. Kim Martinez
Professor V. Kim Martinez
Detail of “Blood Falls” by V. Kim Martinez, 4’x4’ painting about Antarctica and climate change, completed while she was in Los Angeles
SATU HUMMASTI
Improvising
With the intention of developing a work called “Shore” that explores the changing relationship of our human bodies of water with earth’s bodies of water, Associate Professor Satu Hummasti, who teaches contemporary dance and choreography in the School of Dance, set off around the world for her yearlong sabbatical in fall 2024.
The interactive, multidisciplinary work includes dance, film, and installation and investigates our interdependence with water and coasts through a lens of arts ecology and sustainability, like much of Hummasti’s work.
“Shore” involved filming “small dance stories” and interviews with local people at various shoreline sites that hold personal and historical significance, with the intention of the project culminating in dance, film, and sound installation that involves multiple, simultaneous projections depicting these embodiments of “shore."
Hummasti began in the Nordic region, where she had a three-week guest artist residency at the Åland Archipelago Guest Artist Residency in Åland. The residency culminated in her showing “Shore/Baltic,” a first iteration of the project, at the Kökar Museum.
She then moved to Valencia, Spain, where she continued working on “Shore” and researching dance and improvisation as modalities to foster UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in relation
to climate and social justice. Valencia was Green Capital of Europe 2024, so the move there, and working with institutions like the Observatorio del Canvi Climactic, gave important viewpoints to the project.
But on Oct. 29, 2024, everything changed when an historic flood devastated the region. Hummasti found herself living the phenomenon she was researching: the effects of climate change on human life. Bodies moving to help other bodies, this time though, in differently choreographed ways. She joined the thousands of volunteers — specifically working with the international group called Batallion Guirri and with World Central Kitchen — in destroyed villages, many of which were home to refugees from neighboring regions who had fled violence and sought safety.
Her flexibility to pivot ultimately expanded her preview on the topic.
“Our shoreline stories started to also explore what happens when a shore exceeds its boundaries,” Hummasti said. “And how the Mediterranean shorelines are tremendous flow points in the current refugee crisis.”
Plans to create and present “Shore” continue, and for Hummasti, new ideas around “Improvisation in Times of Disasters” have become a new focus. ■
“Our shoreline stories started to also explore what happens when a shore exceeds its boundaries. And how the Mediterranean shorelines are tremendous flow points in the current refugee crisis.”
Photo courtesy of Satu Hummasti
Photo courtesy of Satu Hummasti
Hummasti volunteering in the town of Catarroja after the flooding
Hummasti at the showing of “Shore / Baltic” in Åland at the Kõkar Museum
From industry to academia, animation Professor in the Department of Film & Media Arts, Craig Caldwell, has been a groundbreaker. In addition to his role in the College of Fine Arts, he is a USTAR (Utah Science Technology and Research initiative) professor and co-founder of the Masters in Entertainment Arts & Engineering in the U’s Games program. He now lends his focus to better understanding how “an audience’s cultural storytelling traditions influence their response to a film’s narrative.”
Caldwell's sabbatical's goal was to illuminate how our Western/Aristotelian narrative tradition, with its emphasis on individual, character-focused stories, differs from Eastern narratives, which are more about character relationships (Kishōtenketsu).
His sabbatical, which spanned from fall 2022 through spring 2023 with the support of funding from the Institute of Animation and Creative Content (IACC) at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts (SIVA), provided fodder for both his research and, in surprising ways, his teaching. Collaborating with IACC provided introductions to some of Shanghai's cutting-edge digital media companies (i.e., Tencent, Shengqu Games, Pearl Studios) and ranked universities (Tongji University).
Though the pandemic shifted his initial plans to stay based in China longer, Caldwell's absorption of knowledge during his visit was monumental. After speaking at European conferences on the differences in narrative structures due to cultural influences, he returned home to get a jumpstart on the second edition of his book "Story Structure and Development: A Guide for Animators, VFX Artists, Game Designers, and XR Creators" (Taylor & Francis/ CRC, 2025).
In addition to being a more informed researcher on media narratives, Caldwell sees how his deeper cultural understandings will influence how he relates to and shares knowledge with his students.
“I’ve come to recognize that we don’t all share the same foundational understanding of the world — something I once took for granted,” he said. “Our perspectives are shaped by different experiences and levels of background knowledge. As a result, I’ve become more intentional about clarifying concepts I used to assume were universally understood.”
Leave it to a film professor to capture the importance of lens. ■
“I’ve come to recognize that we don’t all share the same foundational understanding of the world — something I once took for granted.”
Photo courtesy of Craig Caldwell
Photo courtesy of Craig Caldwell
Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts
Caldwell at Shengqu Games
“Sabbatical is an incredibly valuable time where when our schedules are freer from obligations to other duties, we can build significant momentum on our research.”
CHRIS LIPPARD
Humanizing
Film & Media Arts Professor Chris Lippard has always been interested in better understanding the human condition, and film — especially film as a component of a larger interdisciplinary investigational projects — is one of the ways he’s explored the parts of humanity that interest him most.
His PhD dissertation in the mid 1990s focused on the impact of pain on creativity, and he has continued to find ways to investigate the complex relationships between human struggle and media.
During his two-semester sabbatical (fall 2024-spring 2025), which was funded by the College of Fine Arts, the Middle East Center, and the Center for Latin American Studies, Lippard dove deeply into research around the plights and portrayals of migrant humans, the understanding of how borders and mobility influence movement, and the ways we show the human experience through portrayals of animals in film.
He also remained steadfast in his service to the book series “Cinema and Media Cultures in the Middle East” for which he is the editor; as he is and has with the “Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World.”
“Sabbatical is an incredibly valuable time where when our schedules are freer from obligations to other duties, we can build significant momentum on our research,” he said.
And though it wasn’t scheduled to fit this within the magical sabbatical window, Lippard plans to travel to refugee camps in northern Africa in October to follow up on his previous research on the visual culture of the vibrant Sahrawi people. ■
Photo courtesy of Chris Lippard
Photo courtesy of Chris Lippard
Lippard in London
Lippard in front of the library at UNAM
Loving
One can sometimes find Distinguished Professor in the Department of Art & Art History, Beth Krensky, with a chair strapped to her back as she makes a pilgrimage — not necessarily for show (though, the lucky get to witness), but as an act of love aimed at creating healing and wonder.
“I am a gathering of things — objects, words, spirit — and connector of fragments, to make us whole,” she said.
During her sabbatical, which spanned from fall 2024 through spring 2025, Krensky traveled around the world and across the country to exhibit and speak. She also began the process of telling the stories of her life’s work using art as “a form of individual, interpersonal, or community liberation.”
Her research agenda is dedicated to creating art — some performance-based, some multi-media, and others tactile — that facilitates collective experiences as contemplative acts. A deep believer in the importance of using the arts as forces for love and healing, Krensky is invited to share her work all over the world.
Her series “Dispatch from Solitude” has faced questions about life and the courage required to
investigate the spaces where spirit and matter connect. The latter was the focus of her recently completed “Dispatch from Solitude #3: Pilgrimage to the Very Center,” which was a solo performance of her walking a labyrinth on the ancestral lands of the Tutuni people in Port Orford, Oregon.
“My work addresses pressing issues while providing a refuge — a free space — that allows participants to name themselves, envision a different reality, and engage in the re-making of their world,” she described.
She also recently returned from Manaus, Brazil in the Amazon, where she had work in the “Adaptation” exhibition and gave a talk entitled, “Social Practice Art: Art as Life” at the Centro de Artes at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM). She also got to spend time with the students and faculty at UFAM, an institution that educates students from all over the Amazon, many of which are indigenous, to return to their communities to teach.
With her medium of love, Krensky’s art is a matter of heart and soul. ■
“My work addresses pressing issues while providing a refuge — a free space — that allows participants to name themselves, envision a different reality, and engage in the re-making of their world.”
