Studio '21

STUDIO ' 21

T H E O F F I C I A L M AG A Z I N E O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F U TA H C O L L EG E O F F I N E A R T S

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The art of education during a pandemich tie

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Illustration Emphasized

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Harmonic Revolution

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Creating Success

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Annual Report thanks College of Fine Arts contributors

Photo: University Marketing & Communications

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f it were not for life in the years 2020 and 2021, I don’t know that I would otherwise find myself drawing similarities between the practices of art-making and the art of education during national and global crises. At first blush, the two arguably seem like unrelated efforts.

But witnessing the swift, responsive thoughtfulness of our faculty, staff, and students to the mighty influences of this last year has illuminated the striking commonalities between these endeavors. So much of the artistic enterprise — the creative process — was reflected in the ways we pivoted from traditional modes of teaching and learning to the new ones the pandemic and social unrest required.

We had originally set out with an idea of what we wanted to manifest; our work of art was rigorous, immersive education that allows students to find their

voices, fuel their passions, and ignite their futures.

As artists familiar with malleable materials, bodies, spaces, sound, and light, we are accustomed to the constant adjustments it takes to respond to the whims of external elements. COVID-19, however, tested our abilities, our patience, and our resolve to shift and adapt. And we rose to the occasion.

The process, though oftentimes very trying, has been awe-inspiring for me to witness. And the product, as you will see examples of in this magazine, is a collection of unique masterpieces.

I knew to expect creativity, but I could never have ever imagined this breadth and depth of innovative genius. I hope you find it equally as inspiring.

Thank you, as always, for being part of our College of Fine Arts family. ▪

JOHN W. SCHEIB Dean, College of Fine Arts

LETTER from the DEAN

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'21 THE PLACE WHERE DILIGENCE AND EXCELLENCE BECOME INFLUENCE

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The CFA’s Academic Advising team is taking a datadriven approach to their efforts helping students create success.

Photo: Sonia Albert-Sobrino

30 LEARNING IN THE TIME OF CORONA / The pandemic changed nearly every aspect of our lives, and these stories show how the artists and arts scholars in the College of Fine Arts rose to the occasion.

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ILLUSTRATION EMPHASIZED / Art & Art History’s new Illustration Emphasis, under the leadership of Assistant Professor Michael Hirshon, is off to a momentous start.

PRODUCING INDEPENDENCE / The Department of Film & Media Arts isn’t just for making indie films; its faculty and staff are nurturing the next generation of capable, broadly-trained, selfdriven filmmakers.

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The College of Fine Arts has three capital campaign projects underway to manifest 21st century facilities in which our students, faculty, and staff can thrive.

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MAKING SPACE FOR ART /

See why this mighty program, led by the legendary Penny Caywood, is getting standing ovations.

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ARTS RE:GENERATION /

GUEST ARTISTS & SCHOLARS /

Under the new leadership of Adjunct Assistant Professor Katrina McPherson, the U’s renowned screendance program sees new heights.

MANIFESTING A HARMONIC REVOLUTION /

When School of Music alumna Stephanie Rhodes Russell saw a lack of female representation in arts leadership, she decided to take action to change that.

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SCREENDANCE SOARING /

YOUTH THEATRE: A TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW /

LEADING WOMEN /

Rendering by Method Studio

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CREATING A CULTURE OF SUCCESS /

In addition to the impact of our renowned faculty, students in the College of Fine Arts benefit from the multitude of guest artists and scholars brought to campus each year.

Jack and Mary Lois Wheatley are honoring Alvin Gittins’ impact and legacy through a landmark gift to create the new Gittins Gallery at the U.

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ANNUAL REPORT /

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CONTRIBUTORS + THANKS /

Trombone Professor Donn Schaefer is contributing free music to advance the movement for social justice.

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.

TABLE of CONTENTS

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Learning in in Learn the Time of C a Corona

By Marina Gomberg

March of the year 2020 charged in like a lion. A lion with a contagious and deadly virus on its back.

The chaos started with the global pandemic and stay-at-home orders. It was punctuated by earthquakes. And was compounded by social injustice and unrest, a devastating windstorm, political tensions, and a deadly insurrection.

The earth literally shook under our feet and the sky seemed to , fall. But even over a year later, we re only barely seeing any signs of that lamb. And nearly nothing is the way it was before.

Except, like always, artists persist.

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Accelerating Institutional Evolution

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Photo: courtesy of Henry Becker

Henry Becker, seen from above,

teaching in his modern at-home

set up.

ssistant Professor of Graphic Design in the Department of Art & Art History, Henry Becker, remembers how abruptly we all had to transition from our traditional modes of teaching and learning to new ones shortly after the first COVID-19 cases showed up on campus. It necessitated an immediate evaluation of what and how he had been teaching.

Pre-pandemic, the bulk of education in the U’s graphic design program, like most other disciplines, had taken place in the classroom. Teaching in person, practicing in person, collaborating in person. Everything was in person.

Until it couldn’t be.

“It was challenging, and it presented many problems,” he said. “But I also see it as a necessary wakeup call for institutions of higher education to adjust to our current times.”

Fortunately for Becker (and his students), his personal and professional work had illuminated how much of the graphic design industry was already functioning successfully online. Unlike some professors, Becker didn’t have to necessarily learn new software in order to teach, he just had to introduce new software in order to help students learn the skills of the modern workforce.

Online design software like Miro and Figma have existed for some time, and allow for real-time collaboration from anywhere in the world. It’s not just important to understand the mechanisms of the software, but how to engage in creative processes with others when you can’t be or aren’t in person.

“As I tell my students, ‘The principles of design are constant, but the technology always will change,’” Becker said. “To really prepare our students for the way design is being done today, we have to ensure they can function successfully in remote environments.”

Another value of the software is that it allows Becker to digitally replicate the time in class when he’d normally be walking around while students are working to ask and answer questions, give guidance, and problem-solve together.

“I chose to keep that live during-class working time even in the online environment. It allows me to still visit their spaces and provide the same real-time support I’ve found to be so helpful in the classroom.”

But even when he can safely convene students in person again, Becker says these pandemic learnings have catapulted his teaching into the future.

“It’s odd but fair to say that the pandemic has sped up the evolution of our university.” ■

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Photo: Benjamin Sandberg

“It’s odd but fair to say that the pandemic has sped up the evolution of our university.”

A Few Beats Ahead

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he School of Dance has a long and vibrant screendance history, which Benjamin Sandberg, Assistant Professor and AudioVisual Specialist, says is partly what made the school’s overhaul from typical stage performances to live-streamed broadcasts so successful.

“We were ahead of the curve in a lot of ways,” he said. “Because of screendance, my position as an A/V specialist had existed for some time and we have state-of-the-art video equipment that we know how to use specifically for dance.”

For years, Sandberg has worked alongside Assistant Professors Cole Adams and Isaac Taylor to film all performances with a two-camera set-up, one stationary and one moving.

“Fortunately, we had a pretty big infrastructure already in place,” said Adams who is also the school’s Production Director and Lighting Design. “With two broadcast-quality cameras, switchers for many feeds, and the IT know-how to film our shows and broadcast them live (thanks to Ben).”

With a few additional pieces of equipment, lots of cable, considerable time working on angles and creative and safety strategies, the team — which includes Stage Manager Rebecca Johnson and an incredible custodial staff — were finding their groove.

School of Dance student crew

members working a show.

Of course, to have dancers actually in the space, even masked and distanced, required new stringent guidelines and practices. The students were split into pods to reduce the number of people in any space, and classes and rehearsals were streamed live throughout the building and to their homes while they’d collaborate and learn.

The floors were adorned with new outlines for physical distancing, the building was equipped with new sanitation stations, and Taylor, who is also the Technical and Lighting Designer, noted that “the faculty made space for student entrances and exits to be staggered. We also bought commercial air purifiers that recycle the air every 30 min.”

The learning and making of work processes were ready. Next up were the logistics of sharing the work with the world. Adams and others worked with awardwinning Communications Specialist Molly Powers to create a new section of the school’s website for livestreaming, and they made the tough but important call to make all performances free to the public. A note on the website read, “We recognize that the arts are a vital part of our connection to one another, and we need connection now more than ever. So, we, in the School of Dance, have made the decision to provide free access to any patron who would like to be moved by our movement this year.

No cost. Just click.”

And people did.

With some of their largest audiences ever, and certainly the most geographically diverse, these virtual shows may become part of the new standard.

“Having the shows available for our students’ families and friends around the world is very exciting,” Adams said. “It allows for them, and potential students, to be connected to the students’ experience at the University of Utah School of Dance.” ■ 5

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Rolling with It

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or a discipline that largely focuses on the art of making digital media, the necessity to deliver education mostly online could seem easier for the Department of Film & Media Arts at first blush. And perhaps in some ways it was — many members of the faculty are experts with film equipment and editing, which made recording lectures possible.

But possible does not mean easy.

In fact, Miriam and Sonia Albert-Sobrino, twin sisters who are alumni of the department’s graduate program and now are Assistant Professors, spent roughly 550 unplanned hours adapting their delivery to either stream to students’ homes or to project live demonstrations of small intricate techniques so the small number of students in class could be safely distanced and still see the complexities of a procedure. Assistant Professor Michael Edwards was inspired by the approach and was fortunate to use their set-up to teach handdrawn animation from overhead while simultaneously streaming a classical talking head view.

It’s brilliant, but very complex.

“What, on average, used to be a two-hour process of setting up cameras, lighting gear, etc., before class became a four-hour undertaking involving implementing a multi-cam stream system to run our classes similarly to a live broadcast, feeding through Zoom video signals originating anywhere from two to six cameras,” Miriam said.

Albeit laborious and time-consuming, the Albert-Sobrino twins (the Also Sisters) found it to be incredibly satisfying and rewarding. Perhaps that’s partly how they sustained making hundreds of hours of sophisticated new teaching material that will have purpose long after our need to physically distance ends.

Of course, having even infrequent meetings of small numbers of students in classrooms and on campus to rent film equipment took immediate, thoughtful, and careful planning. Luckily for the department, it has Specialty Media Coordinator and jack of all trades, Jennifer Humphreys. From re-arranging classroom set-ups to rigorous new cleaning, sterilizing, and renting procedures, Humphreys continued to work mostly on campus ensuring students could safely access the spaces and equipment they needed to continue their coursework.

And there are others who worked painstakingly to adjust and who found success with new methods of engaging students. While Assistant Professor Ha Na Lee candidly admits teaching online is out of her comfort zone, she noticed that some of the shifts actually catalyzed more vibrant discussions among students and engaged them in new ways.

“One thing I realized,” she said. “Is there are some good aspects of online teaching that I would like to permanently incorporate.” In addition to the robust dialogues and flexible schedule for busy students, she noted the value of video tutorials for students who benefit from the ability to stop, rewind, and re-watch.

It seems there are no shortage of reminders of the multitudinous power of film and media. ■

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Photo: Sonia Albert-Sobrino

Student Ryan Kenny during

the Grip and Lighting class.

Photo: Sonia Albert-Sobrino

The Also Sisters during class.

“…the shifts actually catalyzed more vibrant discussions among students and engaged them in new ways.”

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Practicing Safe Singing

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s the pandemic unfolded, singing in large groups was among the first and most fervently scrutinized activities, along with the other ways of making music that produce the dreaded aerosol emissions which can transmit the coronavirus.

“Choirs got a disproportionate punch from COVID-19,” Barlow Bradford halfway joked. He’s a Professor of Choral Studies and the Ellen Neilson Barnes Presidential Endowed Chair for Choral Studies. “When two members of a chamber choir in Washington died in early March 2020, everything had to be shut down. We realized we couldn’t sing in close quarters and be safe. We were flattened.”

