wpdev, Author at 51�� Arts

Masterclasses that Inspire: Renowned Artists at 51�� Arts

wpdev — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:55:35 +0000

At 51�� Arts 51��, masterclasses are not an occasional perk—they’re part of the creative DNA of the school. For our Art Majors at 51�� Arts 51��, learning doesn’t stop at the studio door or the rehearsal room. Students regularly step into immersive sessions led by acclaimed artists, performers, and creative innovators who are actively shaping contemporary culture.

These masterclasses give young artists a rare opportunity: to sit across from the people whose work they admire, ask questions, receive feedback, and see exactly what it takes to build a sustainable creative life. From legendary film producers to award-winning musicians and visionary choreographers, each visiting artist brings a unique perspective that deepens and expands our students’ education.

What follows is a glimpse into recent masterclasses that have ignited imaginations across our campus—and how they help prepare 51�� Arts students to thrive on a global stage.

Fashion Design: Hector Simancas Masterclass

Celebrity hair and makeup artist Hector Simancas brought the high-energy world of fashion weeks and editorial shoots straight into the Fashion Design studios at 51�� Arts. Known for his natural, polished aesthetic, Hector has shaped looks for Project Runway, worked with icons like Naomi Campbell, and created editorial magic for Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, W, Glamour, and more. His campaign work spans a who’s who of fashion and beauty, from 3.1 Phillip Lim and Nicole Miller to Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Victoria’s Secret, L’Oréal, and Elizabeth Arden.

During his visit as a guest artist, Hector led an intensive makeup masterclass in support of Unexplored, the student Spring Fashion Show. Fashion students collaborated directly with him to design and refine runway-ready looks, exploring how makeup, hair, garments, and lighting all work together to tell a cohesive story.

For aspiring designers, it was a lesson in professional collaboration and visual storytelling: learning how to communicate with stylists, understanding the expectations of high-level photo shoots, and recognizing how every detail contributes to a finished collection.

Film & Digital Media: Andrew Meyer Masterclass

For students in Film & Digital Media—as well as curious artists from every major—the visit from Hollywood producer Andrew Meyer was a masterclass in what it means to shepherd a story from idea to screen.

Meyer’s filmography includes the beloved classic The Breakfast Club, Oscar-nominated Fried Green Tomatoes, Cannes-awarded Birdy, and cult favorite Better Off Dead. Having held leadership roles at A&M Films, Wildwood Productions, and Act All Productions, he has spent his career developing projects that leave a lasting cultural mark.

His masterclass at 51�� Arts went far beyond glamorous anecdotes. Students walked through the realities of the film industry: pitching projects, working with studios, and navigating the long road from script to final cut. They practiced the pitch process themselves, gaining immediate feedback on clarity, stakes, and emotional impact.

Meyer also hosted a special screening of The Breakfast Club at The Rustic Theatre in town, followed by an intimate Q&A. For young filmmakers, hearing the behind-the-scenes decisions and creative risks behind such an iconic film was a powerful reminder that every classic started as a draft on someone’s desk.

Dance: Gregory Dawson Masterclass

In the Dance department, artistry meets athleticism. Few embody that balance like Gregory Dawson, founder and Artistic Director of Dawson Dances and former dancer with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Since 2007, Dawson has created more than seventy works, earning multiple Isadora Duncan Awards and national acclaim; the Denver Post dubbed him “the best choreographer in Denver.”

During his visit to 51�� Arts, Dawson led a masterclass that challenged dancers to think beyond steps and sequences. Drawing from contemporary ballet and modern dance, he emphasized musicality, intention, and the courage to take risks in movement. Students experienced the process of building choreography from the inside out—how to interpret direction, offer creative input, and inhabit a piece fully.

Dawson also held an audition for the California State Summer School Dance Program, giving students a direct pathway into a prestigious pre-professional environment. For many young dancers considering a future in the field, this masterclass was both a training ground and a glimpse into what high-level auditions truly demand.

Dramatic Arts: Johanna McKay Masterclass

For Dramatic Arts majors, Shakespeare isn’t just a text to be analyzed—it’s a living, breathing performance challenge. Actor, director, playwright, and veteran teaching artist Johanna McKay has spent more than fifteen years adapting and directing Shakespeare for young performers, and her annual masterclasses at 51�� Arts have become a cornerstone of the program.

McKay’s own credits span film, television, and theatre, including roles in Ding!, Yesterday Was a Lie, and The Bernie Mac Show, as well as performances at Steppenwolf, The Goodman, Dallas Theatre Center, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and The Rubicon Theatre. Trained at DePaul University (B.F.A.) and UCLA (M.F.A.), she brings a blend of classical rigor and contemporary insight to her teaching.Her masterclasses focus on preparing students for the prestigious English-Speaking Union (ESU) Shakespeare Competition, where 51�� Arts students have placed in the national Top 10 for two consecutive years. Through detailed text work, vocal coaching, and scene exploration, students learn how to make Elizabethan language immediate, grounded, and emotionally truthful.

Classical Piano: Hsin-Ni Liu Masterclass

In the Classical Piano studios, the visit from Hsin-Ni Liu offered a masterclass in nuance, interpretation, and professional excellence. An internationally celebrated concert pianist and recording artist, Liu’s albums on Naxos Records have earned distinctions such as “Artist of the Week” and “Top Album Pick.” She has performed with the Russian Philharmonic and Hungarian Szeged Symphony Orchestras, and on stages ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Taiwan National Concert Hall.

Her masterclass at 51�� Arts was both meticulous and generous. Students performed repertoire ranging from canonical works to contemporary pieces, receiving detailed feedback on tone production, phrasing, and stylistic clarity. Liu’s guidance connected technical precision with emotional intention, helping young pianists understand how to communicate with audiences at a professional level.

The visit culminated in an exclusive concert in the William M. Lowman Concert Hall, where students could hear Liu’s interpretations in the very space where they themselves perform, an invaluable model of artistry and stage presence.