BETH KRENSKY
Krensky carrying an interactive social sculpture at the opening of the “Adaptation” exhibition at the Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil
Photo: Courtesy of Beth Krensky
Photo: Matte Hanna
Krensky walks a labyrinth in Oregon for her performance
"The Trees Will Love Me and the Earth Will Hold Me"
Krensky engaging with art education students at the Federal University of Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil
Photo: Courtesy of Beth Krensky
DONN SCHAEFER
Playing
If we may toot his horn, Professor of trombone and head of the School of Music’s brass area, Donn Schaefer, was on sabbatical leave from fall 2024 through spring 2025, and made incredible use of his time.
From playing on three Broadway National Tours (“Funny Girl,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” and “Wicked,”) and with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the University of Oregon and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Schaefer immersed himself in the best of our local and national professional music opportunities, all of which provided fodder for him to be a better teacher, he says.
“Part of learning an instrument involves solitude and personal practice, but the reason most people get hooked on learning an instrument is the camaraderie with other musicians, challenge, and reward of playing for a live audience,” he said. “We need constant reminders of live performance to be able to relate to and inspire our students as they journey on their path towards being performing musicians.”
From the actual act of playing alongside prestigious professionals on tour, to experiencing the uses of new technologies, personally knowing what is happening in the professional space makes Schaefer an even greater asset to his students.
And in addition to his work as an active performer, he lent his time and energy to writing "Going Low: A Complete Guide to Switching to Bass Trombone” (working title), which will be a pivotal contribution to the field since everybody starts on the tenor trombone before taking up bass trombone, which is, as he says, “a completely different beast.” This milestone is one many players move through, but Schaefer’s text will be the first published on the topic.
Upon returning to teaching duties, it’s fair to say that Schaefer will be fine-tuned and ready to hit the right note. ■
“Part of learning an instrument involves solitude and personal practice, but the reason most people get hooked on learning an instrument is the camaraderie with other musicians, challenge, and reward of playing for a live audience.”
Photo courtesy of Donn Schaefer
Photo courtesy of Donn Schaefer
Photo montage of Donn Schaefer on on the stage of the Eccles Theatre (black and white) and behind (color) is the Wizard from the Broadway tour of “Wicked.”
Schaefer performing with the Utah Symphony
KIMBERLY JEW Honoring
It would be reasonable to assume, with as many hats as she wears and as much as she produces, that Associate Professor Kimberly Jew has a sizeable head. With remarkably gentle ego, though, she holds appointments in both the Departments of Theatre and Ethnic Studies and has managed to publish four unique articles during her sabbatical leave during the 24/25 academic year, among other accomplishments.
If we think about theatre as an exercise in portraying humans that are not us and stories that are not always ours, it makes sense that success often requires theatre-makers to investigate and understand the cultural context of a character’s existence. These processes are important for accuracy, respect, and legitimacy, and Jew has long written on a variety of topics exploring the intersections of feminism, postcolonialism, theatrical experimentation, and ethnic identity.
With pieces in “Frontiers, a Journal of Women Studies,” “Theatre and Performance Notes and Counternotes,” “Pacific Coast Philology” (PAMLA Journal), and “The Routledge Guide to Absurdist Literature,” Jew has been able to add valuable contributions to the important intersection of theatre, form, and identity.
She was also contracted to co-edit a large 40-essay volume of theatre and dance essays, focusing on women's leadership in the performing arts. The volume, titled “Volume 4: Leaders”, is part of a 4-part series titled “Women’s Innovations in Theatre, Dance, and Performance” which will be published by Bloomsbury Press.
And in her spare time, she was also part of producing the play “White Rabbit/Red Rabbit” at the Salt Lake Acting Company (Making Space for Artists),
which is an experimental play by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour that invites non-actor community members to participate with no rehearsal or direction. She’s planning to direct Lauren Yee's “The Hatmaker's Wife” at Westminster University this coming fall.
She deeply valued the chance to think and write while sitting alongside her convalescing father, a workaholic surgeon who had been her inspiration to become a professor when she was young and struggling. He once wrote a letter to her during her graduate school days that the chance to write an article, book, or play was absolutely worth pursuing because the writing would last forever.
“I don't know if any of my writing projects will quite last forever,” she said. “But it's a nice thought.”
She’s right. It’s unclear how long these faculty members’ contributions to the world will last; knowledge, interpretation, art-making, and texts ultimately shift like the desert sands. But it’s abundantly clear just how impactful these efforts are right now and, hopefully, for the foreseeable future. ■
“I don't know if any of my writing projects will quite last forever it's a nice thought.”
CARMEN REDEFINING
BY MERRITT MECHAM
During rehearsal for “Carmen Inside Out – The Live Concert,” singer and co-creator Kirstin Chávez got an alert from her smart watch: Should it call 911? It turns out Chávez had gotten so involved in her performance and had put so much passion and effort into it, her elevated heart rate sent her watch’s sensors reeling.
Chávez, Professor and Artist in Residence at the U’s School of Music, is a vibrant, passionate performer, which is why she’s perfect for playing the titular role in Bizet’s “Carmen.”
Set in southern Spain, the opera tells the story of Don José, who falls for Carmen after she is brought to a prison where he’s a guard. José lets Carmen escape and takes the fall, and Carmen, impressed by his sacrifice, waits for him and pledges her love. When he is released, they take up as lovers. However, José is unaccustomed to Carmen’s lifestyle and social freedom and grows increasingly bitter and jealous. They break up. When they see each other again, José begs Carmen to return to him. When she refuses, he stabs her.
Over her career, Chávez has performed Carmen at the Sydney Opera House and the Arena di Verona among many others. It is her speciality. Chávez deeply loves the opera and the character — and her deep knowledge of the text supports her opinions of the character. “She is her own woman,” says Chávez. “And in the very best of ways, she is used to living life with a freedom that most women… don’t experience. She is true to herself. She loves life. She is generous and warm and inviting and charismatic... She’s passionate and she loves without feeling the need to give excuse.”
Which is why it felt deeply wrong whenever she’d be asked to portray Carmen as nothing more than a seductress deserving of death. “You can imagine that if she’s played as some sort of prostitute-like character who’s nasty, everybody watching is going to think, oh, she deserved to be killed.” Chávez said. And, indeed, many productions have portrayed the character that way. “There was a need to basically make her somehow less, base, easier to understand. She must be nasty and that’s why she’s killed. But isn’t that a horribly, grossly simplistic way to portray a terribly complex, interesting, deep, rich character?”
Chávez recalls one production where she found the interpretation of the character particularly reprehensible. “At the end of the show in this version, José slits Carmen’s throat — doesn’t stab her — he slits her throat… When my throat was slit, the audience laughed.”
Not only was this performance challenging for Chávez, but she also felt angry on behalf of the audience. “I also felt so upset that the audience was given this version of things where Carmen’s death was justified and basically celebrated… I felt that [the audience members] were cheated.”
When Chávez was invited to re-imagine the opera with Stage Director Johnathon Pape, she said “I jumped at the chance. I was ready because… these things had already been festering in my brain for years.” Her version of “Carmen” would showcase the character as Chávez saw her, based on her observations from the source material.
With “Carmen Inside Out,” Chávez centers Carmen’s story to not only present feminist perspective but to inspire the audiences to live with the same vivacity and freedom that the character does.
Photo: Mr. Eguchi
Kirstin Chávez as Carmen in “Carmen Inside Out”
Now, in 2025, “Carmen Inside Out” has been performed all over the world to great success. But Chávez and her collaborators want to expand the project so that it can reach a wider audience, including those right here in Utah.
Executive Producer and Visiting Assistant Professor James Bobick explained that they developed Carmen’s true character by taking inspiration from what a film portrayal of her could look like. “It was with the medium of film in mind that we produced the live performance in Kingsbury Hall on January 9, 2025,” he said, which ultimately provided Chàvez’s vocal students with the opportunity to perform classic repertoire alongside professionals. Working again with Pape, Chávez used the one-woman show as the framework for a version of “Carmen Inside Out” that featured a cast of thirteen.
