Displaying items by tag: Development

We are proud to launch our new Create Success Initiative: students’ comprehensive destination for resources and reminders to help them make their academic dreams into realities. It’s all based on data we crunched from our alumni about what made them most successful. We boiled down all their tips and experiences into one place with links to help current students get connected to academic resources, extracurricular activities, financial aid information, academic advisors and more. So, students: bookmark, pin, favorite and revisit often to create your own success.

The School of Music will honor icons of the Salt Lake jazz community at its 18th Annual Camerata Awards Concert Gala on 11/9. Founders of the JazzSLC concert series, Gordon and Connie Hanks, and former U Director of Jazz Studies Henry Wolking will receive their awards at a private dinner and public post-dinner concert in Libby Gardner Concert Hall.

Gordon Hanks fell in love with jazz in a music appreciation class as a sophomore at Granite High. After meeting Connie as an undergraduate at the U, she became a convert as well. According to Gordon Hanks, “The spirit of jazz is one of openness. Jazz is not exclusive, but inclusive. It is America’s classical music.”

In 1994, while working 60 hours a week as a pharmacist and owner of Holladay Pharmacy, Gordon and a friend founded the GAM Foundation to bring nationally renowned jazz artists to Salt Lake City. Almost 25 years and 200 concerts later, JazzSLC has exposed tens of thousands of new fans to jazz music, including legendary performers such as Wynton Marsalis and Ahmad Jamal.

Through the GAM Foundation, the Hanks have given over $1 million to support jazz education from middle school through college. Their generosity has provided discount tickets, program support and scholarships to advance the awareness of and appreciation for jazz.

“A scholarship is the most rewarding gift you can give to a university. It may change a student’s life goals forever,” says Gordon Hanks.

After 40 years as the Director of Jazz Studies, Salt Lake City recognized Henry Wolking as the face of jazz at the U. He came at age 24 fresh from graduate school and started building a nascent jazz program.

During his tenure, the number of jazz faculty tripled, with an instructor specializing in each instrument area. He oversaw the addition of a Master of Music in Jazz Studies. He mentored generations of musicians, music teachers, and composers.

“Henry treated me like an equal, which made me want to work really hard and impress him. He served as a mentor for an entire generation of top jazz players,” explains jazz alumnus (’96) and U faculty colleague Geoffrey Miller.

In addition to his renown as a performer and professor, Wolking made his mark as a prolific and highly diverse composer. Wolking has published over close to 100 works for jazz ensemble, symphony and band. His unique compositional style blends classical music and jazz elements that often depict the landscapes of Utah and surrounding areas.

“As soon as I started playing, there was no question from that point on what I’d do with my life, not ever,” explains Wolking.

The concert features student soloists and ensembles from across the School, including the Michie Jazz Quintet, the University Chamber Choir, and the Wind Ensemble. It includes works by composer Henry Wolking.

Purchase Concert Tickets Purchase Dinner Tickets

By Noelle Sharp

The Fine Arts Advisory Board (FAAB) is comprised of a multitude of community members throughout the Salt Lake City area who have a passion for the arts. These members have a strong loyalty to the College of Fine Arts, as well as an understanding and appreciation of Dean Scheib’s student-centered vision and commitment to the College as a top philanthropic priority. The 2018/19 FAAB board is a passionate group of arts lovers who are dedicated to aiding in making the college’s vision come to life. The college’s board conducts meetings throughout the academic year in September, November, February, April and June. Term lengths of FAAB members vary, with an initial three-year term and an opportunity to serve a second consecutive term.

 The FAAB board also encourages its members to join one of the college’s three committees, led by a respective Committee Chair. These committees, integral to the college’s success, include the Scholarship Committee, Campaign Committee and the Engagement Committee. Each one maintains a variety of ways to allow members to get involved in their different areas of interest throughout the College. Committee Chair terms are one to two years in length, depending on member preference. Through these engagements the board members get a firsthand look at how the college is functioning and engaging with its students, faculty, and staff. 

For more information please contact the Office of Development for the College of Fine Arts at (801) 585-9859. 

The 2018/19 FAAB Board Members:

Jean Bentley, Community Volunteer
Bill Bireley, The Bireley Foundation
Monte Caldwell, School of Music Board Member
Genevieve Christianson, Professional Singer
Kent DiFiore, FAAB Board Chair
Darla Gill, Co-Founder & Ambassador, Merit Medical Systems, Inc.
Chris Hemmersmeier, CEO Jerry Seiner Dealerships
Leo Hopf, Author and Corporate Consultant
Sarah Lowe, Community Volunteer
Wayne Petty, Attorney
Patricia Pignanelli, Community Volunteer
Katherine Potter, Nonprofit Management Consultant in the Arts
Jennifer Price-Wallin, Community Volunteer
Shari Quinney, Community Volunteer
Gary Sandberg, Board Chair of Granite Mill & Fixture Co.
Virginia Whitby, Owner of Red Cliff Ranch
Marilyn Whitehead, Community Volunteer

A lively gathering of contemporary art at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) this fall shows off the diverse and innovative talents of the college’s outstanding art faculty. Site Lines: Recent Work by University of Utah Art Faculty, opening Friday, September 28, presents more than forty paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, mixed media, letterpress and more by twenty-six local creators who teach on the U campus.

