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WINTER 2017
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Dear Friends,
The start of a new year can be a time to reflect on the important relationships in our lives and in our community. As an
alumna of UArts, I am grateful for the relationships I made with both classmates and professors. The UArts Alumni Office
and Alumni Council work hard to keep those connections alive through many special events and relationship-building
opportunities.
Over the last few months alumni, families and friends of UArts gathered to hear special remarks by President David Yager and celebrate alumni and institutional accomplishments. We celebrated Miami Art Week with our annual breakfast hosted by trustee Brian Effron and his wife, Sherry in December, reunited in Los Angeles on February 11 and enjoyed catching up in New York City during the annual College Art Association Conference on February 17.
Coming up in March, we'll celebrate the Spring Music Festival - a week-long series of ensemble and individual senior performances by the
School of Music, beginning on March 13 and culminating with a reception and concert on March 18.
In April, UArts will host the 8th Annual Art Unleashed Exhibition and Sale, the school's premier scholarship fundraising
event that showcases work of alumni, students, faculty and staff. Please consider submitting your artwork for inclusion in the
show or attending opening night on Thursday, April 6, to connect with students and fellow alumni and support this essential
initiative.
As you can see, there are many ways to stay connected with the University. I hope to see you at one of our upcoming events.
Sincerely,
Charlotte Riggs MAT '03 (Visual Arts)
Alumni Council
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A spotlight on alumni using
their creative passion
in pursuit of alternative careers
Barbara Kavchok BFA '04 (Illustration)
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"I didn't like it," says Barbara Kavchok BFA '04 (Illustration) of her first job after graduating from UArts. "When I first graduated, I started doing
murals. But I was young and insecure in my abilities, and I felt uncomfortable asking people for money." Barbara was juggling multiple illustration jobs and working in a restaurant to make ends meet, when her mother offered her
an opportunity to work alongside her in her successful bridal design business.
Barbara's mother, Eugenia Vasiliadis, founded her own company, Eugenia Bridal Designs, in 1987, and had been designing bridal dresses for decades. Barbara helped her mother in all aspects of the business, such as hand-painting dresses and shooting and editing photography, relying on the skills and techniques that she developed while a student at UArts. Barbara began making dress patterns, and soon found herself happily swept up in the world of bridal fashion.
Barbara relies on her mother's sharp eye for upcoming trends and knack for gauging a look's marketability, and has carried on her mother's practice of wasting no fabric at any step in the creation process. "We try to ensure the whole collection is sustained by the materials we purchase," explains Barbara, whose modern, bohemian aesthetic complements her mother's more intricate creations.
"I'm blessed to be able to work with my mom every day," says Barbara. "We learn from each other." She took her mother's place as lead designer and owner of the business, changing it to Eugenia Couture, Ltd. in 2012. Working together, their designs have walked down aisles across the globe.
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LGBTQ@UArts
"My goal is for every student to be Safe Zone trained," says
Kristin Cherny '18 (Dance), president of the UArts Queer Student Advocacy group (QSA). Safe Zone training is used in organizations across the country to help foster environments that are inclusive of LGBTQ individuals. For the first time, all UArts Residential Assistants and Orientation Leaders also received Safe Zone training before new student orientation. Ensuring the entire student body in addition to faculty and staff are Safe Zone trained is an ambitious goal, yet it's one that is in step with the incredible progress made in LGBTQ programming at UArts this past year.
Last year, the University was ranked as an LGBTQ-friendly university by Campus Pride Index, a resource that helps prospective college students and their families find schools that are committed to creating safe and inclusive environments for LGBTQ students. The University is working to develop collaborations with community organizations such as the William Way LGBT Community Center and The Attic Youth Center.
Since joining UArts as director of Counseling in 2015, Abe Zubarev has been working with faculty and staff to enhance opportunities for LGBTQ diversity programming. Together, they created an LGBTQ faculty-staff committee dedicated to promoting a level of cultural competency around LGBTQ concerns. The committee worked--alongside the QSA--to implement gender neutral restrooms across campus. "We are hoping that every academic building [will] have at least one gender neutral bathroom," says Abe, who also notes that "last semester we completed a campus-wide LGBTQ survey to assess student needs, and it is exciting to see that UArts has such a large and vibrant LGBTQ student population." There is a sense of optimism about the University's dedication to its LGBTQ community and its promise to remain a safe, supportive and healthy environment for all its students. For more information visit
uarts.edu/lgbtq
.
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In September 2016, alumna
Barbara Harberger BFA '76 (Painting
and Drawing) curated "Reinterpreting Landscape and Nature" at the
Stanek Gallery in Philadelphia. The exhibition brought together UArts
alumni including
Michele Kishita BFA '97,
MFA '10 (Painting and
Drawing)
,
Tom Miles BFA '75 (Sculpture)
, and
Justin Rubich BFA '10
(Painting and Drawing)
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Seth Winner BFA '92 (Fibers/Textiles) is a structural innovator
at the Secant Group in Philadelphia who "obsesses over three dimensional
textiles." Building off the understanding that a
textile is more than a decorated surface, he explores the possibility
of the textile as functional construction. Seth was a
featured speaker at TEDxNashville
, an independently organized TEDx event
for the world's leading thinkers and doers in April 2016.