For this special performance, officially called “Carmen Inside Out – The Live Concert,” Chávez brought in two colleagues with whom she has performed “Carmen” many times: Richard Troxell (as Don José) and Luis Ledesma (as Escamillo). “That’s how we conceived of this live concert performance that we did on January 9th,” Chávez said. “It was partially to give my dear friends the opportunity to shine as the gifted, incredible humans, artists that they are, and partly to give some of our students a very unique, wonderful, amazing opportunity to perform this opera with professionals.”
And it was an amazing experience. U Student Rocio Valle Lucero, who performed in the concert as Frasquita, said that it was “like a live, intense masterclass.”
“Seeing these professionals on stage and at the same time performing, rehearsing, and spending time with them encouraged and taught me how to be a better singer and performer,” she said.
Student Sam Plumb, who performed as Remendado, loved the opportunity to perform at such a professional level. “I enjoyed the rapid pacing of the rehearsal process; everybody prepared so that we were able to stage the show in less than a week, which is a lot faster than I am accustomed to,” he said. “I think this may also have been the largest orchestra I have performed with, given that Dr. Baldwin was conducting the full version of the score in the pit. That was awesome to experience!”
Which, yes — Dr. Robert Baldwin and the U Philharmonia got to be involved as well. “The chance for our orchestra students to perform with the professional singers for ‘Carmen Inside Out’ was invaluable,” said Baldwin. “Our students got to experience firsthand a professional environment, from the rehearsal schedule to the production quality. We always talk about it, but this gave them a chance to live it.”
“Carmen Inside Out – the Live Concert” was a thrilling night, and a chance to experience “Carmen” the opera in a more accessible setting. “I’m not exaggerating at all when I say that the performance that we were able to give was essentially a dream come true for me,” said Chávez. “It was the convergence of two very important worlds, my performing world, which I’ve been enjoying a 25-year career at this point, and the convergence of my teaching world, having my own students on stage with me, getting to share with them in an intimate way. [It’s] what I so, so love about being an artist in this world.”
Chávez continues to find ways to bring Carmen’s story to audiences all over. “This story is timeless,” says Chávez. “If it is told well, if you have a production where the characters are actually three-dimensional real characters, then the audience cannot help but fall in and feel these things.” And, just like Carmen, Chávez has the passion and wherewithal to make that come to pass. ■
"This story is timeless...If it is told well, if you have a production where the characters are actually threedimensional real characters, then the audience cannot help but fall in and feel these things."
Photo: Courtesy of Kirstin Chávez
World famous flamenco dancer Sol “La Argentinita” Koeraus (left) and professional actor Gustavo Salazar (right) who played Gustavo pose backstage.
Photo: Mr. Eguchi
Kirstin Chávez as Carmen in “Carmen Inside Out”
McIntyre-Martinez leads young people at the Glendale-Mountain View Community Learning Center in an energetic kinesthetic warm up focusing on handeye coordination.
When the dance lady came to the Hartland Apartments, Abdullahi Mberwa and his friends always showed up. They wanted to dance and play drums with this energetic woman who taught twice a week at their Glendale apartment complex.
Kelby McIntyre-Martinez did dance, but she also listened to what they wanted to do and learn. She kept showing up and the kids did, too.
“She’s one of my role models to this day,” said Mberwa, now 31.
including the College of Education, College of Law, Occupational Therapy, the U’s Service Corps, the Justice Advocacy Fellowship, and the College of Nursing have also come to Glendale to work in partnership with residents and other local partners.
“It’s a way for the kids we’re working with to learn from many different kinds of people, and that shapes who they are as they grow up in our community,” said Jennifer Mayer-Glenn, Director of University Neighborhood Partners. “Students from the university have an opportunity to engage with kids and families that maybe they wouldn’t have otherwise, and that allows us as a society to care about each other more and understand each other more.”
It was 2008 when Michael Hardman, then Dean of the College of Education, thought McIntyre-Martinez, with her background as an arts educator and choreographer, might be the perfect person to work with kids at Hartland. Their parents, immigrants and recently resettled refugees, were taking English and citizenship classes in the afternoon. Their kids needed something to do.
So they danced with “Miss Kelby.” Acted out stories and sang. Middle and high school students filled her classes first, until the younger children and siblings announced it was their turn, and the program grew.
Whether it was dancing to a new song from Ghana or exploring a student’s new hobby like percussion, the kids’ interests often shaped what they did. What had begun as a way to keep kids busy became a fusion of talents and people from around the world.
“I was learning from the young people and the young people were learning from me,” McIntyreMartinez recalled.
One of those was Mberwa.
“I would go and participate and would forget about what was going on at home or going on outside,” he said. “It was an escape from everything.”
Mberwa was 9 years old when he came to Utah as a refugee from Somalia. As he grew up, he kept coming back to Hartland, even working as a youth coordinator at UNP Hartland from 2018 to 2021. He noticed that when “Miss Kelby” appeared, kids did, too.
“We had the most kids show up on that day because of her,” he said.
BFA Theatre Teaching Student, Alia Acosta, leads a theatre lesson focusing on telling a story about nocturnal animals and their habitats. Acosta is a CFA Intern at the Community Learning Center, which allows students invaluable opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills they are learning at the U authentically alongside community partners.
learning from the young people and the young people were learning from me.”
“Have any of you daydreamed before?” Acosta asked the students. “We’re going to play with our imagination!”
Teaching in Glendale is a “huge” benefit to her, Acosta said.
It’s in Glendale where she can test ideas and teaching plans, while working with a wide variety of students, some of whom may be learning English.
The U students offer Glendale kids an opportunity to discover new things and build upon their talents, interests, and strengths.
They’re staying because they want to be engaged in something, something healthy,” Taddie said. “It’s creating opportunities that speak to our students and their backgrounds and validates who they are, rather than expecting them to assimilate.”
Some College of Fine Arts students come to Glendale in the summer to do visual arts with kids through a program called ArtsBridge.
ArtsBridge director Kerri Hopkins knows her U students will receive immediate — and honest — feedback from kids.
Sometimes what the U students discover is that their lessons don’t work, so they have to adjust their teaching plans.
“It’s making them better teachers,” Tucker said.
While the college students are learning, Glendale kids are learning more about college and what students do there.
“They’re at an age where a lot of them feel open to ask them questions,” Hopkins said. “They can see that people from the University value them and want to work with them.”
Giving Them Hope
Mberwa is driving trucks these days, but dreams of opening his own barbershop. That dream began at UNP Hartland after the center bought a set of clippers. Mberwa started cutting kids’ hair.
“Miss Kelby” and the U programs in Glendale are changing lives, he said.
“Kids seeing students in college working toward something gives them hope,” Mberwa said. “It makes you realize you can make it, too.” ■
All photos by Brandon Cruz
BY JULIA LYON
The School of Dance celebrated Black history last February in a firstof-its-kind event showcasing new choreography and screendance by black artists.
“
ANEW: A Black History Month Celebration” brought together both School of Dance alumni and choreographers in the community.
“We’ve done things in celebration of Black History Month, but I don’t believe we’ve done a full concert celebrating Black artists,” said Pamela Geber Handman, professor at the School of Dance who has been on the faculty for 25 years.
Undergraduates across the School of Dance, including ballet and modern dance majors and minors, from first years to seniors, performed new works by Adesola Akinleye, Natosha Washington, and Joshua Whitehead. Two dance films by Irishia Hubbard Romaine, a School of Dance MFA alumna, were also shown.
“As a School of Dance, our goal is to bring in guest teachers and presenters who are going to share experiences about art making with our students that are not the same as the faculty,” Geber Handman said. “Our mission is to expand and educate.”
From “Fever Dream” by Joshua Whitehead
Photo: Todd Collins
TELLING THE STORY IN A NEW WAY
Choreographer Adesola Akinleye’s, “Act II Arrival,” is the second act of a larger story ballet, “Sycorax’s Tempest,” based on William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”
“Their work is so perfect in terms of ANEW,” Geber Handman said. “It’s looking at ‘The Tempest’ from a different perspective and telling the story through dance.”