And it was devasting. It took some time to grapple with this new reality, especially while seeing the clever but not stellar work being made remotely and online by other choirs around the world. Each vocalist would sing the piece and someone would edit them all together, and it was an amazing feat to the untrained ear. Bradford’s aren’t.

“I would almost rather not make work if it can’t be artistically outstanding,” Bradford said. His stance makes sense; one doesn’t produce worldrenowned choirs by accepting mediocrity when things get challenging.

But when Associate Professor/Lecturer of Music Technology and Composition Mike Cottle came to Bradford with a “crazy idea,” Barlow’s ears perked up.

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Soon enough, they were hardwiring microphones, video monitors, and headset jacks in 10 adjacent practice rooms and a classroom, and then connecting that all to Bradford’s office in the expansive David Gardner Hall. Bradford’s office became command central for the Chamber Choir with monitors, cameras, his piano, microphones, and switchers.

This hardwired set-up allowed them to interact from their individual spaces in real time with no latency. Each member of the choir could hear and see Bradford and his piano and each other.

“So much of singing is actually listening and watching,” Bradford explained. “Singers take cues not just from me but their counterparts — and we had managed to make this work without being in close proximity. It was incredible. I thought, ‘Now, I can run a rehearsal.’”

And they did. In fact, the chamber choir was able to produce 14 incredibly powerful works by filming each student as they sung synchronously and editing all the videos together for a full, ethereal, and truly striking composition unlike anything seen before.

Despite the amount of work and complexity, Bradford is committed to this new artform.

“What’s unique about this versus a live performance, is that our audiences can sit down wherever they are with a good sound system or headphones and get lost in a wonderful experience — time and time again. I want to make more work that lives on forever.” ■

Still from performance video of the

University of Utah Chamber Choir led

by Professor Barlow Bradford.

Screenshot from the Department

of Theatre’s first show of the season,

“The Night Witches,” by Rachel Bublitz, directed by Alexandra Harbold.

W

hen the University of Utah announced it was going remote in March of 2020, the news landed hard.

“The shift came so suddenly that for a moment I had absolutely no idea how this would even work,” said Assistant Professor and Co-Head of the Actor Training Program in the Department of Theatre, Rob Scott Smith. “It was like taking one step in front of the other and hoping that the ground hadn’t suddenly fallen out from underneath.”

Improv at its finest. And, really, what is theatre if not an exploration into the unfamiliar and the practice of performing collaboratively within everchanging bounds?

“A given semester might offer courses in dance, construction, sewing, singing, lighting and sound design/programming, acting, movement, and dialects as well as traditionally academic’ courses with class sizes ranging from six to well over 60,” Aaron Asano Swenson, Theatre’s Communications Coordinator, said. “All of this had to be translated into new instruction modalities.”

A new Safety Committee, composed of faculty and staff from across the department, spent the summer devising plans for a safer return in the fall. But theatre thrives on interaction, and the department’s spaces and equipment were designed to be shared.

Cami Sheridan, Office Manager and Assistant to the Chair, was in the thick of it. After facilitating the recent transition to a new Interim Chair, Sheridan was well-prepared to work with outside departments and administer COVID policies, while managing the schedules for dozens of spaces in multiple buildings.

Photo: Todd Collins Photography

Improvising and Adapting

Babcock Theatre .

“…what is theatre if not an exploration into the unfamiliar and…everchanging bounds?”

“It was a huge learning curve,” Sheridan said.

“Overall, I’m appreciative of the Safety Committee members and the rest of our department for keeping our community’s safety as the top priority, but remaining optimistic and creative in the ways we teach, learn, and share our art.”

Another Committee member, Assistant Technical Director and Scenic Charge Artist Halee Rasmussen, prepared the spaces themselves, determining new occupancy limits and installing tools for distancing and hygiene.

“Most of our classes involve practicums and specialized equipment,” Rasmussen said. “Beyond cleaning of desks, it becomes cleaning acting furniture, ballet barres, lighting instruments, power tools, dance floors, sound equipment, etc., after every class.

Then, of course, there were the actual shows.

Moving the season online was a phenomenal feat: the previously-canceled “Tartuffe” was restaged and prerecorded, while for “The Night Witches” and “Henry V,” sets, props, costumes, and lights were delivered to the actors to allow them to perform live from home.

“It was remarkable how the theatre community came together to find a way forward,” Smith said.

“It’s still a challenge, and it’s not always ideal, but I have found success in embracing the technology and the limitations of shared space in creating new opportunities for our students.”

And as Swenson said, “The response was a testament to the kind of collaboration and problemsolving capabilities you can find in theatre artists and theatre educators in every city in every country, pandemic or no.” ■ 9

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By Molly Powers During a time best characterized by a global pandemic, social unrest, a shaky economy, and spikes in unemployment, optimism is not always easy to come by.

“There are a lot of industries facing existential dread at the moment,” says Assistant Professor and Illustration Area Head Michael Hirshon.

“Fortunately, it’s never been a more exciting time to be an illustrator.”

Fall 2020, Hirshon taught the first course for the Illustration entitled "Satellite" by

brand new Illustration Emphasis in the Department

student Emma Beatty

of Art & Art History. He was hired to help design the

An assignment for Illustration 1 asked

program, which has been in demand by students for

students to illustrate the essence of an article, and Emma Beatty chose

one about how communication would

the last few years.

“The Department of Art & Art History is very

become unrecognizable overtime,

excited about the addition of Illustration to our

from the satellite. She says “this

degree programs,” says Department Chair Paul Stout.

hence the abstracted forms emanating

assignment really tested all the skills

“Illustration is like a magnet that holds attention

had to read an article, figure out the

and creates connection between words and images.

required of an illustrator because we

main point, brainstorm the best way to

Michael Hirshon is an excellent addition to the

all into a finalized piece!”

department and the ideal person to lead Illustration.”

depict conceptual themes, and put that

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Photo: Robin Meyer

At the intersection between painting & drawing and graphic design, illustration is truly a discipline of its own, but how exactly do you define it?

“That’s a simple question with a complicated answer!” says Hirshon. “In the broadest sense, illustration is about using pictures to communicate.

Illustration describes the purpose behind making images. Our students here actually take quite a bit of painting & drawing area classes, which is where they learn their technical skills and practice their craft,” he explains. “The core illustration courses are less about technical skill and more about putting skills from other classes towards projects that simulate real-world illustration projects.”

As for illustration’s relationship to graphic design, the boundaries are a little fuzzier.

“There’s quite a bit of overlap in the two fields’ problems and solutions. Graphic designers frequently incorporate illustration into their work, just as many illustrators work with or around lettering and typography,” says Hirshon. “Ultimately, the Illustration Emphasis is more focused on image-making, and while students will have exposure to typography, it will not be a central element in their craft.”

As for medium, Hirshon believes in allowing students to discover how they work best, noting that successful illustrators run the gamut of approaches to their work.

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“There are successful illustrators who draw, who paint, who collage, who animate… there’s even one who photographs puppets. As long as it tells a compelling story, an illustration can look like anything, so it follows that students should try everything they can.”

Hirshon has spent the last 10 years of his career as a freelance illustrator, working with clients like the “New York Times,” HarperCollins Publishers, Amazon, “The Washington Post,” “Forbes,” and American Express.

His portfolio includes an eclectic mix of projects including packaging for a dog toy company, a taco truck chef’s cookbook, the side of a city bus, a dating coach’s graphic memoir, a U.S. Senate campaign, and the walls of a daycare in Pakistan.

He has a passion for illustration that is contagious, and at a time where things seem a bit bleak, he displays an inspiring optimism for the future of the illustration field.

“Illustration is a thriving field in the arts, and there’s still potential for growth,” he says.

“The traditional monoliths of publishing, advertisement, and journalism are breaking down, and as a result there are so many new opportunities for emerging illustrators.”

The rise of social media has benefitted illustrators, as well. Versatile platforms like Instagram have allowed creatives to broadcast their work and use

their pages like a gallery, classroom, print shop, or news blast. Social media has become a powerful marketing tool for illustrators to reach potential clients, allowing their work to inspire art directors and graphic designers in real time.

“I think social media is a great thing for creatives,” says Hirshon. “Frankly, I don’t care about someone’s selfies or political hot-takes, but I do love being able to track an artist’s experimentation and evolution through Instagram.”

Even the recent shift to online learning hasn’t taken the wind out of the Illustration Emphasis’ sails.

With the shift to online teaching in the Fall, Hirshon admitted he was a little disappointed that the first Illustration 1 class would be a hybrid course.

But, he quickly realized that the format didn’t have much bearing on how the class worked, after all.

“As an industry, illustration is largely practiced remotely. Before coming to the U, I was a freelance illustrator, handling most of my business through email, phone calls, and online workspaces like Slack,” he explains.

“While I would definitely prefer to teach in person and hope that this shift is temporary, I think that this online detour has some value: it’s a good opportunity for future illustrators to practice some real-world skills like work/life balance, self-motivation, and professional communication.”

The new emphasis is designed to prepare students to navigate a growing and exciting field, and helps them approach their careers with intentionality.

“There are plenty of full-time opportunities in concept development at game design and animation companies, but illustration is a largely freelance industry, and this program will teach students to attract and retain meaningful relationships with clients. Illustration 4, the final course in the program, is a chance to decide what kind of career you want to have, and cater your portfolio to those markets.”

By the time they graduate, students will have a working website, social media presence, and printed marketing materials they can use to promote themselves across the industry, and they will be fully prepared to venture into the world of illustration.

“There are all sorts of wild opportunities for new graduates out there, hiding under rocks,” says Hirshon. “Microbreweries want illustrated packaging, skateboard brands want cool decks, indie game and animation studios need concept development, and there are plenty of random people on the internet with big, crazy ideas and tons of disposable income.

It’s finally possible to connect with these small-scale operations, even from thousands of miles away.”

It sounds like an exciting time to be an illustrator, indeed. ▪

It sounds like an exciting time to be an illustrator, indeed.

“Croissants” by student Hui Zheng.

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When one of your alums is dubbed by media as “the toast of the Sundance” after taking home the international film festival’s Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, and then goes on to win the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in a Foreign Language, and is (at the time of writing this) up for six Academy Awards, more and more people begin to take note.

(Left to right) Film & Media Arts Chair, Andrew Patrick Nelson, alumnus and award-winning filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung, Associate Professor Kevin Hansen, Dean John Scheib at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival where Chung's film "Minari" won big.

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“…to have the opportunity to try everything.

And it’s this interdisciplinary approach that has attracted so many to our department.”

(Top) Still from film by TWIG Media Lab

Student Bella Parkinson adjusts the model owl she's working to

recreate digitally.

(Bottom) Image courtesy of Bella Parkinson

Digital recreations of objects photographed at Antelope Island

State Park.

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The truth is, even before Lee Isaac Chung’s stunning film “Minari” became a global blockbuster, the University of Utah Department of Film & Media Arts had been emerging as a less-well-kept secret for some time, and now ranks among the top film departments in the nation.

Part of it is probably due to increasing consumption of film and media in our modern lives, and the other part is that our programs — especially the undergraduate programs — provide something almost no others do.

“What separates us from most other leading film programs and puts us ahead of the curve is our approach,” said Chair Andrew Patrick Nelson. “Because it’s one that recognizes the fluidity between different media practices and is reflective of where we are today in terms of the media we consume.”

In other words, as the boundaries between conventional media blur (the dissolving lines between television and movies being a prime example), so too has the way the department delivers education in film and media production.