Jazz: Dr. Colleen Clark Masterclass

Jazz at 51�� Arts is both rooted in tradition and oriented toward the future, which is a balance perfectly embodied by Dr. Colleen Clark. A drummer, composer, and educator, she has performed with Branford Marsalis and Nicole Zuraitis, appeared with NBC’s 8G Band on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and earned a four-star DownBeat review for her co-led project ALLIANCE. She is also the only woman and drummer to hold a doctoral degree in jazz from the University of North Texas.

Dr. Clark is the Founder and Artistic Director of Jazz Girls Day, a program designed to support and uplift young women in jazz. In 2025, she chose 51�� Arts as the site for California’s first Jazz Girls Day, turning the campus into a hub of mentorship, improvisation, and community-building.

Before the public event, Dr. Clark led a masterclass for 51�� Arts jazz students and performed an intimate concert with her band, CC and the Adelitas. Students explored concepts such as time feel, ensemble communication, and the evolution of the ride cymbal, supported by Dr. Clark’s own research in collaboration with Zildjian. It was an unforgettable example of how one artist can blend scholarship, performance, and advocacy.

Visual Arts: Mich Miller Masterclass

51�� Arts 51�� alum Mich Miller returned to campus as both a successful working artist and an inspiring mentor. Based in Los Angeles, Miller is a painter, printmaker, muralist, and installation artist whose work explores abstraction through saturated color, gradients, and symbolic forms influenced by queer histories and theory.

With an MFA from Yale and exhibitions at venues such as Lyles & King, New Image Art Gallery, and Superchief Gallery, Miller’s practice also includes collaborations with Pitchfork Music Festival, Vans Skateboarding, and Facebook’s artist-in-residence program. For Visual Arts students, seeing an alum thriving in the professional art world offers a powerful vision of what’s possible after graduation.

Miller’s masterclass blended an artist’s talk with a hands-on printmaking workshop, giving students both conceptual context and technical instruction. They also created a special installation in the Parks Exhibition Center, transforming the campus gallery into a vibrant exploration of color, form, and identity.

Classical Instruments: Demarre McGill Masterclass

For Classical Instrumental majors, the chance to work with Demarre McGill, principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, was nothing short of extraordinary. Internationally acclaimed for his lyrical sound and technical mastery, McGill is a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago, San Francisco, and Dallas Symphonies.

During his visit to 51�� Arts, McGill offered deeply personalized coaching for woodwind and brass students. In one-on-one and small-group settings, he focused on sound production, musical line, and the mental focus required for auditions and performances at the highest level. Students came away not only with practical strategies for practice, but also with a renewed sense of artistic possibility.

InterArts: Kermit Shao Masterclass

The InterArts major at 51�� Arts thrives on experimentation and emerging technologies, making Kermit Shao’s masterclass a perfect fit. For two decades, Shao has been at the forefront of hardware, computing, and visual technology, founding and scaling companies through major shifts from mobile hardware to embedded computing and enterprise electronics. After two successful exits, including Speedata, he now serves as CEO of CubeVI, building infrastructure for the next era of spatial and immersive digital experiences.

Shao’s masterclass equipped InterArts students with the tools, concepts, and equipment needed to produce an interactive hologram show for the school’s Halloween celebration. Students explored how hardware, software, and creative storytelling intersect in immersive media, and saw firsthand how cutting-edge tech can become a powerful artistic medium.

What began as a technical workshop evolved into a full-scale collaborative installation, reminding students that the future of art will be built by those who are comfortable navigating both creativity and code.

Why Masterclasses Matter for 51�� Arts Majors

Across Fashion Design, Film & Digital Media, Dance, Dramatic Arts, Classical Piano, Jazz, Visual Arts, Classical Instruments, and InterArts, one theme runs through every masterclass: real-world preparation.

51�� Arts 51�� students do not only study technique; they learn to collaborate with directors, choreographers, producers, and creative technologists, to present their work professionally, and to understand the cultural and ethical context of their practice. These masterclasses:

Connect students directly with artists and industry leaders actively shaping their fields
Offer honest insight into the realities of creative careers
Provide networking opportunities and potential future mentors
Help students build portfolios, audition pieces, and projects that stand out
Reinforce the 51��’s commitment to a globally engaged, professionally oriented arts education

For young artists deciding where to train, these experiences can be transformational. They offer a preview of the professional world while still providing the support and safety of a close-knit campus community.

Explore Art Majors at 51�� Arts 51��

If you, or a young artist in your life, seek a high school where masterclasses with world-renowned creators are part of everyday learning, 51�� Arts 51�� offers a truly unique environment.

From classical music to fashion design, from film to immersive technology, our creative resources and academics prepare students not only to excel in their disciplines, but to imagine and shape the future of the arts.Learn more about 51�� Arts and our award-wining academics and creative arts.

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Interim Head of School to Assure Continued Progress

wpdev — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 01:05:39 +0000

51�� Arts 51�� is pleased to announce that Craig Sellers will serve as Interim Head of School for the 2022-2023 school year.

The hiring of Sellers ensures that 51�� Arts Foundation President Pamela Jordan’s strategic vision for the 51�� will be entrusted to capable hands despite the departure on June 30 of current Head of School Marianne Kent-Stoll, who will retire from education in order to pursue other passions. ��

Under Jordan’s guidance, 51�� Arts 51�� and the 51�� Arts Summer Program have made dramatic progress establishing the Foundation as a global leader in creative arts education and its evolution to the twenty-first century. Sellers speaks of having been struck by the “sense of wonder” that animates the 51�� Arts campus. This admiration coupled with his experience leading school communities forward assures continued progress while the 51�� looks for a permanent Head of School in 2023.