Akinleye’s work reimagines the story through the eyes of the witch and mother, Sycorax, while exploring ideas from Caribbean feminist scholar and writer Sylvia Wynter. On a cold February day, students en pointe rehearsed the piece, falling and rising between long pieces of fabric, as the Sycorax brought an island to life.
“I want to choreograph movement that the dancers can speak through,” Akinleye said. “I think it’s important we have a kind of shared sense of ownership of what the piece is so the dancers feel as if they are creating something with me.”
Akinleye strives to make works that “tell about the brightness of the range of people involved in ballet.”
“For ballet to have a future, it needs to avoid telling the stories of a tiny group of people, over and over again,” said Akinleye, Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. “There are a lot of people who contribute to ballet and their stories of lives and loves are complicated and varied.”
"WE HAVE TO FOCUS ON THIS LIGHT AND NOT BE AFRAID OF IT."
SHINING A LIGHT
Natosha Washington, choreographer, dance educator, and Assistant Principal at East High School, described her new work, “Towards Light,” as rooted in the belief that everybody has a light inside that should not be hidden.
“I think right now, with what’s happening in the world, we have to focus on this light and not be afraid of it,” said Washington, who was the 2024 recipient of the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni award for her work as an arts educator.
“Towards Light,” a modern contemporary piece, uses an excerpt from a piece of music composed by Travis Lake, a fellow alumnus.
Mechanical sounds punctuate the narration, which is reflected in the choreography throughout the work.
“There’s a light inside of you,” a voice says. “And that light scares them.”
Washington was a student in one of the first classes Geber Handman taught.
“Natosha’s work is always very visceral, emotional and raw at times,” Geber Handman said. “She has a gift for inspiring honesty and vulnerability in her performers.”
Washington was excited to be included in ANEW, the first time she’s worked with U students in about five years.
Over the past few years, she’s been invited to participate in conversations about how to make the U a welcoming place for all students.
“I’ve watched a lot of significant changes happening at the U and it’s not just talk,” she said. “It’s beautiful to see.”
Joshua Whitehead in rehearsal at the U
Photo: Todd Collins
Autumn Ryskoski in “Act II: Arrival” by Adesola Akinleye, costume design by Christopher Larson
Photo: Todd Collins
THE DREAM WITHIN A DREAM
Joshua Whitehead re-staged the contemporary ballet, “Fever Dream,” the sequel to his “Whispers of the Sandman (2023).” The story takes place within a dream and includes all the possibilities a dream can contain from darkness to illumination.
Creating the work, with movement styles ranging from hip hop and modern to classical ballet, was a full circle moment for the choreographer.
“For me, it’s anew — it’s starting and continuing my journey as a choreographer,” said Whitehead, who also composed the music for the piece. “There’s a lot of new beginnings that started here.”
Whitehead first came to Utah in 2009 for a Ballet West summer intensive located at the University of Utah. That led to him becoming a trainee and eventually joining the main company.
He created “Whispers of the Sandman” two years ago, during his last season as a demi-soloist with Ballet West. The piece was later set on the workshop dancers of artÉmotion.
He reflected on the success of Black choreographers in Utah and the increased opportunity to choreograph in all genres.
“It’s awesome to see that we all have a platform, a place where we can express ourselves through means of choreography,” he said. “And that people who are asking us to choreograph or set things are not asking us just to create something African or set to African music.”
He says every time he choreographs is a learning experience.
“You learn how to lead better, how to communicate better. You learn patience, and you learn that everyone has their own learning capacity.”
DANCE ON THE BIG SCREEN
ANEW showcased dance on film, featuring two recent works by MFA alumna Irishia Hubbard Romaine, who also received a screendance certificate from the School of Dance.
“Irishia has done really amazing work,” Geber Handman said. “Screendance is yet another way in which to tell stories through dance and movement.”
The film, “Unearthed,” builds on Romaine’s archival work, which involves developing a database cataloging Black dance on film from the late 1800s to the 1900s.
“Part of my research is unearthing and recovering Black dance on film,” said Romaine, Assistant Professor in the Department of Dance at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. “I’m tracing and piecing together histories that have been fractured and erased.”
“Unearthed” (2023) intersperses archival footage with reimagined Black figures from the past. “Red Line” (2022) explores the resilience of a Black woman and how the fight/flight response takes bodily form. Romaine directed and edited both.
“I think the School of Dance does an excellent job of bringing in a wide range of guest artists who are actively engaged in the field,” Romaine said. “I feel honored to be included in this lineup. Each of us brings something unique to the U’s dance community.”
COMING TOGETHER
Geber Handman hopes that at ANEW audience members immersed themselves in the concert’s storytelling and learned something new.
“Right now in the world, I think it is imperative that we are in community with one another,” she said. “Coming to a live performance such as this one is the bedrock for hearing one another’s stories and perspectives and an opportunity to continue finding joy.” ■
From “Towards Light” by Natosha Washington Photo: Joshua Whitehead
BEGINNING WITH GITTINS
THE MASTER, THE DISCIPLE, AND THE FAN CLUB
Photo: Hui Zheng
A zoom in on a hand in Alvin Gittins' portrait of Theatre’s C. Lowell Lees, which hangs in Pioneer Memorial Theatre foyer
By Marina Gomberg
One of Hui Zheng’s favorite pieces of art on campus is a portrait of former theatre professor C. Lowell Lees that hangs in the lobby of Pioneer Theatre Company. It’s the brush strokes of the hands that mesmerize him most.
Like so many in our region, painting and drawing student Zheng has a deep reverence and appreciation for the work of former portraitist and University of Utah painting professor Alvin Gittins, whose work featured the likeness of Utah’s ecclesiastic, political, financial, and educational leadership.
Zheng’s understanding of Gittins’ brilliance has been enlivened by his mentor: Associate Professor, John Erickson, who’s one of Gittins’ self-identified “disciples,” and the person who ultimately helped Zheng define his educational path.
See, this is a story of learning lineage. Of pedagogical pedigree. Of the power one person’s passion and brilliance can have on those skillful enough to absorb it and then spark that fire in another.
Erickson, who has been teaching at the U since 1983, started as a student back in the 1970s and took his first class from Alvin Gittins in 1973.
He described Gittins as a virtuoso and a generous professor — tall and always dressed aristocratically, teaching in a room with only natural light, his cigarette smoke wisping up around him and pluming into the shadow. Given the smorgasbord of modernist art at the time, Erickson gravitated toward Gittins’ masterful realism and ardent understanding of and respect for human anatomy.
“Gittins was a specifist. He taught something anatomically specific and then he bathed that in chiaroscuro [the dramatic use of light and shadow] — which he talked about constantly. Then he brought in the use of color vibration and how that impacted the flesh tones of the figure,” Erickson said. “Learning from Alvin was an ongoing enfoldment of what he knew.”
Like many of Gittins’ devotees, Erickson was less interested in manifesting his own vision at first. For three years, he was fully willing to surrender to absorb Gittins’ “mastery that was magical” before making his own stylistic departure — which, it should be noted, has made Erickson a revered and celebrated painter in his own right.
Painting graduate student Pam Beach, who has worked with Erickson for the last two years, notes that while Erickson doesn’t paint like Gittins, “that strong understanding of anatomical structure is evident.”
She and other current students still benefit from the cadavers and skeletons in the department that Gittins had brought in during his time, along with Erickson’s sharing of form’s importance. And while structural understanding is vital, Beach is guided by Gittins’ quote that “Painting is not to intimate, but to explicate.”
Zheng articulated this same magic in both Erickson’s and Gittins’ works as he communicated the difference between being a “human printer” versus truly seeing and replicating another person’s very essence.
“As a new student, we think we want to draw what’s in front of us really accurately, picture-like,” he said. “That takes technique, but anyone can do it. A good portrait isn’t drawing from reference; it’s drawing from life.”