“Our curriculum is not strictly siloed into disciplines in the way other films schools are,” he went on to say.

“Sure, a student can specialize in animation or immersive reality, but they can also customize their coursework to have the opportunity to try everything.

And it’s this interdisciplinary approach that has attracted so many to our department.”

Bella Parkinson, a recent graduate of the BA program in Film & Media Arts, can attest to this benefit.

With the chance to explore different ways of making work, she shifted her focus from video game art to

Photo: Also Sisters

animation and 3D graphics. She then had what she describes as a “game-changing internship” with the Utah Division of State History and PBS Utah that introduced her to photogrammetry: the creation of 3D models from photographs.

Being practiced at learning new technologies and processes, Parkinson was able to adapt to and absorb the new techniques quickly, and found value in her skills and perspective even though she’s not applying them in the ways she originally thought she might. Her professor Ha Na Lee even invited Parkinson to share her photogrammetry work with her fellow students, an impactful moment in her undergraduate career.

Lee, who specializes in new media which includes virtual, immersive, and augmented reality, is one of the four new faculty members to join the growing department in recent years, another sign of its recent growth. She is joined by Producer-inResidence Emelie Mahdavian, Assistant Professor of Animation Michael Edwards, and Morales Fellow Paloma Martinez. This coming fall, the department will welcome another new colleague, Utah native and brilliant screenwriter Hubbel Palmer.

“Our faculty are in large part what make our programs so dynamic,” Nelson said. “We have a cadre of folks who have been here for some time, building the foundation on which we’re now rapidly growing. It’s because of their hard work that we’ve been able to welcome this cohort of more recent hires that complement and expand our offerings.”

More faculty means more classes, and that lends itself to the department’s greatest strength: its flexibility and breadth.

“We embrace and nurture an independent spirit,” said Nelson. “Not just what kind of films we make, but in how students navigate their education with us. We’re there to help them every step of the way, but we put the onus on the students to do the selfexploration and self-reflection that will best define their path through our curricular offerings.”

The results are alumni like Chung and Parkinson who find success in highly competitive industries because they can do many different things well autonomously. They know lighting, they know scriptwriting, they know production, postproduction, and all the stops along the way.

Student Xiaocong Zhu with clapboard.

Some alumni work in Utah’s vibrant film industry, like alumna Taylor Mott, who is a freelance filmmaker working both in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.

She’s currently an editor with local production house, TWIG Media Lab. Nikki Bullock who just finished her BA in Film & Media Arts has joined Mott at TWIG as Assistant Camera Operator. And Stephané Glynn, who now serves as the SVP of Operations and Post-production at the prosocial film production company, Vavani Productions.

Others, like Dean Hoff, the Vice President of Animation at Nickelodeon, Anayat Fakhraie, a writer on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and Ana Bretón, twice Emmy-nominated producer who recently started a new role as a Social Producer for “The Drew Berrymore Show,” have gone on to flourish in some of the world’s largest film- and media-making destinations.

Among the next phases of development for the department is the renovation of the Film & Media Arts Building on campus, which you can read more about in the story called “Arts Re:Generation” in this publication.

So, like a well-lit set, the future is bright for the Department of Film & Media Arts. ■

“More faculty means more classes…that lends itself to the department’s greatest strength: its flexibility and breadth.”

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N E SCRE NDA CE A comprehensive collaboration between the Department of Film & Media Arts and the School of Dance.

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A N SO RI G

By Emeri Fetzer

Still from film by Benjamin Sanford.

Joanna Lees and Crystal

Dosser during screendance

seminar with Theirry de Mey.

I

n 1999, the University of Utah School of Dance hosted the first International Dance for Camera Festival and Workshop on campus, spearheaded by Distinguished Professor Ellen Bromberg. This event laid a strong foundation for screendance in Utah. At the time, it was groundbreaking.

Right here in Salt Lake City, students could access original works from global artists in what many may have considered a niche medium at the time.

Now, decades later, screendance is not only timetested — it’s exploding. More students each year want to dedicate their educational focus to the medium.

Not so niche anymore.

Katrina McPherson, Bromberg’s recent successor as the new Director of Screendance and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the U, is ready to meet increased interest with expanded offerings in what is still a topnotch program internationally.

Right from its inauguration in 2010, the Graduate Screendance Certificate program has been a comprehensive collaboration between the Department of Film & Media Arts and the School of Dance. Students pursing master’s degrees in either dance or film can complete the program as an additional credential. They take professional-level production courses with state-of-the-art equipment, as well as movement and theory classes, equipping them with a rich skillset from which they can draw.

A Senior Capstone course, taught by McPherson for three years now, allows for in-depth investigation culminating in the production of finished works.

Bromberg meticulously cultivated this curriculum over time. Keeping the U on the cutting edge, she often enlisted working artists at the top of the field for guest residencies and workshops.

Based in Scotland, McPherson was one of those trusted collaborators. The two first met at the IMZ Dance Screen festival in 2000, where McPherson’s film “Moment” was awarded Best Screen Choreography. Bromberg was on the jury.

An acclaimed screendance artist, lecturer, mentor, and facilitator, McPherson knows firsthand the strong reputation of the U’s program around the world. From solid roots planted by Bromberg and fellow colleagues 19

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Still from film by Benjamin Sanford.

Joanna Lees and Crystal Dosser during

Photo: Collin McPherson

screendance seminar with Theirry de Mey.

Katrina McPherson.

Still from “Hohl” by student Carly Schaub (2020).

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in the School of Dance, it is clear that the program will only continue to bloom and expand in coming years.

When a global pandemic forced dance courses online last spring, it also accelerated Bromberg’s transition, and soon McPherson took over fundamental courses as well as the Senior Capstone.

Screendance was well-poised to adapt to virtual formats. Fortunately, she had become accustomed to teaching online from Scotland, and her students were used to the free reign of weeks of independent work on their projects.

Still from “Stages”

by student Angela

Rosalis Challis

(2019).

Still from “Traces”

by Kim Brooks Mata

(2020).

“Senior Capstone was established as hybrid in nature. I came out for a two-week period in January and a two-week period in March, and in between I worked remotely with the students,” McPherson explained.

The dynamic has allowed screendance to include students not local to Utah, expanding the community and enriching the learning environment. Some participants came from California, Canada, and the UK. “Since the pandemic, all of my teaching has really opened up globally. It’s becoming clear to me what are the aspects that would be fantastic to be able to do live again when we get the opportunity. But there’s the other side where there is really no reason for anybody to fly or be anywhere specific, where students can be working within their own context. It’s kind of a win-win situation.”

During the Fall 2020 semester, it became obvious that it would be beneficial to open up some of the screendance offerings to the undergraduates in the School of Dance, in another welcome expansion of the programming.

“If we can imagine the possibility of working with students right from their freshman year, through to their senior year, there’s a possibility of building up a very in-depth multifaceted experience.”

As this continues into the coming semesters, School of Dance Associate Professor Michael Wall and Assistant Professor Daniel Clifton will officially join the screendance faculty.

“In as wide, broad, and deep education as can be offered at the University of Utah, as a dance student, one has the opportunity to really explore all the different aspects of screendance,” McPherson said.

McPherson is the author of “Making Video Dance,” a step-by-step guide to creating dance for the screen, which was published by Routledge in 2006, with a 2nd edition released in 2018. This remains the only workbook for screendance and is used as a core text for courses at universities and colleges worldwide.

Her approach to teaching is movement-based and experiential. With the aim of developing an embodied understanding of screendance, she guides students in personal and group explorations, through carefully-planned practical and scholarly exercises and assignments and, by doing so, encourages a deep and authentic engagement with the hybrid art form.

“Learning about camera and frame, shots, and editing — these practical skills are applicable with whatever sort of screendance you are making. At every level actually, there’s a practice element, a skill-based element, but there’s also this kind of more theoretical and historical engagement as well.”

As with any art, it is important to delve into the history of past pioneers in order to continue innovation into the future. This is an important element of screendance training at the U. “Dance in film has been there right from the beginning of cinema. There are some key figures like Maya Deren, Shirley Clarke, and Amy Greenfield who were primarily dancers and choreographers who then moved into making screen-based work and pushed the form forward. In the teaching we do a lot of looking at their works, and the context it was being made in. We take inspiration evolving from Independent Cinema, dance made for television, and then in the last two decades, the rise of the internet and digital nonlinear editing and much more accessible technology which has expanded the field,” McPherson said.

No matter what students will pursue — whether making dance for screen, choreographing live performance, or being faced with successfully documenting performance (as so many have suddenly had to do), McPherson feels screendance study gives artists more tools as creative beings, to be able to move in any direction.

“This education is so helpful for dance students at the moment at whatever level they find themselves, because it’s, in a way, deepening their understanding of the potential. It comes back to intentionality. There are so many reasons for dance and the moving image to intersect. What are you trying to communicate and how do you get there?”

The sky is the limit. ■ 21

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Penny performing in Youth Theatre’s production of

“Señora Tortuga” by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce at the

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Photo: Amy Oakeson

Theatre of the World Festival in San Diego, 2006.

By Aaron Asano Swenson

I’m not here to make sure people celebrate me. I want students to have such a great time exploring theatre that they don’t want to stop. They’ll go to — or be in — middle school plays and high school shows, and they’ll keep going to and making theatre or art for the rest of their lives because of joy — these memories of joy.

Penny Caywood Artistic Director, Youth Theatre at the U

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Photo taken: Dav.d Photography

“How I Became a Pirate” at

Salt Lake Acting Company, directed by Penny Caywood and featuring Michael Tao, a YTU student.

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If Youth Theatre at the U’s (YTU) website had a directory, it would contain one listing: “Caywood, P.” Since 2006, Penny Caywood has served as Artistic Director, Program Manager, and lead teaching artist. She directs productions, handles marketing, maintains the website, manages the social media, runs YTU’s summer sessions and year-round classes, and occasionally coordinates travel: every year, students from her award-winning Conservatory program head to the Utah Shakespeare Festival Competition. In 2019, they took “Death of the American Teenager” — a student-written show about lockdowns and gun violence — to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. When she isn’t facilitating new work, she’s writing it: not only for YTU, but also an original show for every class partnership. She’s written more than 400 of these since 2004.

There’s more, of course. It’s nearly impossible not to leave something out. It’s also nearly impossible to overstate the impact: conservatively speaking, YTU serves over 1,800 students annually. Some remain involved from elementary school through high school and beyond. YTU’s variety of classes, flexible approach, and range of opportunities make it impossible to outgrow.

I started in fourth grade, so Youth Theatre’s been there for half of my life. And I remember Penny saying, “you should go to Broadway.”

Which was not my dream at the time — I didn’t fully understand the implications — but I knew it was important. It’s probably the earliest I can remember someone saying they had that kind of faith in me.

Penny expected us to take ourselves seriously.

Not in a way that was detrimental, or anti-fun, but to build towards something bigger and strive for greatness, which is powerful to hear when you’re that young. No one played down to us. They respected us. You see yourself differently when that happens.

Connor Johnson YTU Alum, 2008 - 2016 BFA Actor Training, 2021 All of these factors make youth theatre successful.

Caywood’s influence makes it extraordinary. The experience is surprisingly personal; YTU meets students where they are because of her profound

interest in who they are. They don’t have to wait to be taken seriously, or to benefit from theatre’s greatest gifts: empathy, self-worth, curiosity, collaboration, the importance of possibility, the possibility of joy. By exploring other characters, we see ourselves more clearly. The more we understand our own stories, the better equipped we are to tell them, and to change them.

for growth remains. Without stable funding, even simple, urgent goals — compiling her plays for use by other educators, re-hiring an assistant, securing transportation for school tours and outreach — are merely dreams. Every minute Caywood spends chasing funds is a minute taken away from students who are here, now.