Meet the artists and enjoy refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres at the opening reception  9/27 from 5:30–7:30P at the UMFA. Throughout the fall, hear from faculty artists at three Wednesday gallery talks, on October 3 (5–7P), November 7 (5–7P), and December 5 (1–3P).

 Edward Bateman, head of Photography and Digital Imaging in the Department of Art & Art History, served as faculty liaison on the UMFA’s cross-departmental exhibition team.

“Many art faculty primarily exhibit their work nationally and internationally. This exhibition gives our city and university community, both faculty and students, a chance to see outstanding examples of contemporary art they may not normally have an opportunity to see,” Bateman says. “It’s a reminder that the University is not an isolated institution but one in which the work of these artists can—and does—reach across the globe.”

Participating artists are Edward Bateman, John O’Connell, Simon Blundell, Sandy Brunvand, Laurel Caryn, Van Chu, Lewis Crawford, Al Denyer, John Erickson, Kelsey Harrison, Tom Hoffman, Lenka Konopasek, Beth Krensky, V. Kim Martinez, Martin Novak, Marnie Powers-Torrey, Andrew Rice, Horacio Rodriguez, Brian Snapp, Carol Sogard, Heidi Moller Somsen, Amy Thompson, Emily Tipps, Maureen O’Hara Ure, Jaclyn Wright, Wendy Wischer, and Xi Zhang.

The exhibition was guest curated by Felicia Baca, a respected Salt Lake City-based arts professional who manages the visual art programs for the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.

“Educators have a critical task in fostering open dialogue in their field and examining the role of the arts in an increasingly complex world,” Baca says. “These artists utilize the currency of their culture to address important social topics and employ processes and media that speak to their unique role as artists and educators.”

The exhibition title refers, in part, to the way sightlines function in architecture, protecting a particular line of sight for an important or meaningful space. “Likewise, faculty play a critical role in facilitating unobstructed, often wider views of social and cultural issues for students,” Baca says.

 Presented triennially, the faculty exhibition is an important collaboration between the visual artists who teach in the college and the UMFA, the University’s fine arts museum. The UMFA supports teaching, learning, and research by connecting campus audiences to world-class art experiences, offering free programs aimed at improving student life and helping faculty integrate visual art into their courses and expand their own research.

Site Lines is sponsored by the University’s Arts Pass program, a one-of-a-kind benefit allowing students to use their UCard to get free or deeply discounted access to hundreds of arts experiences on campus each year, including free admission to the UMFA. Additional support for the exhibition is provided by the College of Fine Arts and the Department of Art and Art History.

Faculty and staff are also admitted free to the UMFA with their UCard. For more information and links to additional related programs, please visit here.

Why you give:

I have worked full-time at the University of Utah since 1999. And as I reflect upon that fact—the number of hours I am here each day, each week, each year—I realize that I have spent more of my life at the U than I have in any other place. This is my community and it’s one that I care about. The work that I do in this community as a music librarían, performer, and educator allows me to be seen; to share who I am and what I know. That is a gift. And on top of that, I get to work with and learn from so many bright and curious students in the School of Music. Why do I give? I give back because I receive so much.

Your background:

I first discovered what music means to me in fifth grade when I began to play the recorder, as most children do when they start learning music in school. Although I was painfully shy and could not bring myself to talk in class, I could express myself easily through my playing. I moved on to the modern flute—enjoying lots of large and small ensemble playing through all of my secondary education—and forgot about my first instrument until starting college. At Wellesley I became fascinated with medieval and early modern history and cultures, and I returned to the recorder, performing with the school’s Collegium Musicum. Why do I love early music? The musical lines, the relations between the notes, the modes and harmonies; the texts, the timbres of early instruments—all of it speaks to my soul. And as a person who loves to learn, the associated scholarship—discovering new sources and repertories—that comes with planning an early music performance is rewarding and truly exciting to me.

Why you think it’s important to support early music and the arts:

The arts enrich our human experience of this world that we all inhabit together. A musical ensemble could be seen as a microcosm of that shared world. Ensemble playing teaches skills associated with how to cooperate and achieve mutual understanding; learning when it’s your turn to solo and when it’s not; and how to work as one toward a single purpose. With the money that I give through monthly payroll deduction, the Early Music Ensemble brings in guest artists from the local and national professional early music scenes. This exposure enriches the curriculum, connects the students to a larger community, and has the added benefit of lifting the level of knowledge of our own early music community. This coming semester the ensemble will be studying the music of early Mexico and students will learn pieces that may be over 500 years old! Join the ensemble for its semester-end concert on December 8, 2018 in Thompson Chamber Hall at 4:00pm. The concert is free and all are welcome.

As the College of Fine Arts prepares to embark on several major funding campaigns, the CFA leadership has been thoughtfully working to bolster the team who will execute our expanded fundraising efforts. With that, we are thrilled to announce that Denise Bégué has joined our ranks as the Senior Director of Advancement. She begins on 1/29, and brings with her a nearly 20-year history in fundraising and leadership, with a particular focus on arts advocacy. You can read more about her here. 

We are also pleased to welcome Devon Barnes to her new role as Development Director, where she will put her 12-year experience in the U’s Central Development Office to great use while focusing all her time and energy on fundraising for the College of Fine Arts.

Additionally, April Goddard and Autumn England are now taking on fundraising roles in the College, rounding what will be a powerful team poised to lead us into the CFA's exciting future. Join us in congratulating these outstanding professionals, and in thanking Assistant Dean Karineh Hovsepian for her leadership during this important search.