Zheng says the most important thing he’s learned from Erickson about figurative painting is to balance focus on carpentry (the physical body) and the theatrical (the emotions, psychology, and drama).
Like Gittins, Erickson’s generosity as an educator is deeply appreciated by his mentees. His willingness to spend dedicated time with each student is a proud carryover from what he received from the master himself, who would do demos with each student over the period of a semester, so they walked away with individualized learning and a Gittins work just for them.
To this day, Erickson will take students to any number of Gittins’ works across the University of Utah campus (and there are many), to sit under the work of a great while contemplating the challenges of their current work.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given his prowess and benevolence, Erickson also has a similar following among his scholars. Zheng laughed as he mentioned that among some arts students in the department, they talk about forming a John Erickson fan club complete with t-shirts that say, “John Erickson loves my work.”
And that is the transformative power one educator can have as the ripples of their impact create waves for generations that follow. ■
“He taught something anatomically specific and then he bathed that in chiaroscuro [the dramatic use of light and shadow] — which he talked about constantly. Then he brought in the use of color vibration and how that impacted the flesh tones of the figure. Learning from Alvin was an ongoing enfoldment of what he knew.
Painting by Pam Beach entitled “The Youngest” 36” x
Mixed Media work by John Erickson called “Sojourner,” 24”x 32 (2025)
DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE ALUMNA CARA POMEROY TAKES THE TECHNICAL REINS
BY EMERI FETZER
Cara Pomeroy formed her first theatre company, Porch Playhouse, when she was in elementary school. She and the other neighborhood kids would meet on her back deck and write quirky scripts to act out.
Later, at Salt Lake City’s West High School, do-ityourself productions meant students often taught other students how to design sets, run lights, or manage productions. She ended up President of the Drama Club and head of the stage crew.
Years later, after taking a hiatus from college, Pomeroy found herself back in theatre classes at the U. But was theatre still what she most wanted to pursue? And, if so, which part?
“I realized I don’t love the rehearsal process. I don’t enjoy getting into a room with a bunch of other people and having to be vulnerable,” Pomeroy admitted.
What she did love was set design.
However, there was a problem. While attending school in Virginia, a professor had said she would never be a set designer if she couldn’t improve her drawing skills. She had earnestly taken drawing classes but hadn’t improved much.
Enter Kyle Becker, Technical Director and Performing Arts Design Program (PADP) faculty at the U Department of Theatre.
Pomeroy remembers Becker’s staggered reaction when she revealed her hang-up.
“He said, ‘There are many different approaches to every part of theater design. If you know the job you want, figure out what your strengths are and develop a process that plays to them. If you can’t draw, figure out alternative ways to get visual information across. Spend time investing in the ones that are better for you.’”
That was just the encouragement Pomeroy needed. She dove headfirst into her interests, and found that the PADP was a world rich with opportunity for those who wanted it. The action-oriented, personalized, flexible guidance that Becker provided was the hallmark of the remainder of her study.
Photo: Joshua Black, Pioneer Theatre Company
Cara Pomeroy
Assistant Technical Director Halee Rasmussen connected Pomeroy to the Grand Theatre, where what started as an internship quickly turned into a role as Master Electrician.
Then, in her junior year, Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC) artist Warren Gerritsen asked Adjunct Professor and Scenic Charge Thomas George for recommendations of scenic painting students who might be interested in working at PTC on an as-needed basis. Pomeroy was first on the list.
“I had this constant flow between working at PTC as a scenic painter, working in the shop as a carpenter and welder, and at the Grand Theater as master electrician. I had this extremely rich educational experience for most of my time at the University of Utah, all facilitated by PADP faculty.” Pomeroy said. “I got paid for almost all that work, and when I finished school, I was ready to jump into any number of jobs.”
It’s no surprise that she quit waiting tables and has worked exclusively in technical theatre since graduating in 2017.
For five years she taught technical theater for the Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, where she built the curriculum from scratch to include stagecraft, woodworking, lighting design, theater electrics, audio engineering, set design, scenic painting, set construction, and stage management.
what theater looks like in its highest form. I’m very emotionally invested in Pioneer’s success. Also, at this point I have spent a whole lot of time seeing how the sausage is made. It’s exciting to be here with people who care this much and are incredibly skilled in so many different things.”
Whenever she is teaching or mentoring students, she parallels an approach she learned at the U: focus on hands-on learning and job readiness.
“Some of my students left high school with full set designs in a portfolio,” she said. “Almost all of them would have been ready to go into a job immediately, because there are so many different levels in technical theater and because it takes a huge staff. If you’re hardworking and you’re dependable, there’s work.”
Pomeroy believes a basic knowledge of technical theatre is useful for all performing arts students, no matter if they intend to be primarily under the lights.
“I’ve always told performers that I highly recommend getting basic electrics and scenic painting training, because those are the two jobs that pull in lots of people for a short period of time. It’s easy to find gig work. If you can pad out your performing gigs with electrics gigs, you don’t have to go find a ‘muggle’ job,” she said.
Alongside her full-time roles she is a freelance set designer. Recent credits include “Of Color” and “Jump” for Plan B Theatre Company, “First Date” and “Perdida” for The Grand Theatre, and “Hir” for Salt Lake Acting Company.
And now, she has returned to Pioneer Theatre Company as technical director, the first woman in the role’s history.
“One of the things I was most excited to do is be a steward of PTC’s relationship with the Department of Theatre,” she said.
Although Pomeroy emphasizes that a bit of everything is required in the field, it is the dedication to always keep learning that makes a great technician. From there, the sky is the limit.
“Performance design and technology is so broad that nobody can be good at all of it,” she said.
“...It’s exciting to be here with people who care this much and are incredibly skilled in so many different things.”
“You get new challenges every day. There are rules and standards and guidelines, but so many of the things that we build have never been built before and never will be again. Theatre is collaborative and ephemeral.” ■
Photo: Courtesy of the Department of Theatre Cara Pomeroy
Like many young students, Raymond C. Morales Postdoctorate Fellow in Musicology, Elisa Alfonso, had divergent interests while studying at East Carolina University as an undergraduate. She was a flute performance major who picked up a Hispanic studies major, wrote her undergrad thesis on geography, and earned a half-minor in biology.
It was not abundantly clear what to do next with those diverse interests until she met ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor Mario Rey, a Cuban American like Alfonso, who noticed how her
curiosities converged in one unique place: ethnomusicology, the study of music in its cultural context.
And so, she went on to graduate school at Florida State pursuing just that and then earned her PhD at University of Texas at Austin.
As the child of a Cuban migrant, she was primarily interested in the culture and context of Operation Pedro Pan, the clandestine relocation of more than 14,000 Cuban children from Cuba to the United States in the early 1960s by the Catholic Welfare Bureau and U.S. government.
BY
MARINA GOMBERG
Photo: Courtesy of Elisa Alfonso
(Right) The airplane logbook documenting unaccompanied children that includes Alfonso’s father, listed as Gilberto Alfonso Flores
Growing up, Alfonso had heard bits and pieces of her father’s emigration story from Cuba. Some of his experience seemed strikingly similar to what she was researching, though he hadn’t known the full context of his U.S. immigration. It was through her investigations that she discovered her dad was, in fact, a Pedro Pan himself.
As a musician, in addition to the historical context of the Cold War and the conditions of migrant camps, Alfonso’s interests were often focused on the documentation — or lack thereof — of the oral and sonic.
“My research, in part, examines music and sound as it shapes the collective memory and the historical narratives of the exodus,” she said. “The other part of my work examines how music and sound help Pedro Pans and their descendants express and process the traumatic memory of their unaccompanied childhood migration event.”
One example was a lullaby called “Señora Santana” about a little boy who lost his apple and a kind woman who gives him another one. Various versions of this song had been sung in Cuban American communities for decades (in fact, Alfonso wrote about many of them for the Library of Congress Blogs in a piece called “Caught My Ear: The Lullaby That Came to Symbolize the Exodus of Cuba’s Children”).