Theatre is the best way to teach kids about empathy — that their feelings have value, that other people have as many feelings as they do, and that it’s important to understand them.

Penny never nudged me toward anything, but when she saw what I was interested in she’d give it a name: “What you’re doing right now is what a costume designer would do, what a stage manager would do.” She presented opportunities without telling me what I should be, so I could find my own way.

My first YTU shows were when I was in fourth grade and fifth grade, but they touched on tough issues, like regret, or death.

It helps not to be coddled. By the time you get to Conservatory you’re comfortable talking about things that matter to you: youth homelessness in Utah, or lockdowns and gun violence in schools.

You’re creating projects about them in different genres. That’s actually how I came out: I wrote a poem about being gay and performed it at a Conservatory poetry slam.

I think art needs to be based in real emotion, Ailish Harris and that was the most emotional thing that I had YTU Alum, 2008 - 2019 at the time. Turning it into art made it scarier and BFA Stage Management, 2023 more vulnerable, but also safer, because I’d been performing for most of my life. Instead of just There’s no question that “Penny” and “Youth Theatre” saying, “Hi everybody, I’m gay,” it became something are inextricably linked: for most of her tenure, Caywood I presented. It made that moment special. has been YTU’s only full-time employee. The impact of COVID-19 guarantees that this won’t change anytime Gavin Yehle soon; in spite of its reputation, its importance to the Arts YTU Alum, 2006 - 2018 Teaching Program, and her own stature as a leader in BFA Stage Management, 2019 her field, YTU covers all of its own bills — including Caywood’s salary. Aside from employer-paid benefits for After COVID-19 shut them down, YTU’s online their only employee, Youth Theatre at the U is entirely programs were up and running within two weeks. self-funded.

Caywood understands But that’s not without great support, and Caywood the importance of continuity is never fully alone. Phenomenal instructors, student and connection. People leaders, friends, family, and community partners are understand themselves part of YTU’s breath and blood. But the potential better because Youth Theatre at the U — and Penny Caywood — showed them what you can learn by being someone else: If you make space, no one has to worry about fitting in. You are worth taking seriously, no matter how old you aren’t. Find joy and make memories; if you get lost, they can lead you back. Your story deserves to be told, and someone is listening. Being human is lonely. Growing up is rough. No one should have Penny Caywood to do it alone. ▪ Photo: Ailish Harris

My program has been called ‘small.’ We’ve had to be scrappy and lean.

In spite of that, it’s also been consistent and stable. Creative and award-winning. Focused and full of joy. We’re like the little engine that could, and we’re just going to keep on going.

Penny Caywood adjusting Piper

Salazar’s costume prior to performing

at the annual Utah Shakespeare

Festival Shakespeare Competition.

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Photo: University Marketing & Communications

26

the news of 2020 grew ever worse and racial injustice seemed to be revealed every day, one University of Utah School of Music Trombone Professor wondered how he could make a difference.

The coronavirus pandemic made performing challenging, but Donn Schaefer thought there must be some way he could help improve America and society in general.

His thoughts turned to something new, something free that he could give away: trombone music with a message that could travel around the world.

“The goal was that each time someone programmed this piece of music or reads about this piece of music, this might cause them to reflect about racial injustice,” he said.

Schaefer reached out to a Puerto Rican composer who had studied trombone with him at the U several years before. William Pagan-Perez immediately jumped onboard the project and composed “Justice Fanfare: A music piece to unite people in a good cause” for trombone octet.

The score contains eight of Schaefer’s words (in English and Spanish), words he hopes inspire everyone who hears and plays it.

“Love each other. Celebrate each other. Learn together.”

Within weeks, the piece was performed by some of the top trombone students in the country. The Eastman School of Music premiered “Justice Fanfare” as did the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

Now “Justice Fanfare” is the beginning of an initiative that Schaefer calls Harmonic Revolution: Music for Change. As of January, he was seeking grants to support new compositions with a social justice focus for other instrument families.

“A bunch of people coming together for a common cause — that’s what music is about,” he said. “Maybe music is the right place to address some of the things that are happening in society.”

Having hosted the International Trombone Festival at the U in 2008, Schaefer has contacts around the world. By early 2021, he had sent “Justice Fanfare” to more than 1,000 trombonists all over the globe.

Though composers do not normally give away their music for free, Pagan-Perez hopes his piece is accessible and inspiring to the audience and performers.

“I hope they play and honor the intention of the music,” he said. “Everyone needs justice. Everyone needs to be heard.”

The piece has a blend of influences. The Latin percussion rhythms have Afro-Caribbean roots.

The melody is his own but has a chord progression influenced by The Beatles.

Now living in Buffalo, New York, Pagan-Perez teaches music to pre-K through eighth grade public school students who are almost entirely of Puerto Rican descent. The others are a melting pot including African-American, African, and Asian students.

Donn Schaefer with his trombone in Red Butte Gardens.

“We are a very diverse community,” he said. “We know our students sometimes suffer discrimination.”

His first time living outside Puerto Rico was as a U student several years ago. When Schaefer, his trombone teacher, asked Pagan-Perez to perform a bass trombone piece composed by a Puerto Rican, Pagan-Perez explained that no such thing existed.

So, Schaefer encouraged him to write his own music.

“I don’t have a composing degree,” Pagan-Perez recalls saying. Schaefer was not deterred.

“Mozart didn’t have one either,” the professor said.

A native of Vancouver, Canada, Schaefer had a window into America’s race relations when he worked as a professor in Tennessee and Mississippi prior to coming to the U. Early on a Sunday morning, he and a colleague, a black trumpet player, were driving to a church gig in a wealthy neighborhood of Nashville.

The police pulled their car over.

His black colleague, the driver, hadn’t done anything wrong.

“At the time, I don’t think I’d ever heard the phrase ‘driving while Black,’” Schaefer said. “I felt bad for my colleague and I didn’t know what to say — I was stunned into silence when I realized why we were being bothered.”

His next job at the University of Mississippi opened his eyes to even The School of Music responded to the social injustice more racial tension and the exposed in 2020 with a message of inclusivity and a inherent problems with the rejection of racism. But School Director Miguel Chuaqui uneven public education wanted to make sure the school took real steps toward system in the state. significant change.

He recruited some top As a result, the school is reviewing its hiring black music students who practices with an eye toward encouraging a greater struggled academically diversity of applicants. It is reviewing its programs to look for ways to broaden students’ musical education after attending severely and increase their understanding of “anti-racist underfunded high schools. perspectives in music.”

“The educational climate Diversifying the faculty and student body has in the state was frustrating,” been a focus for several years. Retirements have led said Schaefer who worked to more hires from underrepresented communities, in Mississippi for six years. and domestic students of color now make up 25% of “And the open racism was the undergraduate student body.

“Recruitment has been proactive — trying to find hard to take.” students who bring diversity into the School of Music,” The next piece to be he said. “To do that, we have to work on the curriculum commissioned by the to make it more attractive to students with a diversity Harmonic Revolution of backgrounds.” won’t necessarily be called Some of those changes are already apparent in “Justice Fanfare.” It will events programming. A September talk focused “On have a message.

White Supremacy and Antiracism in Music Theory.”

Because even if he didn’t Last November, a panel discussion on diversity in the arts, titled “Who is Heard, and Who is Listening?” grow up in the United States, included artists and scholars focusing on AfricanSchaefer is taking action.

American art song.

“I don’t know if I’m the Chuaqui believes musicians must continue to ask right person to do this these kinds of questions: project,” he said. “But I felt “Any initiatives that lead us to examine why we’re like — enough — I want to teaching what we’re teaching will lead us towards do something about what I teaching that is relevant and that values an engagement with larger social concerns,” he said. see is going on.” ■

Together, we move

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Creating a Culture of Success

By Marina Gomberg

W

hile perhaps a lesserdiscussed pairing, art and data are really two sides of the same coin, two different but often intertwined ways of communicating reality. They can each inform the other, and together they help us interpret our world around us.

In the world of academic advising and assisting students as they navigate the complex and evolving processes to reach their graduations, the University of Utah College of Fine Arts has been diving deep into the data around what makes students successful.

The information exists in abundance in this era of Big Data, where almost everything a student does is tracked and logged. And our academic advising team, led by Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs, Liz Leckie, has illuminated the trends that help or can hinder our students as they navigate their undergraduate degrees. The data comes from institutional resources like the university’s Student Data Warehouse and national resources like the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), as well as speaking with successful alumni about what helped them. It has identified the most common barriers to academic success for our students, the most impactful practices among academically successful students, and postgraduation pathways to success.

Together, it’s a magical formula.

“We have a lot of individual student interaction and understanding the context of what’s happening for students was hard for us to get,” Leckie said.

“By utilizing additional data, we allow advisors to understand that student’s particular situation in a larger context — and that is how Create Success was born.”

Create Success is an innovative, data-driven initiative that identifies the common barriers to academic success and most impactful practices among academically successful students. The outward facing component is a thoughtfully curated and constructed website that lives at createsuccess.utah.edu. It provides

information in three general sections: “Know Your Stuff,” “Do it Early,” and “Do it Often,” and is available not just for students but their families and support systems as well.

In addition to the website as an information and resource hub, the initiative includes work done behind the scenes to address some of the institutional processes that might create snags or hurdles for students. It also employs six Create Success Interns, led by CFA Academic Advising Coordinator, Jennifer McLaurin, who act as a bridge between their peers and the institution.

“As Create Success interns, we act as a form of communication between the CFA Advising team and the students,” said student Lia Wong. “We are there to explain things to the Advising Team from a student perspective, and we are also able to bring up any concerns or things that we think may be helpful in promoting success within the college. I think this is a very valuable aspect to have within a college because then everyone can be heard and all sections of the college can work together to help CFA students be successful.”

Their impact is multidirectional in that, in addition to helping the advisors understand the student experience, they make the college’s and university’s resources and processes more easily navigable to students.

“For instance, we have made many videos helping incoming students log onto their Campus Information Services (CIS) portal, introduce the academic advising team, learn how to complete a degree audit, and much more,” Connor Brown, another intern, said. “By making helpful videos, emails, and reaching out to the students, I feel that the intern’s student perspective and involvement in the Create Success program helps undergraduate students to be more successful.”

Since the program’s launch about five years ago, the college has seen a steady increase in academic advising appointments, satisfaction with their advising experiences, and the college’s number of graduates.

“It’s hard to say if the relationship is causal,” Leckie said. “But what I think we know is that we are making important strides in creating a culture of student success.” ■

The academic affairs team is made up of these eight individuals who assist the more than 2,000 CFA undergraduate majors, minors, and prospective students.

Liz Leckie, PhD Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs April Casiano Administrative Officer Kate Wolsey CFA Internship Coordinator Andrew Grace, PhD CFA Academic Advising Coordinator Jennifer McLaurin, MS CFA Academic Advising Coordinator Paige Tinsman, MM CFA Academic Advisor Rachel Luebbert CFA Academic Advisor Samuel Banford CFA Academic Advisor

98

Percent of undergraduate respondents felt that the advisor was able to assist them in making progress toward their academic goals.

98

Percent of undergraduate respondents agreed that their CFA academic advisor was supportive of their educational pursuits.

91

Percent of undergraduates agreed that preparing for graduation was applicable to their academic advising appointment.