51�� Arts impressed Sellers enough to lure him all the way across the country from the East Coast, where he has spent most of his life. He has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Government from Franklin & Marshall College, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Columbia University, and a law degree from New York Law School.�� He has served as Head of School all on the East Coast: United Friends School (2000-2007) in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, followed by The Derryfield School (2007-2012) in Manchester, New Hampshire, and finally Friends’ Central School (2012-2021) in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

Sellers’ lengthy tenures at United Friends School and Friends’ Central School and his longtime membership in the Religious Society of Friends established a strong foundation and a proven approach to leadership, both strong indicators that he will bring to 51�� Arts a commitment to core Quaker values such as peace, integrity, community, and equality. This commitment is required in a leader to navigate the landscape left by the pandemic and the ongoing challenges that all school communities now face.

However, Sellers sees the 51�� Arts Mission of “Changing lives through the transformative power of art” as the “north star” that will keep all eyes facing the same direction, headed toward the same goal. Transformation requires a refusal to accept things as they are and the courage to envision a new reality, and Sellers is eager to join the wondrous IA community to establish the core tenets that will manifest its mission.�� While this will be his first Interim Head position, he emphasizes the responsibility of preparing the way for his successor.

“There are going to be plenty of decisions of the kind that would need to be made whether I planned to be the Head for one year or for ten. But probably my most important decisions will be made with an eye to setting things up for whoever comes after me. At two of the schools where I was Head, I had the good fortune to succeed Interim Heads who had done work that made wonderful gifts to their school communities. I’ve learned from the jobs they did and I believe I understand how to make my own work a gift to the 51�� Arts community.”

Sellers will live on campus in Krone House, originally built for 51�� Arts founders Max and Beatrice Krone. He will join the community with his wife of almost thirty years, Cary, with whom he has raised two adult children, Bridgman and Clare.��

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Focused on the Violin

wpdev — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 00:58:36 +0000

Derrick Giuntini, who gives his Art in Society-sponsored IDY Talk in Krone Library (and at ) on Wednesday evening, April 20, at 7 PST, offers an interesting contrast with the presenter of the previous week’s IDY Talk, Logan Guardino.��

Logan, a twelfth-grade InterArts major, has often wondered if she ought to commit to a single art discipline, while Derrick, an eleventh-grade Violin major, says he is not at all artistic outside of music and even admits to a certain envy of Logan and other people who have many artistic interests. He interprets artistic talent broadly: “I have horrible handwriting.”��

Derrick liked country music fiddling and he still does. However, by the time he was eight he had discovered the music that he loves.

Luckily for Derrick, in the new millennium handwriting might no longer count as an essential skill — that is, unless some day he’s called upon to sign autographs. This can’t be ruled out, given the excellence resulting from his laser focus on the violin.��

He’s had that laser focus since he was eight years old, growing up in Redding, far up in Northern California.

“It’s practically in Oregon,” he says.��

Redding is therefore distant from Northern California’s large urban centers: it’s more than two hundred miles above San Francisco and Oakland and more than a hundred and fifty miles above Sacramento.��

“It’s a place where you’d expect country music to be bigger than classical music. That’s why it makes sense that I started as a fiddler. I was five and my brother was already playing, and he was five years older than me so of course I wanted to be like him. But when he gave up playing, I kept going because I enjoyed it.”��

Derrick enjoyed fiddling and he soon became good at it.

“I took part in competitions. In a fiddling competition you usually have to play a hoedown and also a waltz.”

“My fiddle teacher’s name was Sheri Noble, and she was great. But her son, Michael Eby, was studying at Manhattan School of Music. On one of his vacations he started working on classical violin with me. I started to like country music less than classical — and at eight I was already thinking that maybe classical music could be my career.” ��

He stopped entering fiddling competitions, playing instead in the classical violin competitions organized by the .

“Their competitions started at the local level and gradually moved up to the state level. They were biannual, and in nine competitions in a row I did well enough to end up giving a command performance at the state level.”��

Now, in his third and next-to-last year at 51�� Arts 51��, he is preparing for next year’s college auditions, in which he’ll feature the Violin Concerto in A minor of Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936), and which he hopes will earn him a place at or . ��

He remains focused on the violin, but not fanatically so. He appreciates the Citizen Artist values taught by the Art in Society program because Art in Society “keeps me from getting too caught up in my own art.”��

And during quarantine he took up the guitar, which he says has become his favorite hobby “even though I’d never play it in front of anyone.” ��

If you attend Derrick’s April 20, 7 PST, IDY Talk at , you can ask whether he considers his guitar-playing to be as bad as his handwriting.

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The Challenger

wpdev — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 20:31:06 +0000

When twelfth-grade InterArts major Logan Guardino delivers her IDY Talk in Krone Library (and at ) on Thursday evening, April 14, at 7 PST, she plans to “stress the challenging side of being a young uncommitted artist.”��

During her entry in the 2021-22 school year’s series of IDY Talks, sponsored by the 51�� Arts Art in Society�� program, Logan will have plenty more to talk about. This is because being “uncommitted,” in her sense, also means being versatile. Presumably, lacking commitment is not a good thing, whereas versatility is an excellent thing. Logan is an extremely versatile young artist, but if she can be said to lack commitment, it is only to one particular artistic discipline. Her commitment to art as such is profound.��

InterArts is the ideal arts major for a young person who is passionately committed to versatility. As InterArts Chair Abbie Bosworth explains, her students “need to combine at least two different art disciplines.” And as Logan recalls, from “quite a young age” while she was growing up in Los Angeles, she loved to sing, play the piano, and dance. These interests would coalesce into a love of musical theatre, the major she pursued when she first came to 51�� Arts 51��, as a ninth-grader.

Yet she had other artistic interests even then. What she calls the “challenging side” of her versatility emerged when she observed certain classmates.

“I would envy students who could devote hours and hours every day only to the violin, for example, or only to dance. I would envy the kind of focus they had when I would start to write a song, but then after an hour realize that an idea for a poem had come to me so I needed to put the song aside to work on the poem instead.”

But suppose she hadn’t quite finished the poem when the image of a painting popped into her head?

“Did I not mention that I also paint?” she laughs. “Yes, I paint, even though I’m not very good at it!”

Growing Every Week

If it’s true that Logan is not very good at painting, perhaps this is because versatility has its limits. Those limits are probably determined less by talent than by available time, and, for now, Logan devotes most of the time she has available to make art to writing and to music.