Some versions of the song include a third verse recounting the boy’s dissatisfaction with the new apple; he wanted his original, and Alfonso has noticed how differently that portion has been interpreted over time.
A 1963 propaganda film produced by the United States Information Agency called “The Lost Apple,” about the exodus of Cuban children to the U.S. opens with a recording of the longer version.
Many who associate “Señora Santana” with Operation Pedro Pan see the “extra verse as a metaphor for the irreparable loss Pedro Pans experience and still feel decades later,” Alfonso said. In the film, however, the last verse “is paired with anti-communist messaging and a speech encouraging Cuban children to become, as historian Deborah Shnookal (2020) put it, ‘junior freedom fighters’ for a free (read ‘capitalist’) Cuba.”
Alfonso argues that, while the song later symbolized irreparable loss resulting from the Pedro Pans’ childhood exile, the 1963 film originally seems to present the lullaby as a motivator for viewers of the film to support a change in government in Cuba so children could recover “the lost apple.”
And while the operation is largely celebrated — perhaps in part due to crafted narratives like the one in “The Lost Apple” — it was neither easy nor comfortable for many of the Pedro Pans. It’s interdisciplinary research interests like Alfonso’s that help illuminate a more nuanced understanding of this complex time in our nation’s history.
Now, Alfonso is teaching in the University of Utah’s School of Music for her three-year fellowship, and she’s bringing with her a field of study new to the U: ethnomusicology.
“Of course, music cannot be fully understood if stripped from its cultural context, and so investigations into time, place, and people have long been part of the School of Music’s curriculum,” said Kimberly Councill, Director of the School of Music. “Alfonso’s specific focus and expertise in ethnomusicology, however, amplifies that inquiry to new and even deeper levels.”
Alfonso’s courses include an upper-level music history elective called U.S. Latinx Musicking which focused on the diasporic experience in the U.S. for Latinx people. In that course, she facilitated conversations around migration, diaspora, borders, and the liminality of intersectional identities in a sociohistorical context, including the way policy affects different groups from Latin America.
MY
RESEARCH, IN PART, EXAMINES MUSIC AND SOUND AS IT SHAPES THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVES OF THE EXODUS.
She is also teaching World Music Courses, which survey music of the indigenous peoples of Africa, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and the Americas and explore the how music functions within these cultures with a look at the music, the musicians, their instruments, and the complexity of ideas, behaviors, and processes that are involved.
Like so many faculty members at the U, Alfonso’s unique history, passion, and care add dimension and texture to the tapestry of knowledge to be shared. Coupled with her interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and research-based practice Elisa Alfonso is an irreplaceable apple.
Photo: Courtesy of Elisa Alfonso
Alfonso at the historic site marker for Camp Matecumbe, one of the temporary placement camps for Pedro Pans in Miami
GIVING AND
THE MULTI-FACETED PARTNERSHIP OF GORDON AND CONNIE HANKS
Afew months ago, Gordon and Connie Hanks’ landline rang. They didn’t recognize the number, but on the other end they found the warm, familiar voice of a U student they had supported with a scholarship 27 years ago.
After all this time, this recipient was calling to share that he had gone on to become a senior executive at a major company, and to relay his gratitude for the role the Hanks played in getting him there. They were filled with emotion.
“We are passionate about scholarships,” Connie said. “It is an investment in the future — planting a seed that will grow into wonderful things, wonderful human beings that understand the world and how to navigate it.”
“We get so much more out of it than what we give financially,” Gordon emphasized. “We develop great relationships with students. A lot of them have become like family.”
Many of these students come from the College of Fine Arts, where the Hanks have been stalwart supporters of scholarships for as long as they can remember. They believe if there is one thing as crucial as student success, it’s the arts.
“From the beginning of time, the arts have enriched our culture and society and united us. They are an avenue where we express our deepest emotions, no matter which form,” Connie said.
“And we just have this gem in the arts at the university. We're so fortunate to have such great venues — Libby Gardner Hall, Kingsbury Hall, Pioneer Theatre Company…and every one of the schools in the College has this incredible passion about developing and loving the arts,” Gordon added.
When it comes to the business of performance, the Hanks have a uniquely qualified perspective, which makes their partnership with U Arts even more dynamic.
They are the founders of Jazz SLC, a series that brought world-class jazz musicians to our own backyard for nearly three decades. This year, they partnered with UtahPresents to launch Jazz at Kingsbury Hall, which will steward the next era of local jazz performances. The series — featuring Delfeayo Marsalis, Hot House West Swing Orchestra, and Christian McBride — packed the hall with loyal and new patrons alike.
From booking musicians, working with agents and contracts, and producing 250+ performances, the couple has learned simple things that make or break an artist’s success.
“Number one: Know your music. Practice, practice, practice,” Gordon said. “Number two: Connect with the audience. It's incredibly important for anyone in the arts, whether it's dance, music, theater — all artists must realize when I come on stage, I have to give my art, my heart and my soul.”
US. THEY ARE AN AVENUE WHERE WE EXPRESS OUR deepest emotions,NO MATTER WHICH FORM. ” “
From the beginning of time, THE ARTS HAVE ENRICHED
OUR
CULTURE AND
SOCIETY AND
UNITED
– CONNIE HANKS
They say the U is getting it right, particularly in the Jazz Studies program in the School of Music.
“They're doing everything terrifically well with the specifics of learning how to play an instrument,” he said. “But they’re not just teaching kids to play instruments. They’re teaching them to go out in the community and share their art form, present themselves onstage well, engage with the audience, and perhaps most importantly, get gigs and develop a following.”
Gordon knows the X factor when he sees it. In 2022, he saw a YouTube video of a jazz singer and tracked down her agent to pursue an engagement with JazzSLC. When her agent told him the fee, Gordon offered to double it. “I said, ‘I know she’s going to be a megastar. And in a few years, I want her back in my series,” he recounted.
That artist was Samara Joy, who won three Grammy Awards the following year.
In this, and so many other stories, the Hanks’ utmost respect for the artist’s journey is evident — including all the work that goes unseen along the way.
“We forget the backstory of kids in music, dance, art, or in film. You’re not just seeing a 2-hour concert, you’re seeing the endless hours of practice over the years it took to get there,” Gordon said.
It is precisely those years, in the College of Fine Arts, that they are making a little brighter, a little easier, with their support.
“We believe in giving students that chance to grow their talent,” Connie said. “It could change their lives forever.” ■
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Steve and Gayle Reiber, PhD
Anne Riffey
Robert K. & Evelyn D. Pedersen Family Foundation, Inc.