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(Left to right) ALI Founder

Stephanie Rhodes Russell (Photo: Hannah Walker), soprano Rachel

Willis-Sorensen performing at

the inaugural Women's ALI Fall

Benefit in 2018 (Photo: Hannah

Walker), and ALI Fellow and

alumna Laurie Anne Larson in

2020 (Photo: Ashlynn Clegg).

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I

Photo: Bre Welch

n a long list of accomplishments for School of Music DMA alumna Stephanie Rhodes Russell, one stands out as most meaningful.

A professional conductor, pianist, and vocal coach, Rhodes Russell has spent decades touring with companies across the U.S. and internationally, including the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera and Washington National Opera. She is currently a Conducting Fellow with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

But her proudest moment didn’t happen on the stage.

In 2018, Russell founded Women’s Artistic Leadership Initiative (Women’s ALI), a Utah-based non-profit organization with one clear mission: empower women in the arts to reach their full potential as business owners, innovators, and leaders in their industry.

“Throughout my experiences, I noted a lack of female representation in the room. As I looked into it, I realized that is especially true in key administrative positions and leadership roles,” she explained. Although this issue was frequently discussed, she felt there was a lack of concrete action, and decided she’d be the one to take it.

“I had the mentality throughout my career that many women do. I thought I only needed to do good work, and would be rewarded accordingly. Good work is essential, but as I learned more about leadership and business, I realized that there was so much more I could have done to further my career. But I needed more education skill sets.”

Sharing this education with emerging generations became a deeply-rooted passion.

“I’m a big believer that education is the major proponent behind change. Leadership and business education need to begin at an earlier age for artists,” Russell said. “We spend so much time dedicated to our craft, especially at a university level where that focus is essential to success. It becomes problematic, however, because we have so many talented women that are really well-equipped in their artistic skill set, but not in the business skills that will give them a leg up.”

Knowing it would take a strong team to start Women’s ALI, Russell enlisted the help of her four sisters, all of whom come from arts backgrounds. With personal experiences that fortified their commitment to the mission, they put in the long volunteer hours to bring their vision to life.

The core offering of Women’s ALI is a Summer Leadership Intensive where over several days, selected ALI Fellows access guest speakers, workshops, roundtable discussions, and presentations targeting the development of crucial hard skills.

Dozens of current College of Fine Arts students and alumni have benefitted immensely from the program since its founding. This year alone, eight Stephanie Rhodes Russell.

College of Fine Arts students from across the academic disciplines are working as ALI Fellows.

The first intensive was sponsored by the University of Utah School of Music and held on campus. This year, because of health restrictions, the team pivoted to a virtual format. They were able to access a wide range of renowned national speakers including Afa Dworkin (President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization), Kathleen Carey (Community Impact Leader at Gensler), and Grace Zandarski (Yale School of Drama), to name a few.

“We cover everything from personal branding, leveraging social media to build your brand, contracts 101, to finances,” Russell said.

ALI Fellows are individually paired with a professional mentor matched with their career ambitions, and they remain in an expansive and connected network for life. For example: Merinda Christensen, a student in the School of Music pursuing harp has a growing interest in arts administration.

Women’s ALI paired her with a development professional at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

“We have such an amazing group of professionals willing to donate their time to these young women. When I’m recruiting mentors, I constantly hear, ‘I wish I had something like this when I was that age,’” Russell said.

“It’s so exciting seeing this passage of information that can really only be garnered with experience in the industry.”

Fellows also gain hands-on experience in a safe environment where they can put what they’ve learned into action. This year, the Women’s ALI Fall Benefit Committee was comprised entirely of the ALI Fellows, who took on the responsibility of planning and executing the event. College of Fine Arts students took a leading role in collaborative programming. Lelia Salari, a student in the Department of Film & Media Arts, filmed much of the program’s virtual content, including original choreography by four Fellows from the School of Dance, accompanied by Merinda Christensen, who also chaired the committee.

For Russell, cross collaboration among disciplines that are often siloed is exciting to see. Still, nothing is more reaffirming than tangible growth in students’ confidence, problem solving skills, and sense of leadership.

“The meaningful personalized impact that we are able to create through our programs to me is unparalleled. The more that we can help them understand how important it is to start now, the better.

They don’t have to do everything overnight, but we try and help them lay the foundation to make sure that when they graduate it doesn’t feel like such a leap into the dark.” ■ 31

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Rendering by Method Studio

ARTS RE:GENERATION 32

BY MARINA GOMBERG

W

ith a presence that reaches every corner of campus via physical buildings, interdisciplinary research, and teaching collaborations, the arts on the University of Utah campus are experiencing what some might call a renaissance. Now, the arts at the U have a legacy of always being central to the institution’s mission and success, and at this moment, we have more momentum than perhaps ever before.

We are referring to this time as Arts Re:Generation, and it’s the amalgamation of three major capital campaigns aimed at renovating and expanding the arts’ footprint on campus.

“It is our charge to provide inspired, modern spaces to help our students hone their crafts and prepare them for leadership in the industry,” Dean John Scheib said.

And charging toward that goal, we are.

PRICE THEATRE ARTS BUILDING (PTAB) The first project to get underway was the transformation of Building 73 into the John and Marcia Price Theatre Arts Building, now home to the Department of Theatre and the vibrant feeder program, Youth Theatre at the U. The renovation of 5,000 square feet of space, including building infrastructure and modest upgrades

has increased our teaching studios, added new acting and musical theatre rehearsal spaces, enhanced and modernized lecture halls and rehearsal studios, increased security, and added a new amphitheater.

“What is perhaps most significant, though,” said Department of Theatre Chair Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell.

“Is that this new space brings together faculty, staff, students, and Youth Theatre under one roof. For a discipline that thrives on collaboration, the proximity to one another is extremely important.”

With a lead gift from the John and Marcia Price Family Foundation this project is being completed now.

"At this time of uncertainty and confusion in the world, the arts are more important than ever,” said Marcia Price. “They lift our spirits and bring happiness.

We are honored to be a part of the John and Marcia Price Theatre Arts Building."

MELDRUM THEATRE PROJECT AT THE EINAR NIELSEN FIELDHOUSE The Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse is a historic building on the University of Utah campus that we are working to turn into a modern 375-seat theatre to be used and shared by the Department of Theatre and Pioneer Theatre Company. This project will give new life to this iconic building and provide a synergistic and rare opportunity to meet both entities’ needs, while preserving an historic structure, and expanding opportunities for artists and arts patrons alike.

Rendering by GSBS

Rendering by Prescott Muir & Architects

FILM & MEDIA ARTS BUILDING (FMAB) The third project will benefit the Departments of Art & Art History and Film & Media Arts.

The first phase of this project will be the creation of a new Gittins Gallery which will be the Department of Art & Art History’s new exhibition space (thanks to a leading gift by the Wheatley Family who is featured later in this publication).

The following phases will completely renovate and upgrade the Department of Film & Media Arts’

production and post-production facilities and ultimately connect the public spaces of the Departments of Art & Art History and Film & Media Arts with those of the College of Architecture and Planning.

“We live in an age when different media are converging in unprecedented ways, and when mediamakers are expected to have skills that transcend longstanding divisions and boundaries,” Chair Andrew Patrick Nelson said. “Updating and improving our facilities is essential to maintaining the U’s status as one of the nation’s leading film programs, as we continue the work of preparing our graduates to be active participants across the 21st-century media landscape.”

All three projects have the unwavering support of the University of Utah at large.

“We have gained new appreciation over the past year for how the arts inspire, entertain, and connect us to one another,” said Dr. Michael Good, interim president of the University of Utah. “Artistic creativity is innovative and opens us to understand humanity and our world in new ways. That’s why the College of Fine Arts and the education and scholarly pursuits it leads remain a top priority for the U. We are grateful for the support of our community partners who are joining us in Arts Re:Generation to reimagine the arts on our campus and beyond.” ■

IT IS OUR CHARGE TO PROVIDE INSPIRED, MODERN SPACES TO HELP OUR STUDENTS HONE THEIR CRAFTS AND PREPARE THEM FOR LEADERSHIP IN THE INDUSTRY.

The new theatre will provide a much-needed mid-size theatre for Pioneer Theatre Company’s contemporary and new plays that require smaller, more intimate spaces; add a thrust performance venue for the Department of Theatre with the space and production support resources needed to accommodate its growing programs, particularly the Musical Theatre Program; and allow greater collaboration among our academic and professional units, increasing opportunities for students to connect to real-world work and working artists.

“We realized that our shared needs might be the perfect occasion for us to work together on a performing space that could be used by both entities and also further our collaborative work together,” said Karen Azenberg, Pioneer Theatre Company’s Artistic Director.

This project received a generous lead gift from Peter and Catherine Meldrum, who met in the Fieldhouse when Pete was on the track team and Cathie was a member of the Ute-Tahnas drill team during their time as students.

Before he passed away in 2018, Pete said, “Cathie and I have enjoyed Pioneer Theatre productions since we were students at the U, and from my time on the College of Fine Arts Advisory Board I became aware that the Theatre Department needed a much larger space for its student performances.”

We’re grateful to the numerous families who have joined in this campaign to bring this much needed intimate theatre to our campus. Renovation is currently underway.

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Artists & Guest Artist Scholars

At the University of Utah College of Fine Arts, students learn from some of the top faculty in the country. But that is not all; each semester, each academic unit brings to campus world-renowned artists who offer master classes, give public lectures, screen films, host discussions, and ultimately broaden the breadth and depth of exploration into all areas of study. During the past year alone, these artists were brought to campus to share their knowledge and expertise with us.

Art & Art History Julien Bismuth • Michelle Bowers • Jeannette Ehlers FutureFarmers (Amy Franceschini & Lode Vranken) • Dushan Milic Jennifer Printz Paul Mpagi Sepuya • Brad Taylor • Reinaldo Gil Zambrano ­ — Michelle Bowers specializes in lettering and collage work that blends handmade and digital processes. She studied design at Cranbrook Academy of Art and The University of Arizona. She currently teaches at The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and has taught graphic design, typography, and printmaking at workshops and college programs throughout the US. Her work has been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions and has been recognized by the TDC, STA, PRINT, Adobe, AIGA, SOTA, and the UCDA. Most notably her work is published in “Typism Book 3, Typo/graphic Posters, Lettering Beyond Computer Graphics and Graphic Design: The New Basics.”

Dance Katlyn Addison • Charles Anderson Jennifer Archibald • Melanie George • Shannon Gillen — Jennifer Archibald is the founder and Artistic Director of the Arch Dance Company and Program Director of ArchCore40 Dance Intensives. She is a graduate of The Alvin Ailey School and the Maggie Flanigan Acting Conservatory where she studied the Meisner Technique. Archibald has choreographed for the Atlanta Ballet, Ailey II, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Kansas City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Ballet Nashville, Grand Rapids Ballet, and worked commercially for Tommy Hilfiger, NIKE and MAC Cosmetics as well as chart-listed singers and actors. She was recently appointed the first female Resident Choreographer in Cincinnati Ballet’s 40-year history. For the 20/21 season, new works for Cincinnati Ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Nashville, Axis Dance Company, Richmond Ballet, Ballet Austin, and Ballet West will be commissioned. Archibald’s works have been performed at venues including New York’s City Center, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Aaron Davis Hall, Jacob’s Pillow, Inside|Out Stage, and Central Park’s Summerstage Mainstage. She was awarded a Choreographic Fellow for Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab under the direction of Robert Battle. She was a Choreographic Winnings recipient by the Joffrey Ballet.