On October 24, UArts Alumni were well represented at the
Barrymore Awards, the annual celebration to honor excellence in
Philadelphia Theater. Congratulations to the many UArts Alumni
who won Barrymore Awards this year:
Anthony Mustafa Adair
BFA '14 (Acting)
,
Jake Blouch BFA '09 (Acting)
,
Will Brock BM '97 (Music Performance)
,
Brandi Burgess BFA '12 (Acting)
,
Jen Childs BFA '90 (Acting)
,
Carl Clemons-Hopkins BFA '09 (Musical Theater)
,
Christopher Haig BFA '01 (Theater)
,
Adam Hoyak BFA '13 (Musical Theater)
,
Kingsley Ibeneche '14 (Ballet)
,
Alex Keiper BFA '07 (Musical Theater), Jarrod Markman BFA '12 (Musical Theater)
,
Kristen Norine BFA '09 (Musical Theater)
,
Allen Radway BFA '99 (Theater)
, and
Ryan Touhey BFA
'09 (Musical Theater)
.
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INTERSECTIONS
A dialogue between two alumni, one established, one emerging,
whose work is making an impact on the arts around the world.
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Dan Zank
BM '95 (Music Performance)
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EARLY SUPPORT SYSTEMS
DB: I was lucky to have a lot of encouragement growing up. My entire family has always been super-supportive of me, almost to a fault. Growing up, I had a couple of friends who I think were more talented than I was, whom I thought would have gone to school for music, but didn't have the support I did. When I told my parents I wanted to transfer to UArts after starting a degree in Journalism at Temple, they
said "of course!"
DZ: I grew up in Connecticut, where my dad ran a glass installation business.
I credit my parents endlessly for helping me find my path. They picked up on this interest of mine from an early age, and nurtured it. My parents would attend lessons and even practice with me to see what I was learning. But for me to go
to school for music still must have been foreign to them. They encouraged me
all the same.
WORDS OF WISDOM
DB:
I sub for a number of on- and off-Broadway shows, and recently sought a friend's advice on whether to leave the city for a while to tour with a show. He told me: "Think about it like this: after a year, every show is Hello Dolly. If the show is fun, if there are grooves to play, that's great. But if it's going to keep you from doing something you want to do, don't do it."
DZ:
Although I typically prefer to conduct or perform on the pieces I've composed, I've gotten better about letting the piece go at a certain point and involving others. When you have talented people around you, and you allow them do their thing, pieces you write can sometimes get to a place even better than you could have conceived.
THE IMPORTANCE OF IMPROVISATION
DB:
I constantly use things I learned in Erik Johnson's improv class. In school, you don't think you're going to use it--for example, we had to learn a couple of songs from Steely Dan's 1977 Aja record note-for-note--but the other day I had rehearsal where there were large chunks of music missing and I was expected to make something up. Things like this come up in my work all the time, and I rely heavily on skills I learned while at UArts.
DZ: My major was jazz piano performance, and the whole foundation of my study was jazz and improvisation. Improvisation is composition on the spot-that's the foundation of it, and that's what I'm consistently going back to--echoes of what
I learned at UArts. I'm always a student of it.
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Spring Music Festival
Reception + Performance
A reception and performance celebrating the centennial of legendary drummer Buddy Rich.
March 18, 2017
Pre-Performance Reception, 6 PM
Performance, 7 PM
Caplan Recital Hall, Terra Hall
211 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
RSVP >>
Polyphone: "Normativity"
Reception + Performance
Join alumni and parents for a reception and performance of "Normativity" by
senior Jaime Jarrett '17 (Directing, Playwriting and Production).
March 28, 2017
Pre-Performance Reception, 6 PM
Performance, 8 PM
Arts Bank
601 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
RSVP >>
8th Annual Art Unleashed Exhibition and Sale
This special event raises critical scholarship funds for UArts students. Works by UArts students, alumni, faculty and staff will be on display and available for purchase.
Opening Night Party (tickets required)
April 6, 2017
Exhibition and Sale (free)
April 7 - 10, 2017
Dorrance Hamilton Hall
320 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
More Info >>
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Alumni Volunteer Opportunities
There are many opportunities for alumni to be involved on campus this spring.
Let us know
if you're interested in volunteering your time for any of the events below.
Prospective Student Audition Day
Saturday, March 4
- Interact and host a table for lunch with prospective students and parents who are on campus for auditions in the College of Performing Arts.
Admit One
Sunday, March 26
- Answer the questions of accepted students and their parents about life as a UArts student, as well as life post-UArts.
Art Unleashed Exhibition and Sale
Artwork Drop-off
Monday, March 20 -
Wednesday, March 22
- Assist with the intake of artwork for Art Unleashed, our annual scholarship fundraiser and exhibition.
Opening Night
Thursday, April 6
- Assist on the sales floor during our Opening Night party.
Artwork Pick-up
Tuesday, April 11 -
Friday, April 14
- Assist with de-install of Art Unleashed and checking out unsold work for artist pick-up.
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NEWSLETTER for a 10% discount on all UArts merchandise (excluding textbooks).
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