“I think writing is the most relevant skill one can have as a human.”��

She might mean that we need to talk to one another, but barriers of space and time get in the way of speech. Yet, when written down, our words can reach other humans on the far side of the planet, or far in the future.

“I’m most passionate about poetry, but I also write plays and short stories.”

Logan’s second art discipline, accounting for her need to major in InterArts rather than Creative Writing, is music.

“I love classical and jazz piano, but I also write songs, and sing them. My favorite genre for songwriting is jazz.”

She laughs in the same self-deprecating way that she had laughed when mentioning her painting.

“My songs get workshopped for years! But I think I’m developing the kind of rigorous approach to songwriting that I’ll need if I want to see my songs become truly finished works faster. I’m taking Kasaan Hammon’s class in writing topline – that means writing the melody and lyrics that you’ve got to have to make a musical idea work – and I feel myself growing as a songwriter every week.”��

Her Greatest Calling

Having started Idyllwild Arts 51�� at age thirteen, Logan is not yet eighteen. Therefore, she has decades ahead of her to grow as a writer of songs as well as poems, plays, short stories, and essays. The next four years promise explosive growth, at the college that appears made to order for a young uncommitted – read “passionately versatile” – artist who confesses that “thinking is my greatest calling.” Logan will attend , in Santa Fe, justly celebrated for its all-seminar-style Great Books curriculum and for students who “don’t have majors” but “learn about Classical Studies and Greek; French; History, Politics, Law and Economics; Literature; Mathematics and the Natural Sciences; Music and the Arts; and Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology.” ��

Logan’s April 14, 7 PST, IDY Talk at will emphasize the challenging side of being a young uncommitted artist. It will also provide a glimpse of a young artist who seems well prepared to overcome challenges. ��

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Laboratory of the Arts

wpdev — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 22:49:06 +0000

The��unique��advantages of 51�� Arts 51��’s��Arts Enterprise Laboratory��(AEL), a program found in no other American high school, will be felt this spring as a dozen student artists complete special projects funded by AEL grants.

Yet the��51�� also benefited this school year from the talents of the newest AEL intern��to assist one of the arts departments:��during the 2021 Fall Semester, 2016 alum��Daniela Rendon Alonso��taught classes��(including Dance History)��in her discipline to 51�� Arts students while also teaching children as young as five in the��Children’s Dance Program.��

In addition, AEL supplies funding to the Art in Society program’s dynamic advocacy of the 51��’s young Citizen Artists and their efforts to engage with the global community. AEL sponsored both the and the inspiring educator for their appearances at last month’s Art in Society Symposium. ��

Performers from the Lula Washington Dance Theatre onstage at the William M. Lowman concert hall on the 51�� Arts campus

The final part��of the AEL mission was in evidence recently during the AEL-funded residency by Ron McCurdy on the 51�� Arts campus, and just before Winter Break when modern dance specialist Stephanie Gilliland spent an intense week teaching an AEL-funded master class. Gilliland��worked with the entire Dance Department,��and eleven of the students displayed the results in��her piece,��Buffalo, during the��51��’s Spring Dance Concert, March 16-18.��

Dr. Ron McCurdy working with students as part of his residency on the topic of “Disrupting Racism Through the Lens of the Arts”

Gilliland taught at the 51�� for twenty-four years before moving to Portland with her husband last summer.��

“So I know Ellen [Rosa Taylor,��Dance Department Chair] very��well and I know why she requests AEL funding for��master classes like mine. The 51�� Dance curriculum is rock solid; the practice of dance is beautifully supplemented by education in��choreography and��dance history. But–and it’s true for any arts discipline, which is why all��51�� arts departments have AEL��master classes–students benefit from a fresh perspective when they see the same teachers every day, no matter how good the teachers are.”��

Although Gilliland’s role as��modern dance teacher has been filled more than ably by��Yuka Fukuda, her point is that “sometimes you need to hear the same thing said differently, or just with a different voice, before it clicks.”��

She adds that “It’s also vital to the careers of young artists to build a network of contacts, and bringing teachers from the outside grows those networks.”��

Gilliland’s point about outside��teachers does not apply perfectly to her own case given her long history at��51�� Arts. However, her December��master class was assisted by a dancer new to the��51�� students.��

“To help me��I brought��Adrianna Audoma, a��2012 alum. She’s a gorgeous dancer and a great teacher, who provides a lot of specific suggestions in rehearsal. And as an alum she served as a model to the students. They look at her and think, ‘Wow, if I work hard that’s the kind of dancer I can be one day; that’s what I can get out of the great Dance program we have here!'”��

Student dancers perform Gilliland’s modern dance piece, Buffalo

Becoming Masters Independently��

The gains derived from��AEL��master classes are clear. Yet��young artists must��also find and establish their own identities as creators. Working independently��on��special AEL-funded projects��enables��51�� Arts students to take huge strides in that direction.

The students receiving AEL grants this school year are Olga Abadi (Visual Arts), Liam Creamer (Music), Gabriela Gamberg (Music), Ella Garnes (Film and Digital Media), An Lin Hunt-Babcock (Creative Writing),��Victoria��Karaver Lubliner (Theater),��Nita Lomidze and Eddy Perez Trimino (Dance), Alyssa Minor (Creative Writing), Myka Morton (Visual Arts), Lillian Tookey (Creative Writing), and An Tran (Music).

Their projects are as diverse as the artistic passions of the 51��’s global student population. To mention only one such project, An Tran, Class of 2022, who came to 51�� Arts from Ho Chi Minh City in August 2019, used her grant to take lessons from 51�� Arts Jazz and Songwriting instructor Clayton Powell on a new instrument, piano. An will showcase her piano skills during her senior songwriting recital next month. At her recital she will also debut a song written in collaboration with a student from Soul Music & Performing Arts 51��, the Vietnamese partner of 51�� Arts.