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Theatre All My Relations Collective (Ty Defoe, Kate Freer, Lux Haac, Marika Kent) Kristen Blodgette • Sierra Boggess • Miles Borrero • Jessi Cotter • Ali Ewoldt • Emma Fox Shelby Noelle Gist • Timothy Huang • J. Quinton Johnson • Lorin Latarro • Camille Litalien Kathleen Marshall • Tracie Merrill • Hassiem Muhammad • Hugh Panaro • Jim Parsons T. Oliver Reid • Kate Reinders • Tara Rubin • David Spencer • Yolanda Stange • Brian Vaughn Katie Wallack • Alicia Washington • Stephanie Weeks • Laura Zingle — All My Relations Collective is an art, theater, film, and design collective committed to making new work that uplifts the interconnectedness of all living things past, present, and future. They shed the idea of prescriptive process. They weave together all parts of their artistic practices they’ve developed in the concentric circles they work in; social justice, community organizing, reservations, Broadway theaters, universities, and museums. All the story elements are interdependent. As a collective, they are caretakers of each story, invested in its life and health. They show that same commitment to each other, personally and artistically. As an ensemble, they find their artistic home in each other.

Music John Luther Adams • Brian Alhadeff • Carl Allen • Aubrey Allicock • Marc Bamuthi • Joseph Michael Ballam Ryan Beach • Xavier Beteta • Christopher Chafe • Raymond Bisha • Michael Bishop • Anthony Buck Matthew Burtner • Kerstin Caldwell • Tanya Darby • Brian Deedrick • Frank Diaz • Cori Ellison • Lindsey Goodman Brian Herrera • Donald A. Hodges • John Holiday • Duane Lee Holland, Jr. • Yvette Janine Jackson • Bill T. Jones Niels Krabbe • Jacalyn Kreitzer • Tendayi Kuumba • Claus Skjold Larsen • Adam Larson • Christopher McBeth Brett McDonald • Fernando Mendendez • Robert and Jane Mirshak • Naomi Oreskes • Caci Cole Pritchett Erika Qureshi • Lisa Reed • Adam Richardson • Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) • Daniel Shirley • Andrew Staupe Viswa Subbaraman • Roy and Carolina Stevens • Louise Toppin, Darryl Taylor, Marquese Carter, and Naomi Andre Judy Twedt • Pam Uschuk • Luc Vanier • Lauren Whitehead — Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a prolific and endlessly collaborative composer, performer, educator, and social entrepreneur. “About as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (New York Times), DBR has worked with artists from Philip Glass to Bill T. Jones to Lady Gaga; appeared on NPR, “American Idol,” and ESPN; and has collaborated with the Sydney Opera House and the City of Burlington, Vermont. Acclaimed as a violinist and activist, DBR’s career spans more than two decades, earning commissions by venerable artists and institutions worldwide.

Film & Media Arts Steven Banks • Curtiss Clayton • Yasmin Elayat • Brent Geisler Heidi Heller-Banks • Jeff Johnson • Patrick Kennelly • Carolyn Leone Maddy Mauer • Zeltia Montes • Eduardo Naranjo • Tivon Rice • Daniel Timmons — Curtiss Clayton is an award-winning film editor. He began an early collaboration with writer/director Gus Van Sant and edited some of his most significant films, including “Drugstore Cowboy,” “My Own Private Idaho,” and “To Die For.” He has edited six features to debut at the Sundance Film Festival, including “Buffalo 66,” “Sherrybaby,” “Polish Wedding,” “Female Perversions,” “Committed,” and “A Matter of Degrees.” He also co-edited “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”

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Jack &Artist Mary Lois Guest Wheatley

Painting of Mary Lois Wheatley by Alvin Gittins (1949).

By Emeri Fetzer 36

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Sample photo credit

or the University of Utah, a brand-new gallery space is on its way.

Long awaited and breathlessly anticipated, the new Alvin Gittins Gallery will be more than just a space where the campus community can contemplate diverse student exhibitions professionally displayed, it will provide a quiet place to gather, a space to spark inspiration and focus, a setting for enhanced and lifelong learning.

Made possible largely by a landmark gift from Jack and Mary Lois Wheatley, the gallery renovation reflects the couple’s inherent conviction of the value of investing in students, and in the beautification of the places where they spend their time.

“Early on, my dad got this feeling that the best way to invest in society is to invest in education for young people. He felt like helping launch people through a broad and meaningful education would just lift up society, and lift up families,” son Charles Wheatley said.

In a vast philanthropic legacy, the Wheatley’s generous contributions have fortified the arts in the state of Utah, beautified campuses from Brigham Young University to Stanford University, supported student growth through scholarships, and beyond.

The gallery project at the U honors a personal history —the students who will soon benefit from the space are not that unlike Mary Lois Wheatley herself, years ago.

A painter from an early age, Mary Lois studied art in the Department of Art & Art History and graduated in 1948 with an enduring passion for portraiture nurtured by Professor Alvin Gittins, whom she studied under.

Alvin Gittins, head of the Department of Art and Art History from 1956 to 1962, was an English-born artist who distinguished himself as one of the finest portrait artists in the country. He instilled in his students the value of capturing not only a subject’s likeness, but their spirit and personality.

Mary Lois’s artistic drive was further fueled by her time at the U, sending her to Manhattan to study

Jack and Mary Lois Wheatley in Carmel.

at the prestigious Art Students League of New York.

It was there that she met Jack, an aspiring engineer studying at West Point Military Academy.

The combination of quite opposite interests just made for an electric affect. “I think my dad would say that while he didn’t have a large exposure to the arts growing up, my mom opened up that world for him. It influenced his career, adding beauty and landscaping to his building projects. He wouldn’t have had that perspective otherwise.”

After Jack served in the Korean War, the two started their life together back out west. When they settled in Palo Alto, Jack made a tremendous impact on the Bay Area through his growing business in building construction and property management. His devotion to the community eventually led him to serve as Mayor, alongside many callings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and Mary Lois also nurtured what they frequently referred to as their greatest legacy, their family.

Throughout the years, Mary Lois’s collection of portraits grew exponentially, reflecting the faces of those closest to her: children, grandchildren, and her most beloved friends.

Like Professor Gittins, she didn’t paint just to capture, but to express a deeper relationship.

“She painted people that she had a real fondness for, and those who she knew not just in appearance, but in their essence,” Wheatley said.

As her grandkids recount, “She would talk while she was working, not about the painting itself necessarily, but about life and her experiences, and asking about you. So, part of the experience of being painted were the hours and hours sitting and talking with Grandma.”

Family members and friends alike treasure the paintings she gifted them. Her work adorns the walls of their homes and a special place in their hearts.

Amongst this special collection, there is one not by Mary Lois, but from a lasting mentor.

“One of our family’s most cherished paintings is

by Alvin Gittins. It is of my mom right before she left the University,” Wheatley said.

This exchange, one of education and of art, is exemplary of the experience the College of Fine Arts strives for — one where mentorship is lasting, and memories of campus are some of the best.

Because of the incredible generosity of the Wheatley family, we usher in a new generation of artists who will dream in our spaces, inspire others in their expression, and never stop loving what they do. ■

“Early on, my dad got this feeling that the best way to invest in society is to invest in education for young people.”

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Guest Artist Thank You

Connoisseur

T

HE faculty, staff, and especially the students in the College of Fine Arts thank our generous donors for their contributions to the College and its five academic units from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. Their incredible generosity has enhanced education, empowered many, and inspired us all.

$25,000 +

ArtWorks For Kids Kenneth P. and Sally Rich Burbidge Foundation I Kem C. and Carolyn B. Gardner Huntsman Foundation Nancy Peery Marriott Foundation Meldrum Foundation James. R. and Nanette S. Michie Foundation Robert A. and Charlotte P. Nelson, PhD John and Marcia Price Family Foundation Bertram H.* and Janet M. Schaap Fred R. and Margo* Silvester, JD John M. and Martha Morrison Veranth, PhD W. Mack & Julia S. Watkins Foundation Trust Anonymous

Aficionado $10,000–$24,999 Brent and Bonnie Jean Beesley Foundation Dick and Timmy Burton Foundation Richard R.* and Susan Dinwoodey* Burton Susan G. Gaskill Gordon L. and Connie R. Hanks Dale P. and Christine Harris, MD Charles H. and Kathie K. Horman Michael A. Manship and Andrea S. Dumke-Manship Ballard Miller Foundation The Sorenson Legacy Foundation S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney Foundation E. Art Woolston and Connie Jo Hepworth-Woolston

If you’re interested in supporting the work of the College of Fine Arts and its academic units, visit finearts.utah.edu

Steven L. Rosenberg Salt Lake City Arts Council Foundation John W. and Amy Scheib, PhD Robert W. Stringham, CPA and Michelle Michie The Robert W. Stringham & Michelle Michie Trust Anthony R. Wallin, MD and Jennifer Price-Wallin Marilyn D. and Paul L. Whitehead

Advocate $1,000–$2,499 American Endowment Foundation Fred M. and Linda M. Babcock Jennifer Romney Blackner CBIZ, Inc. Nicholas Maurice Cheek-O’Donnell and Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, PhD Howard S. and Betty B. Clark Thomas D. and Joanne A. Coppin, MD Jacques L. D’Astous, MD and Kathryn Atwood Gerald R. and Susan E. Daynes Jr. Ashby S. and Anne Cullimore Decker Chris Peter Demiris and Darcy Bentley Trevor Fase Jerome C. and Abby L. Fiat Flying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratory Thor W. Gjelsteen and Millah Nikkel Ralph L. and Rosetta S. Gochnour Scott A. and Loree D. Hagen, JD Kenneth Hansen and Susan Venetra Burke Elizabeth S. Hunter Xan S. Johnson, PhD Nathan R. Kane and Caitlin M. O’Brien Rod and Janice Klassovity Geoffrey Thomas and Karina Landward Thomas M. and Jamie N. Love Donald B. and Mary O. Lloyd Angelica Q. Matinkhah, MAR Dylan McCullough Microsoft Matching Gifts Program Roger L. Miller Jay and Sandhya Narasipura Eugene S. and Patricia Ninomiya Clara Tibbe Osbeck Mark L. and Anne Pace Andy and Zelie D. Pforzheimer Patricia and Frank N. Pignanelli David and Rhenda Rey* Power Sarah Projansky, PhD and Kent A. Ono, PhD Anne W. Riffey Keith B.* and Janet B. Romney Jean Ann Sabatine Seventeenth Street Storage Center L.C. Sarah Ann Shippobotham Christopher J. and Molly P. Sumner The Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving Oscar William and Ashley Cranz Frank M. and Janell Weinstock Von H. and Virginia Whitby John and Joy F. Wiscombe Michael D. Zimmerman, JD and Diane Hamilton

