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STUDIO

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

Walt Whitman described our complexities well: that we contain multitudes.

We are far more sophisticated than the simplistic idea that our left and right brain hemispheres delineate logical and creative thinking or that each of us is only capable of one or the other. Our capacity as humans to use curiosity to fuel investigation that leads to discovery is unmatched. And it is powered by our ability to imagine and create.

Sometimes our intelligence is a product of systematic and linear thinking. Sometimes, though, it’s something more mystical and inventive, the ability not just to notice, analyze and manipulate, but to dream and manifest.

At a Research 1 institution, one dedicated to the generation and dissemination of new knowledge, we see clearly how the engagement of all types of thinking are what make for the richest innovations.

As German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.”

Here at the University of Utah, our thriving arts-based and interdisciplinary research acts like the proverbial tide that lifts all boats. From the arts to the sciences, creative and scholarly research is providing beauty, representation, enlightenment, inspiration, growth, change, and, as you will see in the pages of this magazine, fuller investigations into the ideas of health and wellbeing.

The human experience is not just being reflected by the genius of the arts; it is being made better. Sometimes that’s the bliss of being transported by a film because it so realistically depicts a scene. Sometimes it’s ensuring all communities’ contributions to the arts and culture are remembered and recorded. And sometimes it’s safeguarding creative thinking and artistic expression’s vitality in our public schools.

I hope you enjoy these stories of some of our folks’ notable contributions to art and life. Thank you for reading. ■

JOHN W. SCHEIB Dean, College of Fine Arts

/ Inspiring stories

A DREAM COME TRUE /

MAKING HIS STORY HISTORY /

School of Dance Associate Professor and former Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer, Joselli Deans, collaborates on an anthology about the iconic Black ballet company and its founder, Arthur Mitchell.

INSPIRED LIVING /

Past residents of the Emma Eccles Jones Fine Arts House reflect on the lasting relationships and artistic collaborations that flourish there.

In nearly two decades since its beginning, the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program continues a track record of undeniable societal impact.

HIDDEN HISTORY, REVEALING GLASS /

Cheryl Derricotte, Marva and John Warnock Artist in Residence, uses glass to peel back layers of American history.

LIFE, CHOREOGRAPHED /

Kym McDaniel spearheads Screendance Cultural Tour, a film festival in collaboration with the Screendance Program at the U’s School of Dance and the Salt Lake Film Society.

CURTAINS UP AT THE MELDRUM THEATRE /

The long-awaited Meldrum Theatre opens its doors, with a special honor for Kenneth Washington.

CINEMA CONVERGENCE ON THE CÔTE D’AZUR /

In the south of France, a new study abroad program for Film is born. 10 14 18 22 24

THE PROP MASTER /

Department of Theatre alumnus Joel Weaver’s journey from actor to prop master on major movies “Maestro” and “The Irishman.”

CATALYTIC CHANGE /

The Dee Family impacts the College of Fine Arts through engagement, leadership, and investment in innovation.

ANNUAL REPORT /

It is with overwhelming gratitude that we name those who fuel the continued success of the College of Fine Arts with their generosity and philanthropy. CONTRIBUTORS + THANKS

Photo: Niko Tavernise

Photo: University Marketing & Communications

Like the two strands of DNA’s double helix, the relationship between the arts and medicine is a long and winding bond. In Western medicine during the last century, this intersection of two rich disciplines has gone from a dusty, single-lane road to a concrete spaghetti bowl of layered and multidirectional paths with endless possibility for destinations.

There are fertile grounds, like the University of Utah, where quantifying and qualifying the value of the arts in health is a practice in full bloom. And the findings are breathing new life into the creative research around wellbeing.

In 2015, the College of Fine Arts launched a formal initiative under the direction of then Associate Dean for Research, Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell, giving credence, a name, and resources to the research being conducted at the intersections of arts and health at the U. In 2018, the Arts & Health Innovation Lab was formalized, now led by Associate Dean for Research Rebecca Zarate, LCAT, MT-BC, AVPT, a research maven and creative arts therapies scholar.

“It’s exciting to be at the nexus of this space where people from all walks of campus life are coming together to transform our society through public health initiatives that are informed by arts-based intervention, education, and community-engaged research,” Zarate said, whose lifework is investigating the socioemotional and the psychophysiological manifestations of health and wellbeing through music and improvised, artistic processes.

By Marina Gomberg

“ It’s exciting to be at the nexus of this space where people from all walks of campus life are coming together to transform our society through public health initiatives that are informed by arts-based intervention, education, and community-engaged research. ”

She describes how the generation of new knowledge will inform and expand our teaching practices, pedagogy, and training.

And as it turns out, in addition to the need from patients for a wider array of therapeutic modalities and treatments, there is a hunger from faculty and students who are interested in being able to provide them. The demand for certification and licensure is growing.

So, among her priority initiatives, Zarate is hard at work creating the foundational structure for a curriculum in arts and health with specialized tracks in creative/arts therapies. A suite of introductory courses to be offered in Spring 2025 will be the first of their kind in the history of the university and the state.

The roll out of curriculum will expand with the development of professionally geared certificate and graduate level courses, accompanied by continuing education training programs with career tracks in creative arts therapies and counseling, arts and public health administration & leadership, and interdisciplinary arts and health research.

Meanwhile, the innovation, ingenuity, and artistry on the research side are already providing notable societal impact.

The Sounds of Progress

Lynn Maxfield stays busy with research and teaching, so he only takes on a handful of voice clients. A former professional singer, Maxfield is now the Director of the Utah Center for Vocology and Associate Professor (Lecturer) in vocology at the University of Utah School of Music. That leaves just enough time to take on a few clients as a voice coach in partnership with the U Hospital’s Voice Disorders Center.

Anne Jensen (pseudonym used for privacy) is one of those cases.

In her initial contact with Maxfield, Jensen wrote, “I realize I can never sing in public again or even in church or community choirs, but I would like not to be embarrassed singing with my family, including with my grandchildren who miss me not singing with them. Some days are definitely better than others, and at present, I seem to have no control over good and bad days.”

Maxfield was in.

That yet-to-be-fully-understood connection between participating in the arts and one’s general wellness is an area of particular interest to Maxfield, and Jensen’s unique health circumstances coupled with her heroic determination made for incredibly compelling engagement.

Maxfield detailed their rewarding and successful effort together in, “Singing After Superior Laryngeal Nerve Weakness: A Story of Hope” while concurrently conducting research to measure the impacts of arts participation on health and wellbeing.

He and collaborators, Brian Manternach (Clinical Associate Professor, Theatre), Ben Christensen (Research Assistant Professor, Surgery), and Rebecca Zarate (Associate Dean for Research and Arts in Health Innovation Lab Director) were funded with a Research Incentive Seed Grant from the College of Fine Arts and the Vice President for Research’s Office at the U to investigate changes in health and wellbeing biomarkers as a result of participating in various art forms.

Through saliva samples, heart rate monitoring, and surveys taken before and after engaging in varied art forms (singing, strings playing, wind instruments playing, and straight play acting), the research team looks to identify how these performing arts activities affect both biological and psychological health and wellbeing including inflammatory responses, stress, and anxiety. They’ll also be able to isolate how specific factors like music and controlled breathing might, to borrow a phrase, play roles in wellbeing. Data collection should be completed this year, and they are looking to publish the results in 2025.

Like the World Health Organization notes about health being more than just the absence of disease or infirmity, Maxfield says, “On one hand, we hope this information helps us as a society be better able to prescribe arts interventions as therapy. But we also want to be careful not to just see this work through the lens of curing illness. In addition to being an effective treatment, the arts can be instrumental in the purposeful act of promoting wellness.”

People like Maxfield, who are changing lives on both the macro and micro scale, are rare, but he’s hoping to change that. The cohort at the Utah Center for Vocology dedicate as much of their resources toward education as they do research.

With its Summer Vocology Institute, a roughly twomonth intensive geared toward providing any person who habilitates vocal behavior — from speech-language pathologists or otolaryngologists to singing teachers and voice coaches — with the information they need to expand their knowledge base and take their practice to new, informed heights, the Utah Center for Vocology is leading the way in these interdisciplinary and largely uncharted waters.

So, if you can hear the songs of enlightenment in the air, rest assured they are being tended to by a growing number of creative thinkers and researchers dedicated to the art of voice. ■

Still image of Lynn Maxfield from Arts & Health film by TWIG Media Lab

To Be Enough

When composer Amy Scurria described how she takes in sound, she waved her hands like flowing seagrass in front of her ears and said, “I experience sound like this.” And then her hands seemed to follow a rolling line from her head to her chest as she said, “And I experience sound like this. And like this,” her open right palm met her heart, and then her fingers danced like raindrops on her forearm.

The idea of hearing is more than just what’s traveling through Scurria’s eardrums, and perhaps that’s why she fell in love with music at three and was composing by eight. She went on to earn her PhD in music composition from Duke University.

Though she didn’t know it until serendipitously being diagnosed during the time she was composing her most recent opera, Scurria is autistic. She is also a feminist. And a proudly queer and genderfluid person.

“There are many aspects of me that make me feel like the other,” she said. “And that’s another reason I related to Alice. I felt very much outside of the mainstream.”

She was referencing the adventurous, likeable, imaginative, curious, and entertaining lead in “A.L.I.C.E.,” her adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

Scurria’s reimagined opera had its world premiere during UtahPresents’ spring season and was a collaboration with the University of Utah School of Music’s U Opera and Utah Philharmonia. Students got the unique opportunity to perform the original version of a debuting professional work and interact with the talented artists who created it, thanks to a Dee Grant won by voice professor and U Opera director, Robert Breault.

The show’s run offered a sensory-friendly performance, which took into consideration everything from sound and lighting to ticketing and seating to thoughtfully welcome those with sensory sensitivities.

UtahPresents has a history of this kind of programming, including the annual production by Youth Theatre at the U. Executive Director Chloe Jones says it’s a “meaningful way for us to broaden access to the arts and build inclusivity at Kingsbury Hall.”