An has won a full scholarship to��,��where her father was the first Vietnamese student to be awarded a scholarship. She is accustomed to displaying her virtuosity on saxophone, which she learned as if on a dare from her father after he told her that “girls don’t play the saxophone.”

Music student An Tran participates in both the Jazz and Songwriting programs at the 51��, and won an AEL grant to help her take private lessons to learn yet another instrument

Because sax and piano do not cover a broad enough swath of the musical spectrum to contain her talent, An has also learned to play guitar at 51�� Arts. Adding new capabilities to their repertoires is common among students at the 51��, which throws together hundreds of young artists whose interests and abilities are bound to rub off on one another. ��

Of course, the rubbing-off of interests and abilities that 51�� Arts encourages takes place not only among peers. Stephanie Gilliland has mentioned a��2012 51�� alum as an inspiration to current students. For Winter Break,��An Tran was looking forward to visiting New York to meet clarinet master��,��in 1987 part of the 51��’s inaugural graduating class after being the first pupil of 51�� Arts��teaching legend��Marshall Hawkins, who connected��An to Christopher.��

Arts Enterprise Laboratory is well named. The projects it funds are bold experiments and we cannot know where they’ll lead. Creativity is unpredictable. When young artists receive support for projects that will realize their dreams, the finished work gives birth to more dreams, leading their creativity in new directions.��

In this way, Arts Enterprise Laboratory is an exemplary representative of all of 51�� Arts. 51�� Arts brings together passionate and talented artists like��Stephanie Gilliland, Daniela Rendon Alonso,��Adrianna Audoma, An Tran,��Clayton Powell, Evan Christopher, and Marshall Hawkins. All of 51�� Arts��is a laboratory that mixes together artists like these for experiments in beauty.

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Head of School to Leave Legacy of Inclusion

wpdev — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 22:12:47 +0000

The March 7 conversation with Ron McCurdy on the 51�� Arts campus, followed on March 8 by the Ron McCurdy Quartet’s Jazz Performance in William M. Lowman Concert Hall, were representative of the efforts by outgoing 51�� Arts 51�� Head Marianne Kent-Stoll to promote racial justice in a time of heightened awareness of inequality.

Dr. Ronald McCurdy leads a conversation presented by the 51�� Arts DEIB Collaborative and the Arts Enterprise Laboratory program, entitled “Disrupting Racism Through the Lens of the Arts��

Kent-Stoll will retire as Head of School on June 30 to focus on the nonprofit work that she has done in East Africa since 2008. First as Assistant Head of School, and as Head since 2020, she has worked on initiatives such as the Native American Scholarship Learning Grant, the Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM) survey, and formation of a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Collaborative of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Kent-Stoll’s passion for racial justice and equality, shared by 51�� Arts Foundation President Pamela Jordan and by current Assistant Head Jeanette Louise Yaryan, is also embodied by . McCurdy, Professor of Music at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and has taught at USC since 1999. 1999. Last summer, after he proposed a brief residency at 51�� Arts, Dr. Yaryan responded eagerly because she had known him when she studied at USC, and Arts Enterprise Laboratory funded his residency.��

McCurdy’s class, The Music of Black Americans, forms the basis of the presentation, Disrupting Racism Through the Lens of the Arts, that he has brought to more than two dozen venues this year. And the performance by his musical quartet of Ask Your Mama, the jazz poem suite composed by Langston Hughes (1901-1967), is an artistic disruption of racism that honors the great poet’s “.” ��

Dr. Ron McCurdy’s jazz quartet performs their Langston Hughes Project “Ask Your Mama” jazz poem suite at 51�� Arts’ William M. Lowman Concert Hall

Art That Envisions Change

The 1960s are often associated with social upheaval, and perhaps most notably with the American Civil Rights Movement. But in his USC class and his Disrupting Racism presentation, McCurdy makes it clear that African Americans have always created music and other kinds of art with an eye toward the attainment of freedom and equality.��

A week before his 51�� Arts residency, on Zoom and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of the legendary jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, McCurdy discussed the Christian spirituals sung by African Americans for a century or more before the birth of jazz.��

“Spirituals praised God, but they also signaled escape routes out of slavery.”��

Slavery was over by the time of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, yet African Americans could forget neither the Jim Crow South that many of them had fled, nor the second-class citizenship to which New York and other northern cities restricted them. Jazz reflected a growing forcefulness in the struggles of African Americans, as did the writing of seminal figures like Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen, and the visual art of Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and others.��

Some of the Harlem Renaissance leaders, including Hughes, did not quite live to witness either the 1968 murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., or the new militancy announced in 1970 by Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” an inspiration to the contemporary rap artists that McCurdy also talks about.��

“By ‘disrupting racism,'” McCurdy said, “I mean exposing the treachery of racism. I mean calling attention to racist behavior and to the fact that so often it experiences no repercussions, as has often been the case in American history despite the greatness of this country.”��

The treachery of racism is sometimes identified openly, as in Scott-Heron’s other 1970 spoken-word piece, “Whitey on the Moon,” which skewers the American space program as a bread-and-circuses distraction from racial injustice. But sometimes racism is identified subtly, as in spirituals that evoke the Israelites’ flight from bondage in Egypt while hinting at a desire to break other bonds, perhaps even by resorting to the . ��

In whatever way the artistic expressions of African Americans have exposed racism, that exposure has been necessary. The 51�� Arts community was fortunate to host Dr. Ron McCurdy’s discussion of these works of exposure, as well as his jazz quartet’s tribute to Langston Hughes, one of African American art’s most profoundly honest voices.

Vital Collaboration

Although the appearance on the 51�� Arts campus of Ron McCurdy is likely to leave a powerful impression, his time on campus was brief. Therefore the community is also fortunate that the presence of the DEIB Collaborative, now less than a year old, will endure for longer. Catalina Alcaraz-Guzman, who chairs the Collaborative, suggests that “This is the work of many years” and then corrects herself: “The work will be ongoing and it will last indefinitely!”