Jean Sabatine
Bianca and Rusty Shepard
Sarah Shippobotham
Barbara and Robert* Sluder
Michael Stevens, MD and Ruth Stevens
Tracy Strong
Edgar Thompson, PhD and Joanne Thompson
Joel and Leigh VandenAkker
John Veranth, PhD and Martha Veranth
Jeff and Stephanie Weber
Lynne Wimmer
John and Joy Wiscombe
Von and Virginia Whitby
Patrick White
Friend $1–$999
Anonymous
George and Sharon Aaron
Kurt and Michelle Addison
James Adkins
Sheila Ainlay and Michael Steiner
Michael and Diane Anderson
Anthony Algeno
Courtney Ansell
Arkansas Community Foundation
Lauren Arkoudas
Lisa Arnett
Haley Ashton and Miguel Knochel, MD
Spencer Aste
Anne Avery
BAE Systems
Belle Baggs
Jordanna Bailey
Rachel Bailey
Shasta Bailey
Zoe Bailey
Jason and Sharlie Barber
Jake and Devon Barnes
Natalie Barnes
Diane Beam
Denise Begue
Joyce and Robert* Bennett
Susan Welby-Bennett
John and Barbara Berg
Catherine Berghahn
Craig and Martha Berghahn
Daniel and Tricia Bergeson
Mark Bergstrom, PhD and Carol Bergstrom
Kary Billings
Arthur and Christy Bishop
Trevor Blanchard
Patti Bollenbaugh
Ann Bonner
Jeff and Cara Bonner
MacKenna Bonner
Jerome and Beth Boresow
Robert and Victoria Bourns
David and Lisa Boyce
Wayne and Kristine Bradford
Camille Braeger
Blake Bratcher and Kyle Adcock
Kimberly Brown
Colin and Leslie Buck
Byron Russell LLC
Michael Cahoon
Craig Caldwell
Clark and Meredith Campbell
Priscilla Campbell, CPA
Emma Capen
Zizheng Cao
Sarah Carlquist, JD
Gary and Jennifer Carlson
Cade Carter
Hannah Carter
Sean Carter
Earl Catterton and Kim Sargent
CENGAGE Learning
Junseo Cha
Jackson and Kristie Chambers
Norman and Gisela Chambers
Nicholas and Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell
Carrie Cheng
Aurora Chernis
James Chipman
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Anneli Chow
Isaac and Valarie Chung
Randy and Tamralynn Clark
Janet and Roger Clarke
Jamie Clyde
Nicholas Cockrell
Caroline Connolly
Sarah Conover-Hui
Brianne Corbridge
Thomas Costello
Anne Cox
Janet and Jack* Cox
Glen and Alicia Cruz
Olivia Custodio
Francine Damasco
Sarah Daughtrey
Daynes Music Company
Susan Daynes and Gerald “Skip” Daynes, Jr.*
Peggy de Azevedo
Haley De Camara
Anne and Ashby* Decker
James and Monica DeGooyer
Dell Computer Corporation
Jill Derington
Cheryl Derricotte
Edwin Dial
Dianne Shelden Howe Trust
Stanley DiCicco
Asael Dickson
Esmee Dieckman
Robert and Sue Dintelman
Hien Do and Duc Tran, MD
Alexander Dolphin
Peter Doll
Christopher Donley
Amanda Draper
David Draper
Dalton and Joanna Driggers
Bradlee and Gina Duncan
Eastern Arts Society
ECS Publishing Corp.
Eric Eide, PhD and Shellie Eide
David K. Ehlers, Jr. and Jennifer Ehlers
Teal Elder
Tyler Eldridge and Elizabeth Quigley, MD
Emily Emmer
Elaine Englehardt, PhD
John Erickson
Claudio Escobar
John Evans, Sr.
Tom Famer, III
Allison Farnsworth
Eric Feidner
Kimberly Feldman
Chris and Heidi Feroah
William Ferry, Jr. and Richard Oosterom
David and Marsha Fetzer
Millard and Barbara Firebaugh
Carmin Fisk
Miriam Fisk
John Foley, MD and Dorene Sambado, MD
Robert and Virginia Folsom
Melissa Fonnesbeck
Mary and Daneil* Freed
Grace Friedley
Margie Frohlich
Kimie Fujimoto
Susan Gabriel
Alexa Gamble
Michaela Gerard
Kaitlin Gifford
Tori Gilbert
David and Holli Gisseman
Rebecca and Royden Glade
Addison Goan
Melanie Goan
Nancy Goan
Caitlin and Greg Gochnour
April and Dale Goddard
Marina and Elenor Gomberg
Dane and Jode Graham
Bob Gray
Tomothy and Vasyl Green
Richard and Carolyn Greene
Brian and Mary Haan
Anouk Haffner
Henning Haffner
Troy Hagemeyer
Edward Haggerty and Kristine Halverson
Olivia Haglund
Robert Haise
Amanda Hales, DMA
David Hall, JD and Stephani Hall
Laura Hamirani
Larry Hancock
Eric and Pamela Handman
Corie Hansen
Hugh and Leslie Hanson
Caitlyn Harris
Richard Harris
Elizabeth Hary
Amy Hasenkamp
Jennifer Haymond
Keith Hays
Lynn Helding
Cynthia Hendrix
Emily Herb
Raymond Hernandez*
Gerald Hewes*
Paul and Leora Hewitt
Rebecca Hickox
Anthony Hockenberry
Stephen and Patricia Hodson
Madisen Hone
Errik Hood
Eleanor Hoover
Jeffrey Horne
Dianne Howe, PhD
Richard and Deborah Hoyt
Cassidy Hunsinger
Randy Huntress
Catherine Iguchi
Intel Foundation
Jackman Music Corporation
Dan and Lorraine Jackson
Hailey Jackson
Jennifer and Thomas* Jackson
Patrick Jan and Peggy McDonough
Jennifer Jauregui
Hari Jayamohan, PhD and Gita Sreekumar
Jennifer L. Jbara
Matthew Jbara
Nicole Jeffers
Mary Jefferson
Margaret Jeffries
Linda Jellison
Douglas Jensen
Anna Jeong
John M. Cooksey Family Trust
George Johnson, IV
Gordon Johnson
“This moment in time provides us the opportunity to have a pivotal impact, and anything I can do for this College and for the University to encourage and help the arts I will do.”
Judith McConkie, Fine Arts Advisory Board
Mica Johnson
Benjamin Johnston
Chloe Jones
Katie Jordan
Brian Jurena
Michael Kalm, MD and Janet Mann*
John and Janet Kazwell
Elizabeth Kearsley
Seth and Angela Keeton
Loren Khan
Paul Keir
Roger Kiers
Thomas Klassen and Carolyn Talboys-Klassen
Kurt and Theresa Klein
Vincent and Kerry Knackstedt
Miquel Knochel, MD and Haley Ashton
Kathy Knowlton and Joseph Knowlton, JD*
Shari Knudson
Hannah Kojouri
Stanley and Eileen Kraczek
Beth Krensky, PhD and Edward Gorfinkle
Jessica Kretzschmar
Tyler Kunz
Jaime Kurkowski
Emily Laford
Kacie La Forest
Elaine Lake
Keither and Michele Lampers
Alan Lang
Elizabeth Lanza
Karen Larson
Matthew and Lorraine Larson
Paul and Sharon Larson
Tamron Larson
Trey Lawrence
Quincy Lawson
Miriam Leany
Erika Ledbetter
Lou and Kathie Leberti
Jack Legate
Ginger Leishman
Kathleen Levier-Gomes
A. Leonore Lewis
Alison Lewis
Katherine and Harold* Liddle
Noah Lillie
Kathryn Lindquist, PhD and James Moore
Katie Lobrot
Carly Lockard
James Logue
Robert Loynd
Alexas Lucero and Jeffrey Paris
Sofia Marie Lusitana
Jean and John* Lyman
Frank Lynch
Caroline Maffett
Kayla Madsen
Emma Mangers
Dean Manning
Brian and Erika Manternach
“As a life-long lover of all forms of art, I feel it is so important to encourage and support the future generations of students who will be our future dancers, musicians, artists, actors, and art historians. Engaging with art, whether through creation or appreciation, can greatly improve our overall health, wellbeing, and social skills, which helps keeps our world a more positive place.”
Anne Neeley, Fine Arts Advisory Board
David Madrian and Brigitte Madrian, PhD
William Maguire
Maggie Maierle
Mark Macey
Peter and Annette Malen
Mary-Margaret Marcantonio
Lydia Martin
Kim Martinez
Samantha Matsukawa
Catherine Matthews
J. Michael and Mary Mattsson
Evangelina Marenco
Walter Mason, JD
Kevin and Sue Martin
Lynn and Ellen Maxfield
Robert Maxwell
Cassandra Mayfield
Wendy McCord
Craig McCullough
Ashlee McDonald
Maureen McGill
Jerilyn McIntyre, PhD and W. David Smith
Valentina Mejia
Ruger Memmott
Spencer Merrick, MD
Robin Merrill
Kim Miilburn
M. Scott and Lisa Mietchen
Chuck and Suzanne Miller
Holly Miller
John and Kimberly Miller
Charles Mittelstadt
Louis Moench, MD and Deborah Moench
Eric and Emilee Morgan
Justin Morgan
Alyssa Morris
Carolyn Morrow, JD
Emily Mostue
Melonie Murray, PhD and Steve Murray
Gary Myers and Jane Myers, PhD
Eva Myrback
National Philanthropic Trust
Wilma and Kenneth* Odell
William Obiatt
Willow Owens
Jay and Sandhya Narasipura
Patricia Nebenzahl
Catherine and Jacob Nelson
Jordan Nelson
Madeline Nelson
Gabriel Misla Nieves and Jarli Tijero
Erasto Nieves
John Nix
Tenzin Norgyal
Stephanie Northrup
Vianca Pagan
Kevin and Shawnette Page
Kristi Paishon
Anne Palmer
Charlene Palmer
Wade and Sheri Palmer
Panda Restaurant Group, Inc.