The offering was special to Scurria, who deeply enjoys arts experiences, but can become uncomfortably overwhelmed by the stimulation.

Her life partner, gifted short story writer, and now librettist, Zane Corriher, noted just how impactful Scurria’s autism diagnosis was to the process of shaping Alice’s story and to better understanding Scurria’s. The

Photo: Brandon Cruz Photography

Alexander Harrelson (left) as the White Rabbit, Isabel Cossa (center) as Alice, and R. Porter Hiatt (right) as the King in Amy Scurria’s opera “A.L.I.C.E.”

“ There are many aspects of me that make me feel like the other. And that’s another reason I related to Alice. I felt very much outside of the mainstream.”

parallel exploration of identity fueled the art and fueled their understanding.

While developing the opera’s central theme (which Scurria was determined to make different from most female narratives in opera that end in some form of tragedy), Corriher noted how the characters Alice meets are so nonsensical and silly. Scurria disagreed.

“This is their world, and it seems silly to Alice and Alice seems silly to them and they just miss each other — they don’t understand each other,” she said.

“And that became the lens through which I wrote the story,” Corriher reflected. “Which is an autistic experience lens. You have these two worlds existing simultaneously that just miss each other. The autism diagnosis made sense of the way Amy made sense of Alice.”

That ability to name an experience and the ensuing and profound effect that can have on one’s self-worth, was a gift to the duo — one they decided to pay forward through their work.

So, instead of answering with her prepared list of attributes, as she had so many times when asked who she was, Alice’s final line in the opera is: “My name is Alice, and I am enough.” ■

Photo: Brandon Cruz Photography

Karley Swallow as the Queen of Hearts

Rehearsing Health Care

Gretchen Case and Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell have, like many of us, experienced medical care that while technically proficient was upsetting because of complicated interpersonal interactions with their providers. They are also theatre professionals trained in the nuanced art of expressing and managing emotions.

The two are Associate Professors in the Department of Theatre, and Case is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Internal Medicine and the Director of the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities at the U.

It’s easy to imagine them talking over a meal about their health experiences, wondering whether teaching medical students theatre techniques, like connecting to a character or scene and using one’s own humanity to shape a moment’s emotional arc, might positively affect how the students provide future care.

*Lightbulb*

As researchers with experience in interdisciplinary collaborations and a network of engaged colleagues across the arts and in medicine at a Research 1 institution, their inspired question had the potential to move from the hypothetical to the laboratory. And that’s precisely what happened.

With some pivotal early funding from the Utah Center of Excellence in ELSI (Ethical and Legal Scientific Implications) Research (UCEER) and over $100,000 dollars in grant money — half from the National Endowment for the Arts and the other half matched by the U — Case and Cheek-O’Donnell devised a way to investigate their question.

The dynamic, curious, capable duo had visions of arts-informed healthcare and the chops to manifest it . They dreamt up an approach called CRiTICS or Coached Rehearsal Techniques for Interpersonal Communication Skills, which introduces theatre-based techniques like blocking, breathing, and emotional connection to health care providers to finesse how they bring their own personhood to difficult conversations.

“A small part of it is saying the words,” said CheekO’Donnell about delivering challenging news to a patient. “And the rest of it is all the things around the saying of the words. The whole human body is an instrument of communication, and actors and directors are trained in the nonverbal and paraverbal communication — components paramount to a

medical provider in being fully present in a moment with their patient.”

To assess the effectiveness of CRiTICS in improving interpersonal communications among medical students, they set up a randomized controlled trial with two groups, both preparing to disclose difficult news to a trained actor playing the family member of a patient.

Students in the “control” group participated in a 50-minute small-group discussion with peers led by a medical school faculty member. Together, they reviewed the scenario, best practices for communicating difficult news, and planned what they would do and say during the simulated conversation that would take place two days later.

Students in the “intervention” group were broken up into pairs and participated in a 50-minute individualized session led by an experienced acting teacher or director. During the session they practiced delivering difficult news to an actor and then received expert, specific, and nuanced feedback with the opportunity to implement it in rehearsal right then and there.

All 123 medical students from both groups went to a simulation center on campus and were recorded disclosing the news to an actor in a room designed to look like a patient room in a medical clinic.

Assessments of these recordings by research assistants, who were blind to which group the participant belonged, showed statistically significant differences between the control and intervention groups in certain areas of nonverbal and paraverbal communication. Further, the group that prepared using rehearsal techniques showed significant increases in confidence in both their socioemotional communication and content delivery.

Case and Cheek-O’Donnell are currently working to publish these and more findings in the coming months.

“What we’ve learned from CRiTICS so far is really exciting,” Case said. “The ultimate goal would be that theatre-based interventions are accepted as helpful to clinical communication skills training and theatre practitioners might be ‘called for a consult,’ to speak in the language of the medical world. It’s standard practice in medicine to call on the expertise of specialists as needed to deliver quality medical care. Sometimes that expert consultant needed is an artist.”

Curtain close. ■

Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell (left) and Gretchen Case (right) speak with collaborator Dr. Karly Pippitt (center) about CRiTICS and its simulated interventions

There’s an interesting parallel between the process that led University of Utah School of Dance Professor Luc Vanier to learn about the Alexander Technique (AT) and the actual technique itself. It’s a pattern of mindfulness becoming awareness that begets positive change.

After experiencing an extreme back injury as a professional ballet dancer, Vanier sought all manners of rehabilitation — anything to get him back at his craft. After months of varied but unsuccessful efforts, his physical therapist at the Cleveland Clinic recommended he listen to a talk being given there by Helen Hobbs, the only Cleveland Alexander Technique teacher at the time.

“As a dancer, I thought I knew most everything about movement and my body,” Vanier recalls. “So, to be so shocked by this new information — that I wasn’t even sure I fully understood — made me very curious.”

Essentially, the Alexander Technique is an approach to mind and body habits that help manifest one’s agency to move mindfully and with greater ease.

As a holistic practice, it can be employed in endless ways including to address pain from repetitive injury, discomfort from postural issues, and to enhance performance for singers, musicians, actors, dancers, or athletes.

The technique’s success in getting Vanier back to efficient, comfortable movement made it even more intriguing, fueling his thirst for more information.

Fast forward two decades later and Vanier now assists others in the 1,600-hour, 3-year training to become certified Alexander Technique teachers. He also instructs teachers across the globe and has written books, chapters, and articles on the topic. His particular focus has been to build the Framework for Integration (with collaborators Rebecca Nettl-Fiol from University of Illinois and his wife Elizabeth Johnson at University of Florida), a particular development of his branch of the Alexander Techinque, called the Dart Procedures, named after anatomist and anthropologist, Raymond Dart. The system is rooted in the patterns of human and evolutionary development.

His research into and practice of the Alexander Technique has been put to great use at places like the spinal clinic at the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee. There, he studied veterans in wheelchairs and patterns of movement that might be interfering with their health and mobility.

“Using developmental movement, using ideas of habits and seeing habits as patterns, then we can do something like, say, reorganize a wheelchair,” he says — which they did — noting also that the same practices can be employed in other design.

Vanier describes the Alexander Technique as a relearning how to learn, and a sort of reflection gained through movement. And though he’s not teaching classes at the U solely about the technique, its ideas and practices are inextricably linked to the ways he moves,

“ ...we don’t have to divorce ourselves from ourselves to be the artists we want to be . ”

talks about movement, and encourages dancers to pay attention to how it feels to dance rather than just what it might look like.

The U is uniquely situated with its three Alexander teachers on campus, including Adjunct Associate Professor Jacque Lynn Bell, a thirty-plus-year veteran of the technique, and Adjunct Instructor Chandler Vaccaro. In fact, it was the vibrant community of Alexander teachers in the Salt Lake Valley that drew Vanier to the U in 2016.

“This is exciting for students because it means we don’t have to divorce ourselves from ourselves to be the artists we want to be,” he says. “And a university, especially a Research 1, is perfect for that. It allows you to ask these questions, and the sooner we set the stage for that with students, the better. The more empowered they feel, the more embodied they become, and then they start to see the world around them as this interconnected weave — and then it makes a lot of sense to be part of this community.” ■

Still image of Luc Vanier from Arts & Health film by TWIG Media Lab

Beverley Taylor Sorenson

A DREAM COME TRUE

THE SOARING SUCCESS OF BEVERLEY TAYLOR SORENSON ARTS LEARNING PROGRAM

BY EMERI FETZER

In 1995, Beverley Taylor Sorenson was gripped by a vivid dream for arts education that seemed at once idyllic and non-negotiable.

A graduate of the University of Utah College of Education and a life-long arts lover, Sorenson fervidly believed the arts were imperative in the development of the whole child and belonged in schools taught by those skilled in both education and artistic disciplines.

“Beverley’s philosophy was never ‘something is better than nothing,’ said Kelby McIntyre-Martinez, Associate Dean for Arts Education & Community Engagement. “Her vision was always for high-quality arts learning experiences for every child in Utah.”

At first, Sorenson privately funded an initiative placing arts educators in a handful of schools, supporting curriculum in partnership with teachers. She collaborated tirelessly with colleagues from state and higher education organizations and her network in arts education to set the program up for success.

The benefits soon spoke for themselves. More schools came on board. With enthusiasts from every corner, Sorenson set out to gain broader support. In 2008, the State Legislature funded a four-year pilot program named after Sorenson: the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program (BTS Arts). The dream had taken flight.

The first to establish an endowed program, the University of Utah had jurisdiction over 20 of the first 50 participating BTS Arts schools. In under two decades, the program’s reach has grown to 478 schools statewide, with 150 under the U’s wing.

Today, BTS Arts at the U provides undergraduate and graduate fellowships in arts education a preservice conference (ArtsLINK) where students practice arts-integrated planning and instruction, and a research symposium where principals learn about exemplary arts integration practices grounded in educational theory. The U also collaborates with the Utah State Board of Education to provide regular professional development for in-service arts educators and to sustain cutting edge work.

