Community of Artists
October 2009
Greetings from the Butler Arts District
We in the Jordan College
of Fine Arts hope this communication finds you happy and well. We
plan to use this and subsequent web updates to share highlights and
hope you will enjoy receiving news from the Butler campus. This
letter cannot, by its nature, be comprehensive; it is intended to
give a sense of the excitement, events, and successes that occur
here on a daily basis.
The JCFA continues its long tradition of offering numerous
international opportunities to its majors. This summer, dance
students studied in St. Petersburg, media arts students in Bonn,
music students in Italy and Hong Kong, and theatre students in
Moscow. In addition to these faculty-led intensive courses, the
theatre department took its students to London over spring break
and offered the seventh iteration of the Butler International
Theatre Exchange in May on campus.
Following a comprehensive and highly laudatory program review,
the Arts
Administration program (AA) was granted departmental status and
a part-time secretary. AA continued to send its students across the
country for competitive internships at important sites again this
summer. Anne O'Brien '09 has become the Marketing
and Communications Manager for the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra
and Leslie Hoggatt '04 is working as the
Membership Manager for WBHM Public Radio in Birmingham, Ala..
Matthew Downey '95 is currently the Development
Manager for the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley
State College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Last season, Butler
Ballet (BB) presented 12 performances at Clowes Memorial Hall
and over 14,000 patrons attended them. BB received permission this
past year to perform Balanchine's Serenade and did so with
great success. In 2009-2010, the dance department will continue its
tradition of presenting major works by internationally acclaimed
choreographers when it stages Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies.
Heather McGinley '05 just accepted an invitation
to become a member of the Martha Graham Company in New York City.
Kevin James '09 is a member of the Sarasota
Ballet, and John Cartwright '08 is dancing with
Louisville Ballet.
In spring 2009, Media Arts (MDA) initiated the Vista
competition for high school students and received more than 100
video and audio entries that became the focus of an on-campus
weekend event. MDA completed its second annual full-length film
project, Without Troy. The film was written, directed and
edited by media arts students with theatre students acting in the
film and music students composing and performing the film's
original sound track. MDA alumna Jen Christensen
'92 produced Generation Islam: Christiane Amanpour
Reports for CNN. Tyler Stock '09 recently
accepted a position as press secretary for the Indiana House of
Representatives.
The School of Music
is preparing for reaccreditation by the National Association of
Schools of Music, a process that will involve all areas and faculty
of the School. The Butler student chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, the
national honorary band fraternity, was awarded the Founder's Trophy
as the most outstanding chapter in the nation for the last
biennium. We recently learned that Jauvon Gilliam
'01 won the principal timpanist audition with Washington,
D.C.'s National Symphony, Andre Gaskins '00 became
the orchestra conductor and cello professor at the University of
Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and Matt Kraemer '99 became
Associate Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic. Nathan
Kruse '94 was recently appointed Chair of the Music
Education program at the University of North Texas. Jason
Vest '02 completed his DMA at the University of Kentucky
and joined the faculty of Eastern New Mexico University.
The Department of
Theatre welcomes two international visiting artists this year:
London-based Shakespearean actor Tim Hardy will be here in the fall
and South American artist Bernardo Rey will join us in the spring.
With the departure of John Green, chairperson for 11 years, the
department has launched an aggressive search for a new chairperson
that is international in scope and focused on diversity. Theatre
completed construction of its K-12 Licensure in Theatre Arts
program in collaboration the Butler College of Education and it has
been accepted by the Indiana Department of Education. Jim
Senti '06 has moved to Los Angeles to move his career
forward after recently receiving an MFA in Acting from Harvard
University and the Moscow Art Theatre School. Katherine Van
Wyk '09 has begun a year-long internship with the
Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.
The Butler Community Arts School
continued its impressive growth and now serves over 1,000
pre-college arts students through a series of partnerships with
schools, community centers and service organizations. This year
JCFA is continuing its tradition of producing major
interdisciplinary projects that link all college departments with
Indianapolis arts organizations. We are currently focusing on
Germanic cultural achievements through the The Mahler Project. A
series of coordinated events will take place this academic year
that will connect JCFA with the American Pianists Association,
Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Opera, the
Indianapolis Symphony, WFYI, IUPUI and various German organizations
in the city.
Graduates of the new Art program have had outstanding success.
Elizabeth Bertram '07 is currently working as a
graphic designer at Stoked Group in Chicago, Liz Goerlitz
'08 is a graphic designer with Bridge Worldwide and
David Stump '05 is the Director of Interface
Integration for Editspot in Cincinnati.
We hope that this monthly letter will inspire you to let us know
what developments are occurring in your life and career. JCFA
graduates have interesting lives and we would love to hear your
stories.
Please feel free to contact me.
All the best,
Peter Alexander, Dean