Kevin Parzych, MD and Brigette Parzych
Jeff and Jennifer Payne
Erin Payner
Margaret Pearson
Gary Peck
Allie Pedersen
Shannon Pena
Nicholas Perez
Kevin Perry
Ronald Perry
Jordan Peterson
Rebecca Petersen
Mark and Janie Peterson
Christi Petrucka
Adam Pfost
Ray Pierotti
Jorge Pille
Mary Helen Pitman
Sterling and Jacquee Poulson
Frank and Claudia Prather
Christopher Prince
Michael Purcell, USAF (Ret.) and Yvonne Purcell
The Purrington Family Trust
Linda Purrington
April Radford
Kathryn Ragland
George and Karen* Raine
Jack Rampton, MD and Itha Rampton
Christopher and Jill Randall
Marissa Rejali
Claudia Restrepo, DMA
D. Rhett and Willow Jeppson
Vernon and Loretta Rice
Dylan Richardson
Connor Rickman
Michael and Anne* Riordan
Stacie Riskin
Christopher and Kelsey Rodgers
Fernanda Rodriguez
James Rodriguez
Steven Roens, DMA and Cheryl Hart
Kevin Rose
Jane Rosenberg and Harvey Tepner
Raymond Rubley, Jr.* and Patricia Rubley
Samuel and Madeline Runyon
Michelle Ruscetta
Marijane Rushing
Natalee Russell
David Riley
Jaime Ryskoski
Leila Salari
Erik Sather and Nicole Walker, PhD
Terry Sawchuk, MD and Lisa Sawchuk
Richard Scharine, PhD and Marilyn Scharine
Sarah Schiffhauer
Jada Schiller
Mark Schneller
Tyler Schnese
Kendyl Schofield
Ari and Julie Schwartz
Nicholas Scown
Leigh Selting and Marsha Knight
Rosemary Shadwick
Gregory and Janet Shaw
Isabel Shimanski
Keira Shimota
Sandra Shotwell
Glenda Shrader
Richard and Margery Shunk
Sandra Shurtz
Nicholas Siedle
Kathy Simmons
Reshma Singh
Delee and Kelly Skeen
Randall and Debra Skeen
Alexis Smith
W. David Smith and Jerilyn McIntyre, PhD
Heather Smith
James and Marion Smith
Linda Smith, JD and Lee Shuster
Lydia Smith
Paige Smith
Robert Smith
Sandra Sowerby and Melvin Sowerby, Jr.*
Dolores Spacek
Andy Speirs
Michael Steiner and Sheila Ainlay
Carol Steffens
Debbie Stokes
James Stuart
Andrew and Alice Sullivan
Arthur Swindle, JD
Palemia and Kimberly Tafiti
Julie Tang
John Tarbet
Emma Tatum
Cassie Taylor, DMA and Britt Taylor
Harvey Tepner and Jane Rosenberg
Charlotte Terry
Margaret and Dennis Tesch
Ashley and Nolan Thomson
Debora Threedy, JD
Kent and Cecelia Tibbitts
Rex and Allison Tilton
Ingo Titze, PhD and Kathy Titze
Ben Tomlin
Uc Tran, MD and Hien Do
Blythe Truhe
Devin Turner
Julianne Turner
Tutulist
John and Dana Vandover
Katea Vake
Anne Van Gelder
Max Van Nocken-Witmer
Lennon Vaughan
Meleah Vaughan
Nicole Vernon
Janelle Vigil
Brian and Kay Vigue
Leigh von derEsch
Tyler Vongthongchit
Chris and Catherine Wagner
Richard Walsh and Carolyn Hunter Walsh
Margaret Ware
Wilfred Weeks, Jr.
Gary Weight and Jayne Weight
Frank and Janell Weinstock
Wells Fargo Educational Matching Gifts
Thomas Welsh, PhD and Sue Carpenter
Barbara Wescott
Nathan West
John Wilde and Jane Wilde, RN
Connie Wilkerson
Chris and Karla Willis
Sharon and David* Wilson
Lawrence and Maida Withers
Heidi and Todd Woodbury
Todd and Heidi Woodbury
Natalie Workman
Mia Wright
John Wright-Costa, DMA and Julie Wright-Costa
Erin Yanagisawa
Cameron Yates
Gary and Carolyn Yurkovich
Serena Zarin
Cristin Zimmer-Shively
Emily Zinn
contributors
On the Cover
Front cover: Preparing for final checks before rolling film during class, Department of Film & Media Arts student Bailey Peterson looks through the viewfinder of the ARRI 35 III while Yevhenii Bahrii checks the monitor. The course, FILM 6945: 35mm Filmmaking, provides an in-depth exploration of 35mm filmmaking, focusing on the technical, historical, and creative aspects of celluloid-based film production. Students gain hands-on experience with professional 35mm MOS cameras, film stock, and accessories while exploring the broader artistic and technological contexts of analog cinema. Through a combination of lectures, workshops, screenings, and practical exercises, students develop technical expertise and creative confidence in working with film as a medium.
Editor-in-Chief
Marina Gomberg is the University of Utah College of Fine Arts Director of Communications + Marketing. Formerly an award-winning lifestyle columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune, she now writes on Substack at “Chronically Marina.”
Writers
Emeri Fetzer has a decade’s experience writing about, fundraising for, and performing in the arts. She is a Communications Specialist and Grant Writer for the College of Fine Arts. When she’s not busy at the CFA, she is on a mountaintop with her husband Jason and daughter Sylvie.
Julia Lyon loves to write about ordinary people doing amazing things whether it’s dancers, artists, or kids discovering dinosaurs in their own backyard. Her debut children’s nonfiction book, “A Dinosaur Named Ruth,” was published by Simon & Schuster in 2021. When she’s not on deadline, you can find her strumming her ukulele and singing to her three kids.
Merritt Mecham holds an MFA in Writing for Film and Television from Emerson College. Her work has been featured on RogerEbert.Com, Bright Wall/Dark Room, City Weekly, and in “The Female Gaze” by Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone. She is a Marketing & Communications Coordinator for the College of Fine Arts.
Editorial Board
Dean John W. Scheib
Sonia Albert-Sobrino
Kirstin Chávez
Emeri Fetzer
Marina Gomberg
Kelby McIntyre-Martinez
Sara Pickett
Gage Williams
Rebecca Zarate
Xi Zhang
Visit finearts.utah.edu to learn more about what we’re up to and to find the digital version of this magazine with enhanced content.
Special Thanks
Devon Barnes
Denise Begue
Blake Bratcher
Sheri Jardine
Ashley Jian Thomson Design by modern8
Photo: ALSO Sisters
University of Utah College of Fine Arts 375 S. 1530 E. Room 250 Salt Lake City, UT 84112 finearts.utah.edu
ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
WHO WE ARE
RESEARCH
Arts research — the generation, discovery, application, and integration of knowledge — takes many forms. It’s the premiere of a new choreographic work. It’s arts teaching and learning. It’s the set design of a play. It’s a mural in and with community. It can also be distributed through traditional forms like textbooks, book chapters, research papers, and studies.
With an emphasis on experiential learning, our robust suite of career preparation programs provides our students with experience, mentorship, and professional connections. Learn more at finearts.utah.edu/artsforce
