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, Filed Under: Council Business, From the Executive Director

Save the date: Fall Meeting October 26-27, 2023

View from Guadalupe Room event space in Rowling Hall.
View from Guadalupe Room event space in Rowling Hall.

Dear Friends,

We are excited to announce the dates for the 2023 Fine Arts Advisory Council Fall Meeting! Please save October 26-27, 2023 on you calendar.

Information on a hotel block and the full schedule of events will be forthcoming. In the meantime we can provide the following schedule outline:

Thursday, October 26
Afternoon: New Member Orientation and Executive Committee Meeting
Evening: Full Council Reception, location TBD

Friday, October 27
Full Council Meeting, Rowling Hall, Guadalupe Room (RH4), attached to the AT&T Center

Please watch your inbox for updates and more information, and feel free to reach out to Assistant Director of Development Lauren Cunningham at lauren.cunningham@austin.utexas.edu with any questions.

We look forward to seeing you on campus in October. Have a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,
Sondra Lomax signature
Sondra Lomax
Executive Director of Development

, Filed Under: From the Dean

Dean’s Insider: Ambitious student projects dazzle and inspire in Cohen New Works Festival

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

, Filed Under: From the Dean

Fine Arts Advisory Council in Santa Fe!

Fine Arts Advisory Council group photo at The Georgia O'Keefe Museum

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,
Dean Rivera-Servera's signature
Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
Dean

, Filed Under: From the Dean

Dean’s Insider: College of Fine Arts at SXSW

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

, Filed Under: From the Dean

Dean’s Insider: Guest artists bring their creative magic to campus this spring

, Filed Under: From the Executive Director

Registration is Open: Santa Fe Spring Meeting
 

Dear Advisory Council and Parents Council members,

We are so excited to announce the itinerary and open registration for the College of Fine Arts 2023 Spring Advisory Council Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico! 

 
Click Here to Register Now
Schedule
Thursday, March 30
Cocktail Reception at La Fonda on the Plaza
Optional Group Dinner at Sazón*Friday, March 31
Coffee and Business Meeting at La Fonda on the Plaza
Docent-led tour of the art collection at La Fonda on the Plaza
Lunch on your own
Historic walking tour of downtown Santa Fe
Happy Hour and Gallery Tour at Shiprock
Dinner on your own

Saturday, April 1
Private tour of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Optional Group Lunch at The Compund*
Self-Guided tour of Canyon Road galleries with custom recommendations
Sunset reception at the home of Caroline and Robert Schupbach

*Per-person fee applies, see registration site for details

Accommodations
We have a group rate at La Fonda On the Plaza.
100 E. San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Use this link to reserve your room now.
Deadline to reserve is Tuesday, February 28.
 

Exact times and locations for events are listed on the registration page. Please note that some optional events will require a per-person fee, and you may reach out to Assistant Director of Development Lauren Cunningham at lauren.cunningham@austin.utexas.edu with any questions.

I hope to see you soon in Santa Fe!

Warm Regards,
Sondra Lomax signature
Sondra Lomax
Executive Director of Development

, Filed Under: From the Dean

Dean’s Insider: Celebrating Dance on the Forty Acres

Dear Friends,
 
This spring, we’re seeing so much incredible energy around dance on campus, from ambitious programming at Texas Performing Arts to engaging creative and scholarly research happening in the Department of Theatre and Dance.
 
This Saturday, Texas Performing Arts hosts Cullberg — Works by Deborah Hay, an internationally renowned choreographer based right here in Austin. Hay, who is recognized as a pivotal figure in the development of post-modern dance, was one of Texas Performing Arts’ artists-in-residence this year. Associate Professor of Dance Leah Cox will be moderating the talkbacks after each of the two performances on Saturday.
 
And our Dance students will perform new works by student and professional choreographers in their spring show EMERGE, opening March 2. Exploring themes of emergence, EMERGE seeks to reflect on history to imagine a way forward, elevating the inventiveness and interconnectivity of moving art forms. The program will also feature the return of the Haruka Weiser Commission, which will be choreographed by Ido Tadmore.
 
In research news, Associate Professor Rebecca Rossen received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to support her research exploring dance about the Holocaust. Rossen is a dance historian, performance scholar and choreographer, and the grant supports her forthcoming monograph Moving Memories: Holocaust Representation in Contemporary Dance, the first monograph focused on dance about the Holocaust.
 
As part of my own Puerto Rican Arts Initiative, we’ll be bringing performance artists, including dancemakers, from Puerto Rico to visit campus as part of  Performance as Public Practice’s Fridays@2 speaker series.
 
And we’re just getting started. We have more exciting news brewing around dance in our college, so stay tuned!
 