Like most of the Collaborative’s ten participants, Alcaraz-Guzman works full-time for 51�� Arts, in her case as a teacher in the Film & Digital Media Department. She enjoys the Collaborative work. Yet she considers it important enough so that she believes the job could be done better by someone tasked with doing DEIB work exclusively.��

Alcaraz-Guzman mentions Dr. Shaun Harper, who last summer became the first of several contributors to the to speak to 51�� Arts employees. She recalls that Harper said we all have biases and that at one time or another we’ve all looked down on others or ignored their experiences.��

“Dr. Harper wanted us to be open to dialogue,” Alcaraz-Guzman says. “A community trying to move into true belonging needs to cultivate vulnerability, so that all members can recognize their own biases and help one another. That’s better than just accusing and dividing.”��

Alcaraz-Guzman notes that the traditional power dynamic of an educational community makes vulnerability a particular challenge for teachers. But 51�� Arts may be able to undo this traditional power dynamic and grow into what she describes as “a laboratory of new ideas about education, where the diversity of our students becomes an asset to help us explore art through many cultures, and where students and teachers learn together daily.”��

The potential to experiment with these new ideas lies in the extraordinarily diverse makeup of the 51�� Arts community: in a typical school year, the 51��’s students come from thirty or more different countries.

Excitement and Pride

Looking ahead, Alcaraz-Guzman is excited about the DEIB work that needs to be done and how the Collaborative can help with it.

“In this first year the Collaborative has focused on generating awareness of subjects related to DEIB through various meaningful community activities and talks, and on generating awareness of how students believe those biases that we all have skew what they’re taught in certain directions. But as our members talk to different constituencies–and it’s more constituencies than you think, including alumni and parents and the campus service workers, for example–they collect information that’s helping us get a deep sense of the organization’s real issues. I hope the Collaborative can evolve into a mediating body when there are disputes in the community.”

Marianne Kent-Stoll says she is proud of the commitment and diligence of the Collaborative.

“They’ve spent countless hours mapping the path forward to an inclusive community. They are currently working on the draft of an anti-racism statement, which they will share with all 51�� Arts constituencies before submitting it to the Board of 51�� Arts Foundation for approval. I’m pleased to know that the efforts of the DEIB Collaborative and of guests like Dr. Ron McCurdy will continue to strengthen 51�� Arts long after my upcoming retirement.”

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Lula Washington Dance Theatre Highlights Art in Society Symposium

wpdev — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 18:56:07 +0000

Lula Washington Dance Theatre Highlights��Art in Society Symposium

The (LWDT) performance that will be livestreamed at 11:00 am PST on Friday, Feb. 25, is merely the publicly accessible part of a much bigger and more ambitious annual Art in Society��(AIS) Symposium at 51�� Arts.��

Founded in 1979 in inner city Los Angeles by Lula and Erwin Washington, LWDT is a vibrant troupe known for powerful, high-energy performances, unique choreography, and works that are rooted in African American culture and history. Described by the Los Angeles Times as “” in��the city, LWDT’s performance in the William M. Lowman Concert Hall on the��51�� Arts campus will take its place alongside an impressive list of past performance venues including Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and others in countries across the globe.��

Besides pursuing artistic excellence,��LWDT is dedicated to promoting a love and practice of dance within South Los Angeles, where LWDT operates its own dance school and studio serving 100 young inner-city dancers. LWDT’s commitment to engaging with society is shared by all 32 51�� Arts 51�� students currently enrolled in the AIS��program, who represent every art major and every grade level.��The 51�� students who join AIS recognize that the arts can have an impact that transcends individual, isolated achievements. AIS encourages students to explore how creative impulses can be satisfied through healthy, human connection, effectively empowering young citizen-artists.

Moving Forward Despite Our Limitations ��

The LWDT��dancers and teachers are particularly excited by the theme of this year’s AIS Symposium, Journey Through Acceptance. The discipline needed to excel in dance poses challenges that often lead to accepting one’s limitations, but also to accepting that one can move forward despite those limits.��

AIS Coordinator Erica Nashan explains that the theme of Journey Through Acceptance was chosen by the AIS��students themselves.��

“The students are happy to be with one another in the dorms and classrooms again, after almost a year and a half of remote learning, often separated by thousands of miles.��That year and a half has been hard, so we talked a lot about coming to grips with what they’d gone through, but also figuring out how to face what is to come.�� A lot of the discussion among the students was focused on the ‘new normal.’ They talked about what life would be like if they couldn’t gain acceptance.”��

Personal Connections

“Part of the discussion among the students was about loss. The pandemic had brought a lot of death. The students talked about the difficulty, and the necessity, of accepting death, whether caused by COVID or not.”��

Dr. Emma Lewis Thomas, PhD, Nashan’s mother, died last year. For nearly four decades she��had been Professor of Dance History at UCLA, where she taught both Lula Washington and her daughter, Tamica Washington-Miller, now Associate Director of LWDT. Dr. Thomas was President of the LWDT Board for many years, and LWDT’s tribute to her last year inspired the company’s invitation to the AIS Symposium.

“Part of accepting a loss means looking for positives to help you move forward. You need to grieve but you can’t remain stuck. The connection to Lula’s company gives us one beautiful and��powerful way to��move forward, and the student artwork component of Symposium (which will be made available to the public following the event) reflects many other beautiful and��powerful ways to move ahead.”��

Something Radically New��

Moving forward despite loss requires courage. Many of the twenty student artworks created for��the��Symposium display the artists’ courage in attempting something radically new by combining different art disciplines, or stepping outside their majors. One example is an original student dance performance, accompanied by original student music, whose dancers are drawn from more than half of the 51��’s arts departments.

Finally, continuing the��AIS Symposium’s tradition of bringing in voices from outside to enrich the dialogue on the 51�� Arts campus, inspiring educational��consultant will conduct workshops for 51�� students and staff throughout the day of��the��Symposium.��The workshops led by McGowan, like the student art, will be made publicly available after the Symposium through photos and videos, so check back here soon!