As program director, McIntyre-Martinez is a daily witness to its impact on every age level from

YEARS OF MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES WITH COUNTLESS STUDENTS HAVE LAID AN UNSHAKABLE FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS IN UTAH.

Beverley Taylor Sorenson with BTS Arts students

Beverley Taylor Sorenson with BTS Arts students

kindergarten to college. “When you add highly qualified arts educators working alongside stellar classroom teachers, with principals and districts that believe in the program, that’s where the magic happens,” she said. “Statewide, it is positively influencing family engagement, increasing learning in English language arts, science, math, social studies, critical thinking, problem solving — not to mention the walls, the brightness, the spirit of the school.”

Whether planning on a career in education or not, College of Fine Arts students benefit from the availability of teaching as a component of their degree. In the recent Strategic National Arts Alumni Project survey, more than any other profession, alumni reported serving as arts educators in some professional capacity — whether in higher ed, K-12 schools or outside of K-12 schools. Many arts students find an unmatched sense of joy and meaning in teaching. Fortunately, they can find all the resources they need at the U.

As of 2021, all of CFA’s five academic units have a robust teaching emphasis, including the Department of Film & Media Arts, which most recently added a path to educator licensure, the first in the state. “It’s our responsibility to provide students with as many skills in the arts as possible to ensure their success post-graduation, and arts education is a valuable career option,” McIntyre-Martinez said.

Aspiring educators can also pursue advanced degrees. The U’s Master of Arts in Teaching with an emphasis in Fine Arts (MAT-FA) program is colloquially referred to as “the BTS Arts graduate program,” A 2-year hybrid-online program taught by tenured faculty across the arts, MAT-FA allows working arts educators to elevate their skills while continuing to work and boasts an extraordinary 97% graduation rate.

Beyond the classroom, the support of a Research 1 institution gives BTS Arts additional resources to provide regular data-driven feedback to all its stakeholders.

“We can examine our pre-service education and track how alumni are implementing arts-integrated learning. Then as research continues, we can help local school districts and legislatures see the most effective teaching models.” McIntyre-Martinez said.

BTS Arts alumni continue to rely on the program’s resources and maintain active professional relationships with fellow classmates and faculty. In fact, on any given week, McIntyre-Martinez can be found popping into schools to collaborate on lessons or provide mentorship. “We’re able to be on

the ground, respond quickly to school requests, and provide relevant support,” she explained.

In 2014, a year after Sorenson’s passing, the U announced the completion of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts and Education Complex, a $37.5 million interdisciplinary facility for arts and education made possible by a leading $12.5 million gift from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation.

Ten years later, and 16 since BTS Arts’ establishment, Sorenson’s vision is now larger than life. Years of meaningful experiences have laid an unshakeable foundation for the arts in Utah, taking root daily in our young people.

“I ask our fine arts majors why they are here pursuing a degree in fine arts, and most respond by saying, ‘because of my art teacher, my theatre teacher…’” McIntyre-Martinez reflected. “With all the many benefits of BTS Arts, it comes down to the impact arts educators have on student learning for a lifetime.” ■

[BEVERLEY’S] VISION WAS ALWAYS FOR HIGH-QUALITY ARTS LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR EVERY CHILD IN UTAH.

Photo: Todd Collins

BTS visual art teacher and MAT-FA alumna Ishel Brimhall brings habitats to life with 5th grade students

Photo: University Marketing & Communications

Department of Art & Art History Warnock Artist in Residence, Cheryl Derricotte

Choosing the Marva and John Warnock Artist in Residence out of 50 or so hand-picked artists is never easy. Everyone on the selection committee has their favorites for the invitation-only residency.

“I wanted someone who was out of the box,” recalled Associate Professor of Art History Winston Kyan of the 2023 committee’s search. “There are many artists working on pressing social issues, but there are less artists that address human difference and its impact on society.”

Cheryl Derricotte, with her unconventional career path, rose to the top. A visual artist specializing in glass and paper, the 2024 Warnock Artist in Residence is also a licensed city planner.

“Art is not a private activity for me,” Derricotte said. “Art is part of a public expression.”

One of her most recent pieces blended both of her worlds. Derricotte designed a monument to Harriet Tubman for the new Gateway at Millbrae Station development in California. “Freedom’s Threshold,” unveiled in March 2023, is the first glass sculptural piece ever made in honor of the famous abolitionist and “conductor” of the Underground Railroad.

Her work often peels back layers of American history and highlights people whose stories have not been told before.

“I believe the museum and the gallery are the brave places to host difficult dialogues in our society,” Derricotte said during the Warnock artist talk in January at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. “I believe art is the vehicle that can get us there.”

She first experimented with glass 21 years ago during a class at the Washington Glass School. Derricotte created a small house titled “Shed Some Light” that included the words “2.3 billion people live without electricity.” The positive reception to the piece led to her studying at the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina where she’s returned several times over the past two decades.

“Glass is not an easy medium,” Derricotte said. “I was inspired by the challenge of it. I really found my voice in sculptural glass.”

She eventually received an MFA at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Growing recognition of her groundbreaking work led to a 2016 solo exhibition Ghosts/Ships at the Museum of the African

Diaspora in San Francisco. The show included historic photographs of enslaved people rendered in glass and images of slave ships printed in white ink on dark blue paper. A video diary with a haunting ocean soundtrack completed her installation.

Associate Professor Edward Bateman, the head of the Photography and Digital Imaging area, knew that being in Derricotte’s master class would be an experience U students would never forget.

“It was going to be an opportunity to work longterm with an artist with a growing reputation that brings a new set of perspectives to their own practice,” said Bateman, who was chair of the Warnock selection committee. “And maybe affect how they see their own life trajectory.”

As the Professional Development Officer of the new Arts & Planning Division of the American Planning Association, Derricotte has a deep understanding of the importance of public art.

The students in Derricotte’s master class, “The Construction of Memory: Monuments and Utopias,” considered utopias at a moment when many Americans feel the country is fractured. They discussed the history of American monuments — who do they represent? what story do they tell? — and mined their personal memories to see how those may impact their art.

“My own practice is very outward focused on humanity and people around me, but our first projects have been inward focused, which has been very enriching,” said Pamela Beach, an MFA student in painting and drawing, and a member of Derricotte’s class. “When you get different perspectives from people — the way they work and why they work or why they create — it can cause you to question why you‘re creating what you’re creating.”

One of the goals of the Warnock residency is “to expose students to new, innovative, and diverse contemporary art practices.”

“There are many ways in which having that kind of wonderful, endowed gift gives a department even more flexibility to bring in creative scholars to meet the urgent moment,” Derricotte said.

For Ashley Bautista, an undergraduate working toward a BFA with an emphasis in photography, studying with Derricotte allowed her to learn from an artist outside the university and outside the state.

“And it’s my only opportunity to take a course from a person of color,” said Bautista whose parents are from Mexico.

The U does not have a glass program, but students in Derricotte’s master class worked with her on monotype print and artist book projects during the semester.

Bautista saw it as a chance to transform her art.

“I’m really interested in moving my work into a more sculptural sense,” the photographer said. “So it was tackling those skills that I don’t have.”

Derricotte’s work challenges the distinctions between craft and fine art, which are typically separate categories in western art, explained Kyan.

Craft is usually associated with handmade functional items, and associated with women who have not received fine art training.

“Cheryl happens to work with a primary medium which is thought of as craft, but she is invigorating it in ways that really challenge its status as something lesser,” he said. “She’s taking very ordinary domestic objects like a cast iron pan and imbuing them with an identity that raise it to the level of fine art like portraiture.”

“Picturing James” is a 2022 piece consisting of a black glass skillet and a kitchen inventory handwritten by James Hemings, which is

translated into glass. Hemings was enslaved to Thomas Jefferson for much of his life and traveled with the future president to Paris where he learned the art of French cooking. A testament to his skills, Hemings rose to the rank of Chef de Cuisine, and yet no pictures of him exist.

“She is talking about people who lived in the quarters…but then she’s bringing them into the museum and putting them onto the mantel,” Kyan said. “You do not hang your cast iron pot on the mantel, but you would if it’s now a portrait.”

History continues to shape who we are, said Derricotte, whose mother’s maiden name was Jefferson and whose maternal ancestors lived only a few hours from Monticello, Jefferson’s home and plantation.

“Nations can’t outrun their genes,” she said. “It was particularly important for me to tell these stories over the past few years, as younger people were trying to understand how we had a major race riot in Charlottesville in 2017 and a woman was killed.”

During her time in Utah, Derricotte conducted creative research on the bison. She had proposed the topic after learning that Utah has some of the biggest herds of bison in the nation and that Black soldiers, known as “the Buffalo Soldiers” arrived in Utah only a few years after bison were brought to Antelope Island.

“What is it that we need to know about the late 1890s in Utah with this interface of culture?” she asked. “How indigenous cultures are still functioning in that window, how white culture was functioning and settling the West and Black soldiers were brought here in the midst of this challenging time? Something will take shape in terms of a narrative from 1893 to the early 1900s to form the basis of interesting artworks.”

Though some of Derricotte’s work has been large in size such as the 12-foot tall Harriet Tubman monument, much of it has not. For Kyan, that does not diminish the power of her artistry.

“Cheryl’s work may be small in scale but it’s still monumental,” he said. “Because it deals with major issues the way that a 12-foot statue does.” ▪

Photo: University Marketing & Communications

Warnock Artist in Residence, Cheryl Derricotte working with students in her semester-long master class

n separate panes across the screen, light filters through leaves, a man translates voiceover into sign language, and dancers bend amidst the green of the forest.

These are the opening images in “One + One Make Three,” a film by dance ensemble Kinetic Light, which showed at this year’s Screendance Cultural Tour — a film festival in collaboration with the Screendance Program at the U’s School of Dance and the Salt Lake Film Society (SLFS). The 2024 festival was held April 8-11 at the Broadway Centre Cinemas, and featured work by U alumni who are continuing the great tradition of screendance at the U.