Sincerely,
Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
Dean, College of Fine Arts

, Filed Under: Council Business

Spring 2023 Nominations

Dear Council Members,

We are looking forward to a fantastic Spring semester with you, starting with nominations for new member to join the Fine Arts Advisory Council in Fall 2023. If you have friends or colleagues that would be interested in supporting the College of Fine Arts as a member of our council, please nominate them by Friday, March 10th.

To gauge interest, please share the Fine Arts Advisory Council Website, including the member responsibilities page, with prospective new members.

This year, we have moved to a completely digital nomination process. You can find the online nomination form here, which can be filled out either by the nominator or the nominee. Once the form is completed, I will reach out to both the nominee and nominator(s) to confirm.

Nominations will be reviewed by the Nominating Committee, and a slate of approved nominees will be put to a vote by the full council via email before the end of April.

Please let me know if you have questions about nominations or any other council business.

As always, thank you for all you do for the College of Fine Arts!

Warmly,
Lauren Cunningham signature
Lauren Cunningham
Assistant Director of Development

, Filed Under: From the Dean

Dean’s Insider: Gatherings to talk about our past, present and future impact

Dear Friends,
 
As our galleries and performance spaces have opened in full again, we’ve also begun to gather larger groups in-person this fall. In the College of Fine Arts, we had three significant gatherings last month that invited stakeholders together to think about our past, present and future. After two years of hybrid and virtual meetings, it was a joy to host a large group each week this past month.
 
Our Fine Arts Advisory Council arrived for our fall meeting in October, and we used it as an opportunity to engage our stakeholders on our college’s upcoming strategic planning process. We asked our members about what brought them to our college, what’s kept them engaged with the council through the years and what they dream about for the future of the practice, education and research in the arts.
 
The Performance as Public Practice program in the Department of Theatre and Dance marked its 20th anniversary this fall by inviting former faculty members and alumni who remain engaged and connected to the College of Fine Arts, even as their careers have taken them elsewhere. As the first Ph.D. recipient in the program myself, I was honored to be part of these festivities and to honor the achievements of this program with my colleagues and fellow alumni. Alongside our current faculty and students, we celebrated the incredible impact the program has advanced to this field.
 
We held our first Latinx Arts Summit in the college, as we convened UT faculty and alumni alongside distinguished stakeholders from across the country who are doing impactful work around Latinx arts locally, nationally and internationally. We had important conversations about the ways in which our college and UT have been so central to the advancement of Latinx arts and what we can to do to continue advancing such an impact, especially with UT’s status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution.
 
I’m so invigorated by these conversations. Each of these three gatherings included story sharing as participants assessed what we’ve achieved already and what we can do moving forward. One of the key attributes of the arts is capacity for convocation—creating common spaces for engagement and respectful debate. I look forward to continuing these important conversations as we launch our strategic planning process for the college and prepare to translate our shared values and aspirations for the transformational work of the arts into an actionable set of guiding principles for our collective work ahead.
 
Sincerely,
Ramón H. Rivera-Servera
Dean, College of Fine Arts

, Filed Under: From the Chair

Save the Date: Spring Meeting in Santa Fe, March 30 – April 1, 2023

Dear Advisory Council and Parents Council members,

We are looking so forward to the COFA Advisory Council meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico this spring and are hopeful you can join us. In place of our traditional spring meetings across Texas, we are delighted to invite you to three days of tours, social events, and of course, a brief meeting in this dynamic cultural community, one that shares many supporters in common with our college.

Below is preliminary information so you can begin your plans. We will have the full itinerary of activities in January, but wanted to give you an idea of the wonderful activities we are planning.

Tentative Schedule
Thursday, March 30
Evening Reception at La Fonda on the Plaza

Friday, March 31
Coffee and Business Meeting at La Fonda on the Plaza
Lunch on your own
Optional tours
Evening reception at a private home

Saturday, April 1
Optional tours
Lunch or Evening Reception at a private home

Accommodations
We have a group rate at La Fonda On the Plaza.
100 E. San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Use this link to reserve your room now.
The block includes several different categories of rooms for you to choose from, including rooms in the newly renovated boutique part of the hotel, The Terrace Inn.
Please contact the hotel directly if you plan to arrive prior to March 30 and/or stay longer than April 2. You can find the full block information including pricing and parking here.

Additional Information
Guests are responsible for their own air and ground travel arrangements.
Flights are available into Santa Fe airport via American Airlines or United Airlines. Flights are available to Albuquerque airport via Southwest Airlines and many more. It is a one hour drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Rental cars, Uber or pre-arranged transportation services are available.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Assistant Director of Development Lauren Cunningham at lauren.cunningham@austin.utexas.edu.

 

In January we will be sending out more details, suggestions for meals and sight-seeing that are not included as well as information how to register for activities. Stay tuned, but please go ahead and book your hotel and flights soon!

Warm Regards,
Caroline Schupbach signature
Caroline Schupbach
Chair

 

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