Anonymous Arkansas Community Foundation Craig and Michelle Muntean Armstrong Andrea Ashdown Jack S. and Marie Y. Ashton Robert and Maria Apgar Mitchell Mark Atencio BAE Systems Jenny Oaks Baker Michael D. and Kayo Baker Robert L. and Maria Jean Baldwin, DMA Colleen Marie Barnes Jake and Devon L. Barnes Rae Barnes C. LaMar Barrus Jr., PhD William Barry and Lisa Banitt Sue Bassett Edward J. Bateman Robert L. and Colleen Bauman Cheryl Baumann Richard C. Baxter Denise Marie Bégué Marlene Barnett Robert F.* and Margaret Bennett Daniel Bentley and Jed Moss* Jeffery Bentley and Ana Gonzales de Bentley John E. and Barbara E. Berg Amber Katherine Bielinski Ann Blackmore Laura Jennette Blair Christine Anne Blanck Karen S. Blatnik William L. Blycker Nansi L. Bohne Patti A. Bollenbaugh Steven F. and Elizabeth Boulay Joseph and Sheri Bowden Barlow Bradford, DMA Blake Bratcher and Kyle Adcock Jerry and Diana Bratcher Robert Breault David K. Broadbent, JD and Katherine D. Broadbent, RN Sandra Faye Brock Ellen R. Bromberg Caryl A. Brown Joan C. Brown Patrick Brown III Rodger E. and Linda Sloan Brown Scott James and Sarah Elizabeth Brown Jacob M. and Elizabeth Bruner Erik and Sandra Brunvand Nathan M. Buchanan Richard D.* and Mariel P. Budd, EdD Kenneth J. and Kristina F. Burton Lisa Buth Darryl P. Butt, PhD and Ann L. Butt, EdD, RN, CNE, CHSE Timothy J. Bywater, JD and Mary Beth Scholand, MD Byron Russell, LLC. Deb Calbane Craig Bernreuter Caldwell Michelle Annette Campbell Priscilla J. Campbell, CPA John Douglas and Melanie B. Carlquist R. Lynn and Peggy Carlquist Carolyn Ann Carey Roger A. and Kathryn C. Carter Sean James Carter Chris and Christina Castellanos Margueritte Castellanos Earl J. Catterton and Kim A. Sargent John Caywood and Penelope Marantz Caywood Dhiraj Veer Chand Cheung Chau and Blanka Bednarz Paul Steven Chaus

thank yo Benefactor

$5,000–$9,999

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. F. Michael Bannon and Susan D. MacIver M. Lynn Bennion Foundation Edward L. Burton Foundation Kenneth P. and Sally Rich Burbidge Foundation II Community Foundation of Utah Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee. Foundation William H. Doty and Mary Anne Prater Doty, PhD George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation Eric and Lisa Evans Robert and Mary D. Gilshrist, JD Susan Stoddard Heiner and Blake T. Heiner Sarah B. Kurrus, MD Lennox A. Larson Trust Merit Medical Wayne G. and Robyn E. Petty, JD The Pi Foundation, Inc. Ronald E. Poelman, JD.* and Anne Osborn Poelman, MD Johnathan M. and Tina B. Ruga, PhD Daniel M. and Nicky M. Soulier Roger H. and Colleen K.* Thompson, JD Lou Turilli

Patron $2,500–$4,999

The Howard and Katherine Aibel Foundation, Inc The Benevity Community Impact Fund Sandi Behnken The Rodney Brady Family Foundation Lowell C. and Sonja E. Brown, JD Lisa Marie Chaufty and Miquel Chuaqui, PhD Marian A. Connelly- Jones Kimberly Ann Deneris Kent C. DiFiore, MD and Martha H. DiFiore, MD The E. J. Bird Foundation Darla R. Gill and Pieter Unema Phillip L. and Mary Lou Hansen J. Chris and Sandra L. Hemmersmeier Gary Jones and Marian Connelly-Jones Emma Eccles Jones Foundation Herbert C. Livsey, JD and Wilma S. Livsey, RN Alexander and Sarah Elizabeth Lowe Paul G. and Alison R. Mayfield Rowena May Merrill Phone Naing The Presser Foundation Princeton Area Community Foundation Scott L. and Leslie P. Rice

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Friend

$1–$999

Dylan Palmer Adams and Patrick O. Jones Kurt E. and Michelle Coulam Addison Madeline Adkins Annette S. Ahlander Ashley Akhavan Sidnei Alferes, DMA Mark Alistair and April Anne Fossen Brady R. Allred, DMA and Carol Allred, DMA Diane S. Andersen Keith C. Andersen Lane J. Anderson Margo L. Andrews

Kirstin Marie Chavez Michael Chikinda, PhD Ashley Jian Chin-Mark Jamie L. Chinn James N. Chipman Marybeth J. Clark Randy L. and Tamralynn T. Clark Juan Carlos Claudio and Kade J. Clark Sara E. Clauss Cathryn Clayton, DMA Valerie Smith Colby Anna Elizabeth Coltrin Clinton Jay and Stephanie Lyn Coltrin Gay Redick Cookson Joyce B. Costello John A. Cowden and Mio Moroi Cowden, DMA Jack* and Janet C. Cox Nancy W. Cox Darcee Cuillard David J. and Donna Dalton Lance Daniels Benjamin Andrew and Kate Davies Austin and Hannah Davis John Davis and Jan Smoot, MD Daynes Music Company Kay L. Dea, DWS Pascal Deboeck, PhD and Lynn Deboeck, PhD Madeleine Demiris Natalie Jean Desch Dianne Shelden Howe Trust Roger A. and Ann Dibb, CPA Paul L. Ketzle, PhD and Marcia C. Dibble John J. Diehl and Gabrielle M. Lynch Diehl Richard* and Lynne F. Doi Christopher E. Doles Yulin Dong Helen Donoghue Michele Dornan Glen A. and Janet W. Dover Anastasia Briana Drandakis James R. and Mary Ann Dresher Josiane Dubois Casey James Duncan Dausen Duncan Nicholas C. Dunn Samuel R. Dunn, MFA and Robin L. Wilks-Dunn Michael and Peggy I. Durrant Rulon and Rebecca Jean Dutson David Christopher Duval Ivonna Earnest Tanja Easson ECS Publishing Corp.

John S. and Evelyn B. Edwards Michael James Edwards, PhD David Eggers and Eric Sciotto Jennifer Ehlers Arild Bruzell Eide Eric N. and Shellie M. Eide, PhD Orvil John Elia Patty L. Elliott Norene R. Emerson Jane England Elaine E. Englehardt, PhD Spencer Michael and Lauren Cardon Ericksen Richard D. and Chariya A. Ernst, PhD Claudia Araceli Escobar Dick and Susan Stamm Evans Jenifer G. Ewoniuk Ronald Wayne Fairbanks Matthew W. Fellerhoff David S. Fenton Tracy Fernholz Emeri Liza Fetzer Laja Nathalie Field Millard S. and Barbara L. Firebaugh John H. and Joan Firmage Jr. Jeff and Cynthia F. Fleming Peter Flowers and Hazel Legaspi Anthony and Tina C. Fonzo Ariana Fonzo Richard L. Ford and Sarah B. George Riley Franklin F. Ivan Frazier Berkley R.J. Frei Landon Louis and Ashley Ann Freter Rinda Frye Julia Michaela Funtanilla Carl L. Gable Norma W. Gabriel Martin Cesar Alcocer Garcia and Alexandra Elizabeth Bowden Kathleen Gardner Stacy Garrop John E. and Christena O. Gates, JD Parker Gibbons Coltyn Robert Giltner Sheryl L. Ginsberg Christopher Glade and Arika L. Schockmel Royden J. and Rebecca B. Glade Dale W. and April W. Goddard Monica Lynn Goff Barry G. and Deborrah S. Gomberg, JD

ou

Elenor and Marina Gomberg Frank and Lynn Gong Gabriel Gordon Edward Gorfinkle and Beth Krensky, PhD Suede Graham Evan Gray Mark and Abby Green Elizabeth Camille Griggs Taylor Kirch Grzeskiewicz K. Shane and Jennifer Guillory Joshua B. Gwynn Nicholas Scott Hagen Robert A. Haise Elizabeth S. Hale Sonja L. Hales Kristine J. Halverson Jeanne B. Hamrick Jonathan Thomas Hamrick Ellie Louise Hanagarne Larry T. Hancock Eric Michael and Pamela Geber Handman David Hanson and Kimberly Mason Hugh Jalmer Hanson Kevin Don Hanson and Heather Bennett* Helen A. Harbold Elizabeth Hargrove Randall G. and Sharon E. Harmsen June L. Harral Caitlyn Sara Harris Joel M. Harris, PhD and Frances N. Harris, PhD Samuel Harris Brian E. Hartmann Robert and Louise M. Hartvigsen Brittany Kay Hathaway Frederick R. Hawkes Catherine Ann Heiner January Held Matthew L. Hepworth Gerald W. Hewes Bruce R. Heyborne and Diane Ritzman Heyborne R. Lynn* and Nancy Mann Hickcox Rebecca A. Hickox Paul A. Hill and Eleanor V. Goodall, PhD Clark B. Hinckley Colleen Marie Hirst April Jane Mallory Hoag Stephen M. Hodson Thomas S. Hoffman Richter D. Holbrook and Lynda Alder Holbrook Kerri A. Hopkins Michael Jon and Brooke Horejsi Dianne S. Howe, PhD Timothy and Jane Howes George C. Huang and Alping Jiang Shirley Y. Hughes Satu Hummasti Llewellyn B. and Sally F. Humphreys James Hunt, MD Kate Hunter Alonzo B. Huntsman and Julie Ann Gustin, MD Catherine M. Iba Scott W. and Heidi M. Ingham Catherine J. Ingle Jackman Music Corporation Thomas L.* and Jennifer Jackson Erin Jacobs Kenneth P. and Penny Jameson, PhD Hana Janatova Elaine Jarvik Pace Jefferson and Sophie McConkie Katherine Pauline Jelte Douglas E. and Beverly S. Jensen D. Rhett and Willow Jeppson Kelsie Anne Jepsen Kimberly Jew, PhD Brian L. and Allison H. Johnson Colten Johnson Mica Johnson Sally Freels Johnson G. Frank and Pamela M. Joklik Ken and Julia Ann Jones Charles V. Joseph Kristina Lynne Karg Sandra L. Katz Seth and Angela Keeton Russell J. Kelly and Karineh Hovsepian Kent S. & Janet W. Topham Rev. Trust Robert R. and Julie H. Kessler, PhD Robert Thomas and Leigh R. King Douglas T. and Julie A. Kirchner Brock and Maren Kirwan, PhD Kurt Constantine and Theresa Klein Megan Kleinman Marsha Knight Joseph S.* and Kathleen C. Knowlton, JD Terry S. Kogan, JD and Gregory J. Hatch, MLS Kenneth Michael and Susan Kosak Angela Kourtoglou Peter J. Kowalchik and Carolyn G. Kowalchik, RPh Stanley J. and Eileen Kraczek Hasko Kramer and Justine Sheedy-Kramer

Thomas and Patrice S. Kurz Tara Labonte Henry M. and Jeanne Lachowski Jeffrey Stephen Lachowski Laurie Volny Langdon Gordon Lark, PhD* and Antje F. Curry, JD Paul B. and Sharon O. Larson Kimberly Latham Andrew Lawrence Jana Lawrence William G. Lawrence Michael Gregory Leatham Elizabeth Leckie, PhD Marty I. Lege Kristina Sue Lenzi Joan L. Levy Laron J. Lind, JD and Joan T. Lind, JD Cecil Linwood and Joann Nelson Melissa Lowe Roger M. and Mary F. Lowe Frank R. Luthi Kent M. Lyman, PhD Jason P Ma Mark Spencer Macey Fumiko MacPherson Carson L. Maestas David J. Magidson, PhD Duncan Maio, JD and Kristen Westmoreland Emelie Mahdavian Brian and Erika Manternach Alex Von and Jackie Marshall Phillip M.* and LeAnn Mason Walter Madison Mason, JD Dustin Matinkhah Samantha Sumi Matsukawa Eric and Dorinda Mattingley Kathleen Mattingly, PhD J. Michael and Mary A. Mattsson Leslie Mauldin Myron Roy and Mary Ann Stuercke May Ryan K. Mcallister Kenneth Eric Mccullough Amanda Marie McDonell Patrick Jan and Peggy A. McDonough-Jan Maureen McGill VaDonna McKim Maynard F. and Ann Marilyn McLaughlin Christine McMillan Merritt E. Mecham Spencer Fielding Merrick, MD D. Kent and Barbara E. Michie M. Scott and Lisa H. Mietchen Mightycause Charitable Foundation Lisette H. Miles Erich and Lenore G. Mille Travis Glen Mills Ashley Marie Mitchell Louis A. and Deborah Moench, MD Peter and Daysha Elizabeth Moes Savannah R. Moffat Samuel Anthony Mollner Christopher S. and Elizabeth W. Montague Christine Rebecca Moore

“I continue to give as a recent alum because I believe students are my field’s most important resource. Students challenge our assumptions, broaden our horizons, and help us engender a more just and radiant community within the arts. In this time, perhaps more than ever, we are taking stock of what we need from the arts and artists. Our students are on the forefront of this movement, and they deserve our support.”