The festival — at first called the International Dance for Camera Festival and Workshop — was founded by Distinguished Professor Ellen Bromberg in 1999. It has been held on a bi-annual basis and has featured artists and scholars from around the world. After a brief hiatus following COVID, the Screendance Cultural Tour returned for the first time since Bromberg’s retirement.

Photo: Todd Collins Photography

Irishia Hubbard

Dancer & filmmaker Irishia Hubbard in a purple outfit arching back dramatically with her back arm outstretched.

The 2024 Screendance Cultural Tour, curated by U Assistant Professor Kymberly McDaniel, featured programs focused on personal narratives, culture, and identity that emphasize dance beyond the stage.

“What I brought to the festival is an experimental film, personal non-fiction curation focus,” said McDaniel. “The programs are rooted in sharing personal stories of the body or movement on screen, often using voice, text, interviews, and movement as vehicles for storytelling.”

Across the seven programs, there were films from Ireland, the UK, Japan, Korea, Belgium, French Guiana, China, Mexico, Canada, and the US. They were categorized by theme, such as “The Body as Archive,” “Rhythms of Resistance,” and “Disability Dance Shorts,” and feature many films by “independent and/or DIY/low budget artists,” said McDaniel.

Indeed, McDaniel’s view of Screendance, and dance in general, is more expansive than many viewers may be expecting. This was perhaps most obvious in the programming surrounding disability. “Body diversity and disability can, and should be, two [concepts] associated with everyday movement and dance,” said McDaniel. “I am a person who identifies with nonvisible disabilities, and I am an active member of disability communities. As a curator, it is a natural choice the program would reflect the inclusivity inherent in our field, world, and lives.”

In fact, McDaniel hoped the programming encouraged viewers to think of themselves as involved in dance as well: “If dance is about moving bodies, choreographing pathways, and creating relationships between people, the environment, and time — don’t we do this in our everyday life (even if you don’t consider yourself a dancer)?”

If, in dance, the body is the means of communication, what does this mean for people whose bodies do not have the range of abilities traditionally associated with dance, or whose bodies aren’t immediately recognized as a dancer?

Devin Ettcity in her film “My Fractured Masculine Body, My Female Indigenous Soul”

Still from Roxanne Gray’s screendance entitled “Un Poquito”

Filmmaker Devin Ettcity wearing a tank dress and falling into snow-covered grass.

Filmmaker and U Dance MFA student Roxanne Gray explores these concepts in her film “Un Poquito,” an excerpt of which was shown in the Cultural Tour. “‘Un Poquito’ is a documentary short that follows my mother as she prepares for a folklórico dance performance in San Antonio, TX,” said Gray. “This particular project addressed aging and body diversity in an important way. My mother, in her 60s, is still dancing fully and completely. I enjoyed filming her dance class, full of aging women embracing movement to express themselves and their culture through their bodies.”

“I believe filmmaking offers dancers a voice and method of storytelling that is not always valued in Western dance culture,” said McDaniel. “Traditional choreography uses bodies to move intentionally across time and space — is the video frame not a performance space? Can text be choreographed?”

This more expansive view of choreography is part of the reason Gray has embraced the art form. “I enjoy screendance projects because they involve so many layers of ‘choreography.’ I am considering the choreography of movement, as well as the choreography of camera, editing, sound, lighting, etc.,” Gray said. “Screendance allows you to capture ephemeral art in a concrete form. These dance

performances and explorations only exist in the moment; but screendance allows you to capture, manipulate, and play beyond that moment.”

All in all, the Screendance Cultural Tour was an interdisciplinary, community-bridging event, featuring cinematic investigations between moving body and moving image. “It was a fantastic experience!” said Gray. “I connected with many filmmakers and witnessed my work projected on the big screen.” With such an expansive event, the festival is an exciting continuation of the legacy of screendance at the U. ■

Photo: University Marketing & Communications

Kymberly McDaniel teaching a Screendance Class McDaniel holds a camera and gestures. Two students look on, their backs to the camera.

MELDRUM THE ATRE

BY MARINA GOMBERG

Photo: University Marketing & Communications

Behnken Stage at the new Meldrum Theatre in the Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse

The energy inside the newly renovated Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse is as electric as the days when Pete and Cathie Meldrum met there as students in the late 1960s. He was on the track team that trained there, and she was a member of the Ute-Tahnas drill team which performed at the basketball halftimes.

Because of their lifelong love affair with the arts and their extraordinary generosity some 40 years later (that inspired many others’ generosity as well), the space hosts a different kind of heart-pumping performance arena: a modern 375-seat theatre shared by the Department of Theatre and Pioneer Theatre Company, providing a larger venue for the former and a more intimate one for the latter, crucial additions for both.

The new Meldrum Theatre with its state-of-theart offerings is transformative for the students in the department who, with this third performance venue, have access to modern technical theatre capabilities and even more proximity to professional theatre makers — a relationship that has long enhanced the learning environment and experience for students.

The stage can be configured as both a thrust and proscenium, and the space boasts an orchestra pit, a soaring lobby, wardrobe, scene shops, dressing rooms, control booth, sound mix position room, box office, and more.

The stage earned its first beloved scuffs in spring 2024 with Pioneer Theatre Company’s production of the Tony-winning play “The Lehman Trilogy” by Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power. The Department of Theatre’s first production will be “The Heart of Robin Hood” by David Farr, directed by Theatre’s Alexandra Harbold and Fight Director Chris DuVal in fall 2024.

The greenroom inside the new Meldrum Theatre offered the perfect place for a special portrait and plaque honoring a person of profound significance: Kenneth Washington.

Washington, a legendary actor, director, and theatre educator known across the country, founded the U’s lauded Actor Training Program, which lives on with distinction and vibrance to this day.

Washington passed away in 2014, and the community of people impacted by his unique magnetism came together to memorialize him with dedicated space.

As one of the leaders of the project to honor Washington, alumna and Professor Emeritus Anne Cullimore Decker reflected on the loss of her dear friend and beloved colleague saying she has “often felt deeply grateful for his lasting impact on the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Kenneth’s legacy spans the

country — from New York to Minneapolis — with too many to count who would name him amongst their most important mentors.”

So many remember his unmatched talent as a director, unyielding commitment, sense of humor, breadth of vision, and love of theatre.

Alumnus Jason Bowcutt (‘13) is one of them. “When I think of Kenneth, I think about how he made me feel like I was important,” he said in support of raising funds to honor his mentor in the new theatre. In addition to refined theatre abilities, Bowcutt grew a sense of belonging because of Washington.

Alumnus Christopher Borg (‘05) was forever changed by what he learned from the celebrated professor.

“He imbued in me such a respect for the craft and such a multi-faceted way of looking at creating a character and entering truthfully into the world of the playwright,” Borg said. “I have to say that to this day, when I am working on a show, I am still employing techniques, theory, and a point of view and entry into a character that I learned from Kenneth Washington 30 years ago.”

So, while we take these leaps into the future with the new Meldrum Theatre in the iconic Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse, we treasure the opportunity to acknowledge the shoulders on which we stand, those of heroes like Kenneth Washington who changed our hearts and lives so that we may do the same for others. ■

TO THIS DAY, WHEN I AM WORKING ON A SHOW, I AM STILL EMPLOYING TECHNIQUES, THEORY, AND A POINT OF VIEW AND ENTRY INTO A CHARACTER THAT I LEARNED FROM KENNETH WASHINGTON 30 YEARS AGO. ” “

Photos: Marriott Library Special Collections

Kenneth Washington working with students

Photo by Audrey Clark

Photo by Susie Park

mix your movies in Dolby Atmos format, as well as a huge theater next door that plays mainstream movies to the public,” said Clark.

Susie Park, another film student, says they have two class sessions per day, each 2-3 hours long. “The classes we take are screenwriting, European cinema, and sound design,” said Park. The sound design course also includes some music composition, which was new to Clark. “It's something I've never done before, but am loving more and more as time goes by!” she said.

During the week, Park says she and her classmates have established a pleasant routine. “An average day so far looks like us going to class, grocery shopping after school, cooking dinner, and watching a film together,” said Park.

Clark, meanwhile, explores the local cuisine and scenery a bit more: “A typical day for me starts by visiting a French bakery for a coffee, and then I'm off to school!” she said. “After school, you can find me studying with my friends at a cafe, reading on the beach (which is only a block away from our housing), or finding a new museum to discover.”

“I love being able to connect with a place that has so much love for movies,” said Film & Media Arts student Audrey Clark, who has spent the last semester in Cannes, France, studying at the Université Côte d’Azur as part of a U study abroad program. “The richness in history in Europe is unbelievable!”

The Université Côte d’Azur (UCA) program was born out of a partnership between professionals on the Côte d’Azur campus and the Department of Film & Media Arts. “This exchange opportunity is the product of several years’ worth of discussions between UCA and the U about collaborating.” said Andrew Patrick Nelson, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Film & Media Arts. “We already send many students to Korea each year, so this was a natural extension of our existing study abroad efforts.”

UCA is located on the French Riviera, or Côte d’Azur, the coastline on the southeast corner of France bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Participating students take a full load of classes and are immersed as full-time students on UCA’s George Méliès campus in Cannes — home to the Cannes Film Festival, largely considered to be the most prestigious film festival in the world. Dr. Nelson notes that, with this new inclusion of Cannes, U Film students can experience three of the world’s major film festivals: Sundance in Utah, Busan Film Festival in Korea with the U Asia campus, and now Cannes.

Opened in 2021, the campus was specifically created to support what the French call “the Seventh Art” — filmmaking. “Our campus has a movie theater that can play student films for testing/display, a sound mixing studio with high-tech equipment to be able to

Indeed, getting to experience the legendary beauty of the French Riviera and the wealth of culture available in France has been a highlight of the program. Clark has especially appreciated all the art and history nearby. “My teachers have linked certain emotions created by a film to emotions evoked by European paintings that are hundreds if not thousands of years old,” she said. As a bonus, Clark can then go see that art herself. “Museums are also usually free for students, and there is a lot of art worth checking out in France,” she said.

