News

Dear Friends,

Earlier this month, the biennial Cohen New Works Festival kicked off in the Winship Building. Every two years, the department suspends all classes so that students and faculty can attend more than 30 new productions in this student-run, student-produced festival.

Along with Associate Dean Raquel Monroe, I had the great pleasure of seeing three new works that used the language of performance to explore historical events.

In La Liga de la Decencia, creator Jessica Peña Torres utilized comedy and cabaret aesthetics to talk about a complicated moment in Mexican political and cultural history in the period after World War II. Torres, a graduate student in Performance as Public Practice, explored this period in history with empathy, depth of analysis and so much humor.

In ZAZ: The Big Easy, M.F.A. in Dance candidate Ryan K. Johnson used dance and performance to explore the experiences of dispersed communities in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The work also highlights the ways in which the resources of a nightclub, music and dancing become genuine fuel for the possibilities of community in the city after the hurricane.

And in ReSourced: Portals of Possibility, M.F.A. in Dance candidate Love Muwwakkil created a gorgeous, body-based work for the festival. The performance starts with a story about dolphins, only for the audience to realize the work is also addressing relationships between people and the ways in which bodies can reflect relationships in dance. The work demonstrates a powerful expansiveness of what small gestures can advance narratively.

I was also fortunate to attend the opening ceremonies, which included a keynote by Idris Goodwin, a playwright, breakbeat poet, content creator and arts champion. In his invitation to jump into the threshold of the theatrical experiment, to boldly explore the possible, he rehearsed the worldmaking power of the arts. Though I know I only scratched the surface of the rich diversity of programs offered throughout the week, I left each of these performances so inspired and excited to see what these creators and performers do next. These experiences reaffirmed the ways the arts advance possibilities, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Sincerely,

Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
Dean, College of Fine Arts

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for joining me, Susan Rather, and the College of Fine Arts Development Team for the Fine Arts Advisory Council Spring Meeting in Santa Fe! I am especially grateful for your meaningful engagement throughout the entire program and your enthusiastic and well thought out feedback. I cannot express how much I enjoyed getting to experience art and all of the social experiences together in such a beautiful and historic setting – and I hope you enjoyed it too!

A huge thank you to Caroline Schupbach for her seemingly limitless hospitality. Thank you so much for welcoming us into your second home, showing us your favorite spots, and leading your fellow council members in thinking about the ways they might best impact the future of the arts and higher education in Texas and beyond.

Thank you to Mary Kehoe for opening your beautiful home to us on the final night of our trip. The view was spectacular and the company was even better!

Finally, this trip would not have been possible without the fantastic work of Sondra Lomax and her team, especially Gina Hollis, Blake Turner, Natalie Seeboth, and Lauren Cunningham.

I hope to see you all again soon and certainly on campus this fall.

Sincerely,

Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
Dean

Dear Friends,

Austin is buzzing with visitors this week for SXSW, and UT has a bold presence there this year.

At the larger conference and festival, we had multiple faculty members sharing their work and expertise on panels throughout the week. Assistant Professor of Design Jiabao Li had three events at SXSW, including two panels and a screening of Once a Glacier, an XR film she directed.

On Saturday, I dropped by Discover Texas: UT@SXSW in the Rainey Street neighborhood. UT Austin took over the popular venue Bangers for the day to showcase the many ways that our faculty, students and alumni make a positive impact in our city, state and beyond.
President Hartzell marched into the venue with the Longhorn Band, and our college had amazing work on view at the event, including a 10-foot replica of the UT Tower. The model was built in Texas Performing Arts’ Fabrication Studios and with projection design by students in the Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies. A life-size model of a Lamborghini with projection design by our students was also on view at the event.

Thanks to everyone who made the UT@SXSW event possible. I was so proud to see our students’ creativity and work on such prominent display.

Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
Dean, College of Fine Arts