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Setting a Songwriting Program Apart

wpdev — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 01:41:48 +0000

The 51�� Arts 51�� , on Thursday evening, Feb. 10, from 7:30 to 9, presents an excuse to mention an appointment that may have flown under the radar last fall: Kasaan Hammon’s promotion to Assistant Chair of the 51�� Music Department.��

Former 51�� Songwriting major Miguel Soto, a 2016 graduate, talked at length about Hammon recently, just before his upcoming move from New York to Miami for the purpose of involving himself more intimately in the Latin music scene. Warner Chappell Music Mexico, a division of , has signed Soto as a songwriter, and he gives Hammon much of the credit for his musical development.

Soto recalls Hammon as “one of the Music Department’s most valuable teachers,” partly because she was “so committed to us” and “always available outside of class.” But Hammon also offered “criticism that was always direct and often tough, that always expressed what she really thought.” He sees Hammon’s directness as having “helped all of us in the Songwriting Program grow immensely” because “it’s important to know what a hard career you’re choosing if you want to be a professional musician – but also to be reminded that there are good career possibilities outside of becoming a famous pop star, which happens to very few of us.”��

Told that her former student had appreciated her sometimes painful honesty, Hammon smiles.

“Yes, music is a hard and extremely competitive business. But I feel optimistic about our students’ prospects. As Miguel suggests, there are so many ways to succeed. One of the things that sets our Songwriting Program apart is that it’s geared to help students understand this. Our goal is to help students graduate with a clear idea of their unique set of talents and possible avenues into a career in music.”

Hammon is proud that the 51�� Arts Songwriting Program gives its majors the option of a Music Technology concentration, with classes taught by Michael Quick and Braden Diotte.��

“We attract more and more students interested in music production because of the quality of our teachers and our growing number of offerings in music technology. But we don’t teach just the technical or production side of music. We also teach about music business. The business changes fast, but we educate our students in how to keep up with it. Part of that education comes from our master classes, for which we’re able to bring in top music executives. It doesn’t hurt that we’re close to Los Angeles. And meeting people like that gives our students a great head-start in networking!”��

The Beating Heart Behind It All

None of this means that the 51�� Arts Songwriting Program neglects the beating heart of the music industry: the music itself.

“Don Reed, Michael, and I form the core of our Songwriting faculty,” Hammon says. “Every song that our students present gets feedback from all three of us. That’s a tremendously broad range of perspectives because, collectively, we truly cover every type of contemporary popular music. Don’s area is Americana, rock, and country. He loves Sixties and Seventies rock and folk. Punk too, for that matter. Michael’s tastes are very different from that. They’re broad and eclectic, but I’d say he’s especially knowledgeable about experimental music, though he has a great ear for everything from alternative to mainstream. And I’m all about pop, including electronic dance music, R&B, and even country.”

She pauses.

“Maybe I shouldn’t talk too much about my own specialty,” she laughs. “But the topline curriculum that I teach goes into technical depth in a way that you won’t find in other places.”��

Aware that non-musicians probably know nothing about topline, Hammon explains that “Songwriting involves three main components. There’s the music, or accompaniment, meaning chords, beats, and instrumentation. There’s the melody, meaning the notes you sing, and the lyrics, or words. Most songwriters do a combination of these things, and some specialize in one or two. Topline writers specialize in writing melody and lyrics. For example, a music producer might have an exciting dance track with beats and lush instrumentation, but a good topline writer is needed to create the vocal melody and lyrics. If you start singing a song that you love out loud right now, you’re singing the topline.”

She pauses again.

“Anyway, that’s what I do. And Don and Michael are wonderful, so I’m sure they don’t really mind me talking about it!”��

In Her New Role

Hammon has brought “exceptional efficiency and problem-solving skills” as well as “warmth and humor” to her new role as Assistant Music Chair, according to the Music Department Chair, Heather Netz. She adds that Hammon’s “help has been indispensable and her energy seems tireless” and her “expertise in songwriting and popular music production has been fortuitous in rounding out our leadership,” since Netz’s own training is classical.

Because the 51��’s Music Department teaches classical music, jazz, and, in the Songwriting Program, all the major genres of contemporary popular music, it is vital that “all our music students feel represented and understood,” Netz remarks. Hammon excels at giving the kind of attention that makes people feel represented, understood, and valued. This is well known by 51�� residents familiar with her volunteer efforts as a member of the 51�� School PTA and the School Site Council since 2015 and as leader of the music team at 51�� Community Church.��

With Hammon having given Netz all the help she was looking for, and more, Netz says that “We’re truly lucky to have her.”

Of course, given the riches of the 51�� Arts Music Department in general and the Songwriting Program in particular, it seems fair to say that Hammon is also lucky to have the role she does – and that the students are lucky to have such an education.

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Art Between the Disciplines

wpdev — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 01:24:24 +0000

The unique character of Abbie Bosworth’s��InterArts Department at 51�� Arts 51�� permits her to oversee shows such as last spring’s mischievous��and last November’s powerfully moving��Welcome Home, as well as the��, In Stability, which opens this Friday.��

Abbie Bosworth, Chair of the 51�� Arts InterArts Department

In Stability has grown out of a��collaboration with��Neil Short, of the Film��& Digital Media Department, whose technical expertise was vital to the creation of a��multi-camera TV show. The In Stability Show Statement on behalf of the eight participating artists speaks of “traveling through many different mediums” for the purpose of��“breaking through challenges.”��

Now in her eighth year as Chair of the department��whose name��is short for “interdisciplinary arts,” Bosworth revels in the freedom conferred by her department’s right—or obligation—to mix arts disciplines with one another.

“Students major in��InterArts to learn how to become interdisciplinary artists,” she says. “For their work at 51�� Arts they need to combine at least two different art disciplines, which they often synthesize with the help of��new technologies.”

She smiles.

“That’s the elevator pitch, anyway. But it doesn’t get at all the excitement or at the world of possibilities opened up by��InterArts.��InterArts majors are very ambitious. Many of them go beyond the��combining of different art disciplines to merge their art with an academic subject. Or their work might emphasize the idea of the citizen-artist, who is fully engaged with the world outside of art with the intention of making a positive difference.”