There’s also time to travel to other places in Europe. “So far, we've visited Nice, Paris, Milan, Verona,” Park said. Though, for Park, her experience of Western culture in Cannes has already been very foreign, as she comes from the University of Utah Asia campus in Incheon, South Korea. “There's been lots of culture differences to adjust to,” she said. “For example, in Korea there are lots of places and people working 24/7. However, in Europe they close early, and sometimes don't work on the weekends. Also, on a sidenote, there are lots of dogs in Cannes!”

Park points out that her experience coming from the U Asia campus has made the study abroad opportunity even more interesting. “I don't think it's very common for a group of students from one school, but two campuses, come together in a different country to study filmmaking,” she said. “I now enjoy my company with my old and new friends.”

“This experience has helped me as a filmmaker by exposing me to a new environment filled with a love and pride for film,” said Clark. And she agrees with Park that her new friendships make it that much better. “I love being able to connect with the other students here who have different interests than me and with a place that has so much love for movies.” ▪

Photo by Audrey Clark

Photo by Susie Park

HOW JOSELLI DEANS IS WORKING TO DOCUMENT BLACK BALLET

By Marina Gomberg

“ THERE ARE NOT BLACK PIROUETTES OR WHITE PIROUETTES THERE ARE JUST PIROUETTES. ”

That’s a truth that dancer, historian, and University of Utah School of Dance Associate Professor Joselli Deans, PhD, heard the iconic ballet dancer Arthur Mitchell say with some frequency.

Yet, despite the rich history of Black contributions to ballet, when Deans holds up a copy of the most recent popular ballet texts, she notes that it includes but a

singular mention of a Black dancer — who turns out to be Mitchell, her mentor, and the founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Like so many canons, ballet’s history has mostly been told by and about white dancers, choreographers, and companies. Lots of pink tights and European names.

But Deans is an integral part of a movement working to document some of the roughly 100 years of Black ballet history that has been omitted, excluded, and perhaps nearly erased — a process she began with her dissertation chronicling the lives of two Black female ballet dancers: Delores Browne and Raven Wilkinson.

Her excellence as a Black scholar is widely celebrated and she was recently recognized by the U’s Black Faculty and Student Association with its Malcolm X Award of Social Justice award for individuals who have fought for justice in terms of the distribution of equal access, opportunities, and privileges within our campus and whose body of academic work and life promote or exemplify the area of social justice in modern life, bestowed in Spring 2024.

And now, with eight other dance academics, all but one of whom was also a performer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem where Deans danced for almost 20 years, she is writing an anthology about the country’s first and perhaps still most iconic Black ballet: Dance Theatre of Harlem.

She smiled when she remembered how often (albeit unsuccessfully) she had encouraged Mitchell to write his extraordinary story which included him being the first Black dancer with the New York City Ballet, working with the legendary George Balanchine, and being inspired to start his own school and company on April 4, 1968 — the day Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

Deans tells the story that Mitchell was about to board a plane when he heard the terrible news and left the airport to be with his community in Harlem.

“I am a fighter, and I fight with my art,” he said. “Each unpleasant experience has made me stronger and more determined to give the world Black classical dancers who have instilled within themselves the attitude that the major distinction between performing artists lies not within the color of their skin, but in their ability to perform. This is why the Dance Theatre of Harlem must exist.”

And he made it so. But his entire story is still yet to be told — a reality Deans hasn’t forgotten.

The last conversation the two of them had before he passed away was when she wished her “Dance Dad” a happy Father’s Day in 2018.

Their relationship had been long and meaningful. The two met when Deans was 10-years old and transferring ballet schools in Harlem. She is a firstgeneration Haitian American daughter of artists who was fortunate enough to land at Dance Theatre of Harlem where she trained for eight years during grade and high school. She remembers how much Mitchell cared that his dancers were achieving both in and

“ WE KNEW HE LOVED US AND SAW OUR POTENTIAL. HE CALLED HIMSELF A ‘BENEVOLENT DICTATOR.’ THE INTENT WAS TO MAKE US EXCELLENT . ”

outside of the studio. He wasn’t shy to articulate his high expectations.

“If we weren’t getting good grades, we were out,” Deans recalled. “We knew he loved us and saw our potential. He called himself a ‘benevolent dictator.’ The intent was to make us excellent.”

After graduating high school, Deans joined the company as an apprentice. Within months, she was traveling and performing around the world. She went on to become a full member of the company where she danced professionally for seven years. Mitchell watched her grow up and even got to watch her raise her own child.

Upon Mitchell’s passing in September 2018, Deans felt that telling his story became, in part, her responsibility. And a few years later, Deans was serendipitously encouraged to apply for a Transformative Intersectional Collective (TRIC) grant disbursed by the U’s School for Cultural and Social Transformation from funding that had been given to the institution by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Shortly after submitting the grant application to fund her future writing project, Dean’s mentor and friend Thomas DeFrantz, a professor at Northwestern, called her saying he had been offered to do a book and wondered if she might want to collaborate.

And then she heard she got the grant. The stars seemed to align. Again.

The working title of the co-authored book is “Arthur Mitchell’s Love Letter: Dance Theatre of Harlem and its Legacies” and it will be published by the University Press of Florida.

Mitchell had once said, “You are not a line, not a phrase, not a paragraph, not a page… but a chapter in history,” Deans and her peers are making sure of it. ■

OTHER CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS INCLUDE: Thomas DeFrantz

P.

Adesola

Anjali

Christina

Melanie Person MFA

Keith Saunders, MFA

Endalyn Taylor, MFA

Kimberleigh Jordan, PhD.

Akinleye, Ph.D.

Austin MFA

Cottman Pierangeli, M.Ed.

Photo: Martha Swope

Dancers Joselli Deans (left), Ronald Perry (center) and Anjali Austin (right)

Inspired Living

A TOUR OF LIFE IN THE EMMA ECCLES JONES FINE ARTS HOUSE

BY MARINA GOMBERG

Nestled on University of Utah’s upper campus on a charming halfcircle street lined with big trees and similar looking houses sits the Emma Eccles Jones Fine Arts House.

Over the course of a year, 12 College of Fine Arts students transform from strangers into lifelong friends inside these walls. It’s the magic that happens among creative, curious, engaged residents who get to cook meals together, collaborate on creative projects, binge their favorite shows, explore interdisciplinarity, and stay up all night talking about art and life.

Paul Leland Hill (BM Piano Performance ’16), who was both a resident and the Resident Advisor, described it as “A space to have some of my most interesting conversations about what art is, exploring what it means to be human and to be a community.”

Established in 2001 by the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, the Arts House, as residents colloquially refer to it, is part of Officers Circle: a living and learning community comprised of 10 individual houses.

Photo: University Marketing & Communications

Emma Eccles Jones House

Every year, the makeup and personality of the residents is different. Nevertheless, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Affairs, Liz Leckie, PhD, who oversees the Arts House, notices commonalities. She describes how there’s always the early risers and the night owls and perhaps arguments over when to do the dishes. She says each cohort also “creates — and sometimes have to revisit — house rules that respect the needs of individuals living there.”

A muse in its own right, the Arts House boasts a baby grand piano, a dance room with a barre, and plenty of open space to practice and create. Imagine table reads for film scripts, spray paint projects, auditions, live music, dance rehearsals, and filmmaking.

Whether the residents are hosting Broadway nights or prepping for the legendary Halloween celebrations in “Officers Hallow,” living in the Arts House facilitates interdisciplinary connections in ways unique to spaces outside of the classroom or studio. By sharing their passions with their neighbors from other areas of campus, they expand the U’s community of arts enthusiasts.

Ashley Jian Thomson (BFA Ballet & BS Strategic Communications ’18) was a resident for two years and remembers entering a welcoming space and then becoming one of those who maintained it.

“My first year, I was being invited to arts events, and by the last year, I was the person doing the inviting!” she said. “It was a positive chain reaction that brought more people into the arts circle.”

And within that circle, the bonds formed by residents are powerful. By living in the house, students discover a deeper appreciation for art forms outside of their own and become committed to the importance of community involvement to a thriving culture of the arts.

HONESTLY EVERYDAY WAS MY FAVORITE. WHENEVER THERE WAS A SHOW OR A PERFORMANCE, WE WOULD GO GET DINNER TOGETHER AND WALK DOWN TO THE SHOW. IT WAS JUST THE SMALL THINGS THAT MADE IT SUCH A GOOD EXPERIENCE. - NEMO MILLER (BFA CERAMICS '18)

TRACING MY PATH BACK, IT'S WILD TO THINK SO MANY OF MY OPPORTUNITIES CAME ABOUT BECAUSE I LIVED IN THE ARTS HOUSE. MY PLACEMENT IN THAT COMMUNITY PUT ME ON A TRACK I'M VERY HAPPY TO BE ON!

- CECE OTTO (BFA THEATRE '18)

“In music, it can be really easy to just be in the practice room all the time and ignore everything else going on around,” said Kylie Howard (BM Instrumental Performance ‘18). “But living with people from all disciplines not only made me aware of other art forms but appreciate them at a much deeper level.”

It’s the curiosity and understanding cultivated in the unique environment of the Arts House that fuels collaboration, growth, and change.

Jessica Baynes (BFA Modern Dance, ’19), who now professionally collaborates with her former housemates, remembers one year when she “was producing an adaptive dance concert and several of the Fine Arts House folks came together to support. One housemate designed flyers, another filmed marketing materials, and my roommate photographed some of the process. I still use some of those professional shots in my portfolio today. I believe many of these experiences informed how I approach creative collaboration, which is now a focus of my career.”