Mark Macey, Fine Arts Ambassador Department of Theatre Alum

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Jil Morby Stephen R. and Sandra J. Morgan William and Janice Mosby Emily Mostue Nathan A. and Jill M. Mueller Joe Murray and Alexander Harbold Steve and Melonie Murray Joseph T. and Karen C. Muscolino National Philanthropic Trust Stephen B.* and June W. Nebeker, JD Andrea N. Nelson Andrew Patrick Nelson Jacob F. and Catherine B. Nelson Gregory Lamont Nielsen Vicki L. Nielsen Ricklen Nobis Greg and Sue Novak Janette K. Nystrom Margaret H. O’Brien Lacretia Marie Odegard

“When we mention the “Arts” we all have a favorite. It appeals to the senses and emotions in many ways. After becoming involved with the University Fine Arts Board, I have a greater appreciation of what is involved in becoming an artist with the multiple venues the University offers. How fortunate we are to have the finest instructors and staff to teach and encourage these talented young people so that we can benefit not only our community but to send these student artists into the World with pride.”

Sarah Kurrus, Fine Arts Advisory Board Member

Kenneth L.* and Wilma S. Odell Anna Kristine Oldroyd Tyler Oliphant, DMA Joan Ortloff Kimberly Ortloff Todd J. Osbeck and Paula Rose Tibbe Karen O’Sullivan Jerold D.* and Jo Ann S. Ottley Cecelia Marie Otto Jennie E. Outram Jeffrey L. Owen Joseph J.* and Dorothy Palmer, JD Mary Etta Parkinson Jeffrey Paul and Julie Hansen Holly Peartree Granger C. and Dianne W. Peck Marcella Ivanna Pereda Jay Anothony Bruno Perry Katherine Kay Perry Irene Hadley Peters Cash B. and Carolyn S. Peterson John Michael Peterson Mark and Jamie Baer Peterson Scott Peterson and Lori Jean Ostler Hart Pablo Hernan Piantino Sara Pickett Ray Pierotti Mary Helen Massey Pitman Holly Poff Phyllis Kathleen Pope Jesse Juarez Portillo Colin and Katherine Potter Adam Potts and Edith Hammond Jelani Minna Poulsen Barton Poulson and Jacque L. Bell Douglas C. and Wendy A. Preston Glenn D. Prestwich, PhD Lori Price Michael B. and Yvonne Purcell, USAF (Ret.) Mark and Carrie Rackow Ashley Marian Ramos George A. and Karen C.* Raine Christopher F. and Jill H. Randall

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Steve H. Reiber, PhD and Gayle E. Reiber, PhD Diane Reilly Laura Ellen Rice Vernon R. and Loretta C. Rice Kelly J. Richardson Connor Glen Rickman Sara Rincon Joseph F.* and Raye C. Ringholz James P. Riska Peyton Riska Susanna Risser Camilla Lyn Rives Lynda K. Roberts Dee Robinson Jerry W. and Susan L. Robinson Steven T. Roens, DMA and Cheryl A. Hart Trent Rogers Darci Rollins Lynn Maxine Rosen Morris Rosenzweig and Mary Jane Ciccarello, JD Raymond C.* and Patricia Rubley Jr. Chortney Burdell and Deborah M.L. Ruesch Marijane Rushing David Russell and Shalee Schmidt Sneha Sakhare Jerome C. Sandorf David Sandweiss, MD and Kristine A. Campbell, MD Alison Saporta Diane Sartain Jeffrey Robert Sawaya Richard G. Scharine Melanie Schiemer Joel Schiffman and Helen Kathleen Macey Christin M. Schillinger Brent Lee Schneider and Kim David Blackett Mark N. Schneider Susan K. Schofield Jamie L. and Stephanie Shaw Schuette Eric Arthur Schuh Dan W. and Margaret Schultz Julie Favreau Schwartz Scott & Betsy Thornton Family Foundation Maureen Joann Scott Jonathan Scoville and Tandy Beal Anthony John Segura Peggy Di Sera Select Equity Group Foundation Sterling Sessions and Danette H.* Poulson Judene Shelley James Peyden and Michaela Shelton Camille Larissa Sheridan Paul Moravitz Sherrill, PhD Kotaro Shimogori and Mary Thompson Yujiro Shimogori Terry S. and Junnie E. Shiotani Glenda H. Shrader Amanda Kathryn Shrum Alexander and Alla Shustorovich James and Misa Elizabeth Siemons Jeffrey L. Silvestrini, JD and Leslie V. Silvestrini, JD George Simpkins Reshma Singh Val I. and Barbara T.* Singleton Arthur B. and Sandra P. Sleeper Nathan Edward and Alison Taylor Smart Barbara Ann Smith J. Christopher Smith W. David Smith and Jerilyn S. McIntyre, PhD Harris D. Smith James D. and Marion L. Smith Mercedes Smith Robert S. Smith Calvin Smothers and Elizabeth Grace Ivkovich Stephen Ray Snow and Kathleen R. Snow, PhD Thomas J. and Julie A. Sobchack, PhD Miriam Albert Sobrino Sonia Albert Sobrino Jeffrey M. Soderberg and Camille J. Cornaby Janet Kay Soller Melvin R.* and Sandra S. Sowerby Jr. Lesli Spencer Patrizio and Nadia Spitalieri Andrew and Jessica Lillian Sproge Glenda Jean Staples Wayne M. and Judith Starker Reinhold Anton Staudinger and Lori Marie Poloni-Staudinger Michael D. Steiner and Sheila L. Ainlay Robert J. Stephenson and Lisa B. Byrnes Robert J. and Debbie D. Stevens J. Michael Stewart Stephanie D. Stiles Kathryn Bond Stockton, PhD and Shelley White, MSW, LCSW Cassandra Stokes-Wylie Cara L. Stone Paul L. Stout John R. and Ramona A. Stromness Andrew V. and Alice B. Sullivan Tanya E. Sullivan Aaron Asano Swenson Alan Swenson Max and Donna Swenson Arthur J. Swindle, JD

Kathy Tabor Judith Tangen Frank James and Caroline Josie Tepley Frederick Alden Terry Dennis N. and Margaret W. Tesch Texas Roadhouse Debbie L. Crews Thomas Glenda J. Thompson Jennifer Thompson Wendy J. Thompson Alison Bennett Thorsen Kent and Janet W. Topham Sue Tredennick Carl M. Trujillo Karen Tucker Leslie Ruth Turnbull Julianne Turner Jim Tybur and Susan R. Bollinger Farrell Tyler and Debbie Rohrich-Tyler Catherine Castellanos Valdez Brenda Van der Wiel Anne Van Gelder Luc M. Vanier Vickie L. Venne Candace Wagner Vessel Olivia Rose Vessel Brian and Kay Vigue Benjamin and Patricia Villa Michael C. Virnig Rollie R. Wagstaff Bryan and Christine K. Walker, MD Michael Timothy and Meghan Durham Wall Richard Walsh and Carolyn Hunter Walsh Susan A. Walters Julian D. Ward Clayton Roma Bragg Webb Nathan Webster Wilfred H. Weeks Jr. Jen Leigh Weiler Stuart B. Weiser Jae Weit Teresa Lynn Welch, JD Thomas M. Welsh, PhD and Sue Carpenter Frederick G. Welt, MD and Corrine K. Welt, MD Mary Elizabeth Wemer Glenn Wentworth and Nancy M. Wentworth, PhD Larry L. and Betsy Nagel West Ardis Westwood Verlyn Westwood Warren Whitaker and Mary M. Whitaker, AUD Krista Nicole Widdison Gage Williams LeAnna Willmore West K. Willmore Douglas Franklin Wilson Jane Wilson Wendy Wischer Lawrence Arlen and Maida Withers Robert M. and Joanne P. Wood, MD Todd and Heidi Woodbury DeAnna Worthington David G. and Steffenie E. Yates Gavin Douglas Yehle Jason E. and Holly Martak Yocom Tieg Anthony Zaharia Susan Zook

*Denotes donors who have deceased

“ Heaven without music would be hell.”

Connie Jo Hepworth-Woolston in response to why she supports scholarships for School of Music students

contributors

Editor-in-Chief Marina Gomberg is the University of Utah College of Fine Arts Director of Communications + Marketing and an award-winning lifestyle columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune.

On the Cover

Writers

Front cover: Musical Theatre student Trey Pullen sits alone in the Babcock Theatre, a space usually filled to capacity with audiences that include students, friends and family of students, donors, and the community at large. Pullen, like the rest of our audiences this year, accessed performances virtually, often alone, but together in the separateness.

Emeri Fetzer has a decade’s experience writing about 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 dancing, camping with her husband Jason and daughter Sylvie, or cooking with friends.

Photo: Dave Titensor of University Marketing & Communications

Theatre lighting: Halee Rasmussen

Julia Lyon has been an award-winning newspaper reporter in two states. Before writing on deadline, she spent hours of her life playing the clarinet and singing on stage. Her debut nonfiction children's book, “A Dinosaur Named Ruth,” will be published

by Simon & Schuster in 2021.

Molly Powers is a designer and visual artist based in Salt Lake. She is a Marketing and Communication Specialist for the University of Utah College of Fine Arts.

Aaron Asano Swenson is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the Department of Theatre and a U Theatre alum. Originally from Alaska, Aaron has worked as an educator, performer, designer, and writer in Utah for nearly twenty-five years.

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.

Editorial Board

Special Thanks

Dean John W. Scheib Miriam Albert-Sobrino Kirstin Chavez Emeri Fetzer Marina Gomberg Christine McMillan Aaron Asano Swenson Xi Zhang

Devon Barnes Denise Begue Blake Bratcher Sheri Jardine Samantha Matsukawa Halee Rasmussen Jessica Taylor Dave Titensor Twig Media Lab Design by modern8

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STUDIO / 2021

Non Profit Org U.S. Postage University of Utah College of Fine Arts 375 S. 1530 E. Room 250 Salt Lake City, UT 84112 — finearts.utah.edu

Distant.” While theatres were dark and the bulk of instruction, rehearsing, and performing happened elsewhere, the theatre community dug deep to find new and innovative ways to make and share their work and provide connection.

“When we originally selected our shows, we did so expecting to present them live and in-person. When circumstances changed, priorities shifted, and we changed our season to meet them. But the separation has confirmed the truth we have long known: what matters is connection — the company we keep, and the care we take of one another.

As we have navigated this smaller, safer season, our excitement about new genres and technology has been surpassed by our resolve. As our coronavirus response now enters a new chapter, we are still reckoning with the global pandemic of racial discrimination and systemic inequality.

We have all learned so much, both from the journey and from our traveling companions. Thank you, now and always, for the gift of your company.” — Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell | Chair, Department of Theatre

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THE PLACE WHERE DILIGENCE AND E XC ELL ENC E B ECOM E INFLUENC E

The Department of Theatre’s 2020/2021 season became affectionately known as “Distanced but Not

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