Leckie, the steward of this place and its potential for positive impact, encapsulates it best: “Each year the students living in the Arts House become a supportive community. They create ways to make together, they offer constructive critiques, and show up in their housemates’ audiences and galleries. By living and learning together, the members of the Arts House create bonds that last long after they graduate from the University.”

Home is where the art is. ■

Fine Arts House residents in 2017 with Liz Leckie (far right)

Photo courtesy of Cece Otto

Fine Arts House residents

Fine arts residents and students who were part of a 2017 collaboration between residents Taylor Mott (on the ground) and Jessica Baynes (standing second from the right)

Photo courtesy of Jessica Baynes

Photo courtesy of Jessica Baynes

itting by the Boise River as a kid and watching Shakespeare’s plays under the stars, Joel Weaver thought he’d grow up to be an actor.

“Storytelling was always so magical to me,” Weaver recalled.

When it came time for college, he headed to the Actor Training Program in the University of Utah Department of Theatre. Like many high school actors, he arrived with his own tricks. Studying under the legendary Kenneth Washington, he learned to strip all that away and get down to the core of acting. Professor Washington, who became a mentor, taught him exercises he’s never forgotten.

Photo: Niko Tavernise

Alumnus Joel Weaver (left) on set for the “The Irishman” (2019) with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese

“There’s things I remember from that classroom more than 25 years ago,” Weaver said. “I bring them with me to work every day.”

Though Weaver did spend several years acting after graduation — starting with an internship at the DCbased Shakespeare Theatre Company and then some off, off-Broadway in New York City — it wasn’t the life he imagined.

“I had a rice cooker that kept me alive for a couple of years,” Weaver recalled.

But he had always remembered the words of another U professor, Gage Williams, who had started teaching at the U the same year Weaver arrived. The two bonded over their shared connection to Boise where Weaver grew up and Gage designed sets for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.

“Artists are adaptable,” said Williams, who is still a professor in the department. "After every actor becomes more conscious, they ask: What other skills do I have? And what kind of work do I like?”

Williams always taught the importance of having diverse options and advocated for working in the real world.

The real world, as it turned out, needed help with props. At first, Weaver took small jobs: nonunion music videos, including one for Mary J. Blige, which evolved into nonunion independent movies. He learned to be scrappy and inventive, borrowing and making his own props.

“I remember setting myself apart on those, because there was an enthusiasm I brought,”

His enthusiasm and commitment led him to work on bigger and bigger movies until he rose to become the prop master on major movies such as “Maestro” and “The Irishman.” A prop master oversees anything an actor might touch — from a small key to the car it could drive.

Weaver may not be in front of the camera, but now his props are.

“The more I’ve done, the more I’ve realized that it’s all of the same ilk,” he said. “We’re all telling a story and trying to tell it as richly and as fully as possible.”

On “Maestro,” a 2023 film about the relationship between the conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, Weaver traveled to England for filming. He brought massive traveling cases containing, among other things, 100 pairs of period eyeglass frames with clear lenses — having been told the musicians had memorized the music.

But when he realized 50 of the musicians in the London Symphony Orchestra needed prescription lenses to read new music, he and a British optometrist filled all the prescriptions in three days.

Within the “mad scramble,” his job has moments of transcendence. While Bradley Cooper and the symphony recreated a concert at Ely Cathedral outside London, Weaver assisted filmmakers in the heart of the set and could feel the music moving through him, his shirt vibrating.

He loves working on period films and the preparation it takes to recreate another time.

“It’s kind of like getting ready for the play,” Weaver said. “You read the script and delve in and do research and kind of figure out what the world would be like in 1950 or 1880 or whenever.”

That could include recreating a box of cigarettes, finding a period baby stroller or the exact book an actor needs to hold in his hand. Weaver owns a 48-foot equipment trailer with thousands of props to meet a film’s needs.

As assistant prop master in “The Greatest Showman,” he got to help bring P.T. Barnum’s 19th century New York back to life. For “Noah,” Weaver spent seven weeks working in Iceland and several months in Brooklyn and Long Island where crews built replica arks.

His training at the U taught him to find the layers of a character, to know the world in which these characters came from.

“To be true to the story and to respect the truth and the sanctity of it,” Weaver explained.

Williams, who has stayed in touch with Weaver, remembers his positive energy as a student and his willingness to collaborate. Even as an undergrad, he stood out.

There may not be a category for props at the Academy Awards, but if the films Weaver works on win “he’s part of that award-winning team,” Williams said. “In that sense, he’s the most successful person to come out of the Department of Theatre in terms of design — though he wasn't even studying it.” ▪

Photo: Niko Tavernise

Photo: Niko Tavernise

Weaver (right) on the set of Noah (2014), directed by Darren Aronofsky, with Russell Crowe (left)

Weaver (left) with with Robert De Niro and director Todd Phillips from “Joker” (2019)

hile it may seem at first glance that the driving pace of the academic setting leaves little room for dreaming beyond the syllabus, faculty in the College of Fine Arts are not just surviving — they’re inspired to do more.

This is evidenced each year when the Council of Dee Fellows receives proposals for funding from the Dee Endowment for the Enhancement of Teaching. Proposals introduce trailblazing research, bold curriculum upgrades, masterclasses with acclaimed international guests, and opportunities for professional development. The ideas are as diverse as the disciplines they serve, but with a common aim: better education, for all.

It was 1989 when Thomas D. Dee II received a letter from then President Chase Peterson making a compelling case for supporting faculty to continue to grow their skills, which would in turn impact their students and their fields. This commitment to nurturing excellence at the U directly aligned with Dee’s values. Earlier, in 1982, the Thomas D. Dee II Presidential Endowed Chair in Human Genetics had laid the foundation for the Department of Human Genetics to lead the nation’s research. Now he had the opportunity to impact the arts and humanities, and in perpetuity.

Today, this vital endowment has awarded nearly 400 grants totaling more than $2M. In the School of Music, a Dee Grant initiated a certificate program in music entrepreneurship. A feature length

Thomas D. Dee II

Photo courtesy website for The Council of Dee Fellows (Back) Students perform with the Utah Philharmonia

film, crewed entirely by Department of Film & Media Arts students, is now in production because of the funding. The School of Dance re-staged iconic works by George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham. A national printmaking symposium has filled the galleries in the Art building twice. Large-scale puppets built by students in masterclasses with professional puppet artists have enlivened theatre productions.

Chances are, the more innovative things happening in any given year can be traced back to the support provided by Dee Grants.

David and Tim Dee, sons of Thomas D. Dee II and his wife Elizabeth, have continued a long lineage of philanthropy, service, and art appreciation instilled in their childhood. The two co-chair the Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation which continues to support many areas of campus today.

“My brother and I were taught from the time we were very young that we had a responsibility to give back to the community in areas that we were passionate about,” David Dee reflected. “It was a very broad kind of mandate, but it's one that we've always carried forward.”

David is the owner and president of David Dee Fine Arts, former director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the U, and earned his master’s degree in the U Department of Art & Art History. Under his leadership of the UMFA from 2002 to 2009, funds were raised to move the permanent collection into the new Marcia and John Price Museum Building. The collection was also expanded to include important American, European, Asian, and Egyptian works.

He also led in establishing the Elizabeth Brown Dee Research Center at the museum, which has drawn the attention of international researchers. Education was a continued focus. David and his team successfully lobbied to join the statewide POPS art outreach program, a triumph that secured the UMFA’s place as one of the state’s most important and influential arts and culture organizations.

David and his wife Karen have been deeply involved at the U not only as staff, donors, and patrons, but also as parents helping their own children discover the value of the arts. With three dancing daughters, they have been witnesses to, and stewards of, the extraordinary impact of Tanner Dance. Longtime supporters of Pioneer Theatre Company productions, they have also

helped bring the newly completed Meldrum Theatre to fruition. Tim and his wife Candace continually support a myriad programs across campus, including the arts. Sustaining the university truly is a family affair. As the foundation reviews proposals each year, the next generation of Dee grandchildren are all active participants in the grantmaking process.

“There are many angles through which to participate in the arts,” Dee emphasized. “Sometimes it's professional, sometimes through volunteer work, sometimes philanthropy — and all of them are fulfilling in terms of the impact you can have on the community.”

In the School of Music, support from the Dee Foundation ensured the preservation of the custom-built Lively-Fulcher organ, and the flourishing of the organ program. Additionally, a Student Success Initiative made possible by the foundation funds proposals that promote student wellness. The program allows for panels and workshops that provide tools for stress reduction and self-care, heightening student performance and encouraging a strong community within the school, and has been tied to increased graduation rates.

Authentic pride for the University is a contagious force behind the Dee family’s long legacy of support.

“Philanthropy is one piece of a much bigger puzzle,” Dee said. “But as you begin partnerships with the University, you learn that catalytic change can happen. It is in these partnerships that the community is enriched, and lives are impacted.” ▪

David and Tim Dee with their father, Thomas D. Dee II

Photo Todd Collins

U Dance students perform George Balanchine’s “Serenade” made possible by a Dee Grant

(Top to bottom) Janet T. Dee,

Lawrence T. Dee, Thomas D. Dee II and his father, photographed with a portrait of Thomas’s grandfather, Thomas Duncombe Dee

Photo courtesy Dee family

Guest Artist Thank You

Connoisseur $25,000 +

Anonymous

Beesley Family Foundation

Sandi Behnken

Beverley Taylor Sorenson Foundation

Lee H. Burke*

Jana Christiansen-Stephens and Dale Christiansen

Community Foundation of Utah

Crocker Catalyst Foundation

Carolyn Gardner and Kem Gardner, JD

Libby Hunter

James R. and Nanette S. Michie Foundation

Janet Q. Lawson Foundation

Joan and Tim Fenton Family Foundation

John and Marcia Price Family Foundation

Joseph and Kathleen Sorenson Legacy Foundation

Kenneth P. and Sally Rich Burbidge Foundation I

Adrienne* and Robert* Larson Meldrum Foundation

James R. Michie and Judith C. Condie

Neal and Sherrie Savage Family Fund

Anne Osborn Poelman

Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund

S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney Foundation

The Sorenson Legacy Foundation

Roger and Mary Ann Thompson

Zions Utah Bancorporation

Aficionado $10,000–$24,999

American Opportunity Foundation

ArtWorkds For Kids

Daniel Beesley

Sandra Brock

Kent C. DiFiore and Martha Robb Humphrey

Perry Fine, MD and Susan Fine

Ralph and Rosetta* Gochnour

Gordon and Connie Hanks

Hillcrest Investment Co.

Kathie and Chuck Horman

Joanne L. Schrontz Family Foundation

Doug Jolley

Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation

Marriner S. Eccles Foundation

McCarthey Family Foundation

Nancy Peery Marriott Foundation

Laurie and George Ralphs

The Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving

W. Mack and Julia S. Watkins Foundation Trust

Benefactor $5,000–$9,999

E. J. Bird Foundation

Lynn Hales and Mary Hales, PhD

Susan Stoddard Heiner and Blake T. Heiner

J. Chris and Sandra Hemmersmeier

Lee A. and Audrey M. Hollaar

Gretchen and J. Craig* Jackson

Kenneth P. and Sally Rich Burbidge Foundation II

Markosian Auto

Merit Medical Systems, Inc.

Catherine and Gibbs* Smith

The 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, 2023, through December 31, 2023. Their incredible generosity has enhanced education, empowered many, and inspired us all.

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

Patron $2,500–$4,999

American Endowment Foundation

Charities Aid Foundation America

Lisa Chaufty and Miguel Chuaqui

Genevieve Christianson and Shane Larson

Susan Dillon and Joe Zeidner

Lisa Eccles

Emma Eccles Jones Foundation

Lisa L. and Eric C. Evans

Fidelity Investments

Robert Gilchrist, JD and Mary Gilchrist

Darla Gill and Pieter Unema

Sarah Kurrus

Herbert Livsey, JD* and Wilma Livsey, RN

M. Lynn Bennion Foundation

James Macken

Michelle Michie and Robert Stringham

Mark Miller Subaru

Judith and James McConkie

Pat and Gene Ninomiya

Patricia and Frank Pignanelli

The Presser Foundation

Jennifer Price-Wallin and Anthony Wallin, MD

R. Harold Burton Foundation

Lesli and Scott Rice

Jim Robertston

The Rodney Brady Family Foundation

Salt Lake City Arts Council Foundation

St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Newman Center

Spencer F. and Cleone P. Eccles Family Foundation

State Farm Companies Foundation

Marilyn and Paul* Whitehead

Advocate

$1,000–$2,499

Anonymous

C. LaMar Barrus, Jr., PhD

The Benevity Community Impact Fund

John Bennion, PhD and Elizabeth Bennion

Kristine and Wayne Bradford

Chamber Music Society of SLC Inc

Norman and Gisela Chambers

Thomas Coppin, MD and Joanne Coppin

Daynes Music Company

Allison and Andrew De Camara

Ashby S. and Anne Cullimore Decker

Paul Dorgan

Mary Prater Doty, PhD and William Doty

Mary and Kenneth Duncan

Abby and Jerome Fiat

Joan Firmage and John Firmage, Jr.*

June Harral

Tiffany Howard

Joseph Jarvis, MD and Annette Jarvis, JD

Lou and Kathie Leberti

Donald and Mary Lloyd

Angelica Matinkhah, MAR

Donald Pedersen, PhD and Kathy Pedersen

Wayne Petty, JD and Robyn Petty

Sarah Projansky, PhD and Kene Ono, PhD

Anne Riffey

Bryon Russell, LLC

Jean Sabatine

John Scheib, PhD and Amy Scheib

Seventeenth Street Storage Center L. C.

Sarah Shippobotham

Carolyn Smith

Sudanese Community in Utah

U.S. Charitable Gift Trust

John Veranth, PhD and Martha Veranth

Von and Virginia Whitby

John and Joy Wisombe

Friend $1–$999

Anonymous

Adobe Systems Inc

Rebecca Aguilar

Ava Ahn

Grant and Maria Ahn

Sheila Ainlay and Michael Steiner

Amy Akin

Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation

Brady and Carol Allred, DMA

Mark and Kileen Alston

Kevin Alvarez

Courtney Ansell

Stephanie Argoitia, JD; MSW and John Argoitia

Arkansas Community Foundation

Ashlie Arkwright

Michelle and Craig Armstrong

Sidney and Thomas Armstrong

Lisa Arnett

Jack and Marie Ashton

Yvette Atkin

BAE Systems

Claire Baker

John Ballenot and Susan Reinhard

Rae Barnes

Mandi Barrus

Edward Bateman

Denise Bégué

Devon and Jake Barnes

Evan Beesley

Jacque Bell and Barton Poulson

Joyce and Roebrt* Bennett

Daniel and Tricia Bergeson

Carol Bergstrom and Mark Bergstrom, PhD

Arthur and Christy Bishop

William Blycker

Jordan Boge

Leslie and Dwayne Bolton

Jerome and Beth Boresow

Sherryl and Harvey Boyd

Blake Bratcher and Kyle Adcock

Tracy Breinholt

Ann Brown

Sonja Brown

Helen Browning and Eugene Browning, USN (Ret.)

Tucker Buehner

James Burdette and Beverly Ashby

Susan Burke

Susan Burnap

Dillan Burnett

Megan Cabell

Café Zupas

Craig Caldwell

Jennifer L. Campagna

Claire Campbell

Priscilla Campbell, CPA

Zara Campbell

Emma Capen

Sarah Carlquist, JD

Jennifer and Gary Carlson

Cade Carter

Sean Carter

CENGAGE Learning

Kendal Cervantes

Kristie and Jackson Chambers

Ian Chang

Nicholas and Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell

Cynthia Chen

Heather Cheng

Alexandra Cherenson

James Chipman

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Kim Christopherson

Lee and Valarie Chung

Gwen and Gary* Church

Juan Claudio and Kade Clark

Randy and Tamralynn Clark

Edie Clarke

E. Ann Cluff

Steve and Susan Colburn

Ruth Coleman

Paige Coletta

Carol Contino

Elijah Cook

Paula Cook, MD and Robert Cook

Jennifer and John Corbett

Alene K. Corbridge

Brianne Corbridge

Sherry Cordova

Thomas Costello

Olivia Cortez

Janet Cox

Joshua Craft and Elizabeth Craft, PhD

Ralph and Lisa Crimi

Elisabet Curbelo González, PhD

Olivia Custodio

Kathleen Daigle

Kenneth Daigle

Kyler Dale

Eric and Sina Dalley

Samuel Dalton

Brenda Daniels

David Dean and James McAndrew*

Peggy de Azevedo

Haley De Camara

James and Monica DeGooyer

Deseret Book Company

Mya Dixon

Michele Dorman

Guiana Dornfest

Dalton and Joanna Driggers

Caden and Amrita Dullum

ECS Publishing Corp.

Elise Dunaway

Ivonna Earnest

Eastern Arts Society

Jennifer Ehlers and David K. Ehlers, Jr.

Eric Eide, PhD and Shellie Eide

Joan* and Edwin Eliason

Emily Emmer

Todd and Jeannette England

Elaine Englehardt, PhD

Jeffrey Enquist, JD

Claudia Escobar

Michael Evans

Tom Farmer, III

Kimberly Feldman

Matthew and Pamela Fellerhoff

David and Marsha Fetzer

Emeri Fetzer

Shelby Fisher

Mia Fleming

Edward Folts

Melissa Fonnesbeck

Bret and Tawnya Fox

Fred Franzwa

Judith and Bruce Frumker

Joshua Funderburk

Norma Gabriel

Fiona Galvin

Madilynn Gamaunt

Emily Gardner

Corey Garff

Dana Germaine

Melissa Gilchrist

Noelle and Gary Glade

Royden and Rebecca Glade

Michelle Glenn

Gregory Gochnour, MD and Caitlin Gochnour

Dale and April Goddard

Steven Goemaat

Marina and Elenor Gomberg

Andrea and Gossels Maguire

Roxanne Gray

Sam Gray

Timothy and Vasyl Green

A. Kent Greene, JD and Jan Greene

Molly Gregersen

Rebekah Guerra

Brendan M. Guiliano

Jennifer Guiliano

Patrick Guinn

Will Gustave

Kimberly Hacking

Henning Haffner

Robert Haise

Amanda Hales, DMA

Kristine Halverson

Larry Hancock

Eric and Pamela Handman

Ronald Haffner

Troy Hagemeyer

Don Hale

Ashlen Hancock

Dana Hansen

Kristine Hansen

Hugh and Leslie Hanson

Caitlyn Harris

Jonnie Hartman

Gregory Hatch, MLS and Terry Kogan, JD

Frederick Hawkes

Jennifer Haymond

Kiley Hernandez

Raymond Hernandez

Gerald Hewes

Susan Hickenlooper, PhD and Charles

Hickenlooper

Rebecca Hickox

Christina Higdon

Carey Hilbert

David Hill, JD and Erika Hill

Holly Hilton

Brenda Hocking

Stephen and Patricia Hodson

Aaron Hoenig

John Hollenhorst

Michele and Lawrence Holzman

Hannah Hornberger

Julie and Daniel Horning

Deborah and Richard Hoyt

Madison Hozdic

Grace Hurley

Cameran Hurst

Sybil Huskey and Michael Lavine

Catherin Iguchi

Intel Corporation Corporate Office

Jackman Music Corporation

Thomas* and Jennifer Jackson

Mary Jefferson

Linda Jellison

Douglas Jensen

Setsuko Makino Jensen

Jacy Job

Aaron Johnson

David Johnson

George Johnson, IV

Lisa and Thomas Johnson

Mica Johnson

Xan Johnson, PhD

Benjamin Johnston

Constance and Paul Johnstron

Brian Jurena

Michael Kalm, MD and Janet Mann*

“Music and the arts have been part of my soul forever. I give back because I want them to exist for my great grandchildren and all future generations.”

Manami Kawai

Janet and John Kazwell

Elizabeth Kearsley

Angela and Seth Keeton

Paul Keir

Safia Kelle and Lester Keller, PhD

Marilee Keys and Bruce Lindsey

Roger Kiers

Alice King

Elease King

Carolyn Kipp and Carman Kipp, JD*

Christian Kline

Shaylee Kluber

Marsha Knight and Leigh Selting

Keiko Knode

Bob Knous

Kathy Knowlton and Joseph Knowlton, JD*

Hannah Kojouri

Angela Kourtoglou

Stanley and Eileen Kraczek

Kristin Krause

Beth Krensky, PhD and Edward Gorfinkle

Tyler Kunz

Kendal Kuper

Marie Lafleche

Keith and Michele Lampers

Lorraine and Matthew Larson

Paul and Sharon Larson

Madison Lawrence

Kathie and Lou Leberti

Elizabeth Leckie, PhD

A. Lenore Lewis

Sheryl Ligon

Noah Lillie

Colleen and Douglas* Livsey

Anna Locke

Gayle and JJ Lockwood

Diane Loeffler

Eliza Lord

Robert Loynd

LPL Financial

Stephen Lucich

Andy Luo

Frank Lynch

Kayla Madsen

William Maguire

Mussa Mahitula

Maggie Maierle

Bridget Malin

Brian and Erika Manternach

Lee Manwaring

Michael Marriott and Juan Sanchez

Walter Mason, JD

Xochitl Marquez

Kim Martinez

Zoey Marty

Dustin Matinkhah

Samantha Matsukawa

J. Michael and Mary Mattsson

Lynn and Ellen Maxfield

Kathie Horman, School of Music Advisory Board

“As a member of the Fine Arts Ambassadors, I have the pleasure of providing students with the sort of mentorship that was key in my own development as an artist. I see culture as essential infrastructure that helps us imagine our future, understand our present, and wrestle with our past . As such, I am proud to support the College of Fine Arts as they train the next generation of cultural leaders.”

Maywood Music LLC

Magda McDonald

Maureen McGill

Clarita Mele

Kaylee Meyers

Scott Mietchen

Mightycause Charitable Foundation

Lisetta Miles

Corey Miller, MD and Nancy Miller

Gil Miller

Roger Miller

Marry Millyard

Dixie Moore

William and Chari Moreton

Eric and Emilie Morgan

Justin Morgan

Kim Morris and Rheba Vetter, PhD

Emily Mostue

Logan Muncey

Michelle Murday, MD and Sean McMillian, MD

Melonie Murray, PhD and Steve Murray

Matt and Traci Myers

Nathanael Myers

Traci and Matt Myers

Apryll Nakamura

Samantha Nakken

Jay and Sandhya Narasipura

Andrea Nelson

Catherine and Jacob Nelson

Isabel Nieves

Tenzin Norgyal

Wilma and Kenneth* Odell

Larry Ogden, JD and Judith Ogden

Evelyn Oliveira

Flavio and Kim Orlandini

Ross Owen and Larry Herndon

William Pagan-Perez

Anil Kumar Palaparthi, PhD

Panda Restaurant Group, Inc

Melissa Panek

Christy Patton

Christopher and Gabriela Pavia

Performing Dance Center

Irene Peters

John Peterson

William Peterson

Lorena Petronis

Adam Pfost

Sara Pickett

Mary Helen Pitman

Marla Polk

Matthew Price

April Radford

Kathryn Ragland

Kristi Ragsdale

George and Karen* Raine

Jose and Claudia Ramirez

Jack Rampton, MD and Itha Rampton

Brianne Reed

Natalie Regan

Gayle and Steve Reiber, PhD

Joe Rejsek

Claudia Restrepo Guzman, DMA

Connor Rickman

Michael and Anne* Riordan

Christopher Rodgers

Kelsey Rodgers

Fernanda Rodriguez

Lavinia Roe

Steven Roens, DMA and Cheryl Hart

Ryan Roggensack and Lala Phunkhang

Patricia Rubley and Raymond Rubley, Jr.*

Marijne Rushing

Autumn Ryskoski

Jaime Ryskoski

Phyllis Safman, PhD

Jade Sakelaris

Leila Salari

Joshua Salmanson

Sofia Sant’Anna-Skites

Jeffrey Sawaya

Scharine Family Trust

Richard Scharine, PhD and Marilyn Scharine

Brent Schneider and Kim Blackett

Mark and Mary Schneider

Mark Schneller and Patti Bollenbaugh

Maureen and David Scott

Chriss Secrest

Lynnea Shafter

Jent and Gregory Shaw

Lezlie Sherry

Jeffrey Shields

Kelsi Shields

Isabel Shimanski

Terry and Junnie Shiotani

Glenda Shrader

Susan Shurtz

Jim Simmons

Reshma Singh

Cindy Skaggs

Sylvia and Gary Skeen

Richardo Sepulveda

Diane Smith

Miche Smith

Paige Smith

Robert Smith

Marion and James Smith

Patricia Smith and Homer Smith, MD

Anne Robson Smock

Kathleen Snow, PhD and Stephen Snow

Ela Solmsen

Hillary Sorensen

Jeff Sorensen

Sandra Sowerby and Melvin Sowerby, Jr.*

Dolores Spacek

Erin Speer

Andy Speirs

State of Utah

Brett Nelson Stippich and Melissa Nelson-Stippich

Samantha Stone

Kennedy Story

Jessie and Brian Strike

Andrew and Alice Sullivan

Sean Sullivan

Geoffrey Sutyak

Keily Tafiti

Palemia and Kimberly Tafiti

Cassie Taylor, DMA and Britt Taylor

Frederick Terry and Laura Everett

Dennis and Margaret Tesch

Monica Thayer

Clinton Thomas

Troy and Stephanie Thomas

Jennifer Thompson

Nolan and Ashley Thomson

Ashley and Nolan Thompson

Ashley Thomson Ingo Titze, PhD

Amanda and Roger Tolbert

Ben Tomlin

Diana Tran

Henry Tran

Joseph Tuinei

Julianne Turner

Madeline Ussery

Keilah Van Hees

Lennon and Meleah Vaughan

Nicole Vernon

Arthur Veenema

Janella Vigil

Carolyn Hunter Walsh and Richard Walsh

Catherine and Chris Wagner

Christ and Catherine Wagner

Rollie Wagstaff

Madison Warnock

Wells Fargo & Company HQ

Wilfred Weeks, Jr.

Frank Weinstock

Thomas Welsh, PhD and Sue Carpenter

West Point Ballet Academy

Mary Whitaker, AuD and Warren Whitaker

Isabelle White

Sierra Willis

Leanna and Kenneth Willmore

West Willmore

Douglas Wilson

Sarah Wissel

Lawrence and Maida Withers

Todd and Heidi Woodbury

Debora Wrathall

John Wright-Costa, DMA and Julie Wrist-Costa

Keith Yezer

Aaron Young

Bill Young

Jason Yu

Carolyn and Gary Yurkovich

ZAO Asian Cafe

Catherine and Zavis Zavodni

Christopher Zawislak

Thomas Merton, theologian and poet, said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” Acts of creativity educate, inspire, and transform the way we see ourselves and the world.

Libby Hunter, Fine Arts Advisory Board

Mark Macey, Fine Arts Ambassadors

contributors

On the Cover

Front cover: School of Music students Isabel Cossa (right) plays Alice, Sam Plumb (center) plays the Mad Hatter, and Michael Shoaf (left) is the March Hare in “The Nonsense Song” of composer Amy Scurria’s premiere of “A.L.I.C.E.”

The opera is an empowering take on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and featured the University of Utah Philharmonia directed by Robert Baldwin and U Opera directed by Robert Breault. This Kingsbury Hall production included a sensory friendly performance and an intermission tea-party. Costumes by voice student Robin Farnsley-Becker. Lighting by Seth Miller (Artistic/Executive Director of the Grand Theatre).

Editor-in-Chief

Marina Gomberg is the University of Utah College of Fine Arts Director of Communications + Marketing. Formerly an award-winning lifestyle columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune, she now writes on Substack at “Chronically Marina.”

Writers

Emeri Fetzer has a decade’s experience writing about, fundraising for, and performing in the arts. She is a Communications Specialist and Grant Writer for the College of Fine Arts. When she’s not busy at the CFA, she is on a mountaintop with her husband Jason and daughter Sylvie.

Julia Lyon loves to write about ordinary people doing amazing things whether it’s dancers, artists, or kids discovering dinosaurs in their own backyard. Her debut children’s nonfiction book, “A Dinosaur Named Ruth,” was published by Simon & Schuster in 2021. When she’s not on deadline, you can find her strumming her ukulele and singing to her three kids.

Merritt Mecham holds an MFA in Writing for Film and Television from Emerson College. Her work has been featured on RogerEbert.Com, Bright Wall/Dark Room, City Weekly, and in The Female Gaze by Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone.

Editorial Board

Dean John W. Scheib

Sonia Albert-Sobrino

Kirstin Chávez

Emeri Fetzer

Marina Gomberg

Kymberly McDaniel

Kelby McIntyre-Martinez

Gage Williams

Rebecca Zarate

Xi Zhang

Visit finearts.utah.edu to learn more about what we’re up to and to find the digital version of this magazine with enhanced content.

Special Thanks

Devon Barnes

Denise Begue

Blake Bratcher

Sheri Jardine

Ashley Jian Thomson

Design by modern8

Photo: Brandon Cruz Photography

finearts.utah.edu

Photo: Brittany Nielsen

School of Music Director of Bands Jason Missal conducts the wind ensemble for “Arturo Marquez’s Danzon No. 2,” February 2024 on the stage of Libby Gardner Concert Hall in the iconic David Gardner Hall on Presidents Circle. The School of Music offers hundreds of concerts with everything from classics to contemporary music, many of which are free and open to the public. music.utah.edu