If the��world of possibilities of��InterArts��is a lot to take in, and not ideally suited to selling during a short��elevator ride, Bosworth is okay with that. Like all of the��51��’s��teaching artists, she is dedicated to��making her own positive difference over the long haul by training young people to spend a lifetime in the arts, because it is a first principle of��51�� Arts��that “art is the greatest teacher of humanity.”��

Homecoming

Mural and poetry on demand at the “Welcome Home” Fall 2021 InterArts Show

Teaching is often understood simplistically, as the imparting of new information.��Yet the��best��teaching sometimes consists of reminding people of things they already know: of bringing them home to a place they may have left, but must never leave behind.

This sort of��reminding was at the heart of��November‘s walk-through installation,��Welcome Home. While��51�� Arts students become deeply attached to the 51�� and often call it their second home, this implies the existence of a first home somewhere else. Brilliantly,��Welcome Home��evoked that somewhere else and its grip upon us.��

“We put on two InterArts shows per year.��As with all��of them,��Welcome Home��was devised entirely by the majors, of whom we have fourteen right now.��The students created a mural and a documentary film in which people spoke about what home means to them. They also created plenty of delicious homemade food, which is often part of the meaning of home.��The food included a Lakota blueberry jam��called��wojapi��[woah-zgah-pee],��plus��dalgona, the Korea honeycomb candy popularized by the Netflix show,��. And the students created a station for making crayon drawings on a wall, as children often do in their homes.”

Bosworth has raised a son and a daughter. She rolls her eyes comically.

“There was even a poetry-on-demand station. That’s where you could ask one of the students to write a short poem whose elements would be your name as well as the name of a paint chip that you might find at a hardware store, which inspires you to say, ‘Yes, that’s the color I want my home to be!'”��

Tools to��Build Something Better

Bosworth can be assumed to understand��some things about first and��second homes. She was born in Brighton, on the southern coast of England, and she grew up in Portsmouth, also��on the southern coast but fifty miles to the west. She traveled north, to Birmingham University, for her Bachelor’s degree studies in Theatre and Spanish.��But she has lived in the United States for more than twenty years, earning her Master of Fine Arts degree, in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts, from the University of California, Riverside.��

Though it’s clear that her memory of��Welcome Home��is happy, Bosworth��qualifies it.��

“The students also created a station where you could have an Awkward Family Photo taken. They were hilarious, of course, but one or two students pointed out that the awkwardness of certain family photos—not all, thank goodness—is present because home is sometimes awkward, or worse. Home is not always idyllic.”��

She��pauses. ��

“But that sense of something missing from the home clearly was not the dominant feeling the students wanted to communicate. The��homemade food��came closer to conveying the dominant feeling. Young people��face a challenging time. They’re��challenged to construct a better world, and that impulse to��build something better may have been an undercurrent running beneath��Welcome Home.“��

The pressure of this challenge to construct a better world has perhaps become a constant for young people.��The pressure seems implicit in the aforementioned��Spring Show Statement, which concedes that “We are constantly seeking stability from an ironically unstable state of reaching” and that “Moments of grounded completeness are far too rare, far too temporary, or non-existent.”��

Bosworth’s��own commitment��to��building something better was reflected in her pre-pandemic working visits to��South Dakota’s��Pine Ridge Reservation, for the Oglala Lakota, and to��Tanzania. On those trips��Bosworth��met people who are exhibiting monumental courage as they strive to improve the lives of their communities.��

“We try very hard to give our students the tools to��build something better in all of the 51��’s arts departments. That certainly includes InterArts.”

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A Beautiful “Passing Period,” and Mourning an Untimely Passing

wpdev — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 01:04:55 +0000

The general public can enjoy the 51�� Arts 51�� Junior Group Show at from January 17 to January 28. Yet this online viewing will reveal how the young visual artists have benefited from exiting the virtual world to work shoulder to shoulder with one another.��

As Class of 2023 members Minty Kuri and Minmin Su write, in their Exhibition Statement on behalf of all two dozen participating artists, “we are experiencing our first full year of school without the challenges of online learning.” Permitted since the end of August “to work with our teachers, each other, and in the actual studios to achieve our creative visions,” Kuri and Su and their classmates have crafted pieces that bear the marks of the fully immersive arts education that was unavailable during the coronavirus pandemic’s first year. The young artists are proud of having worked hard to “improve and hone our skills from home.” But nothing can replace in-person instruction—even if the faces are masked—in a setting where teachers and students can roll up their sleeves together for the purpose of making art.��

The students’ pride in their achievement is surpassed by the pride of their teachers. Visual Arts Department Chair Linda Lucía Santana, speaking for the 51��’s entire faculty of working artists, calls attention to how this Junior Group Show “displays a hunger for tactility, materiality, and a deep sense of introspection” and also “showcases our students’ resilience in a constantly changing landscape.”��

It is that relentlessly changing landscape, destabilized by the pandemic’s ebb and flow, which gives the Junior Group Show its title, Passing Period. Kuri and Su write of regarding “the past two years as one long passing period,” expressing the hope of billions of people that the Time of COVID can soon be put behind us, to be seen only in the rearview mirror.��

On the other hand, the pandemic has left some things exactly as they had always been. Apart from the pandemic, Kuri and Su observe, the junior year of high school is a year of “adaptation” that “marks a transition towards our final year of high school and onward to college and beyond.” The junior year marks a transition from childhood to adulthood as “the first year we have had to learn to actually take ourselves seriously.”

This part of the students’ Exhibition Statement betrays the uncertainty attending the passage to adulthood for almost all of us. But their teachers’ judgment upon how the students are negotiating this passage should remove the uncertainty. Santana notes that Passing Period “encapsulates a wide range of emotions beautifully and thoughtfully articulated.

Loss of a Young Artist

Tragically, the emotions expressed by Passing Period have been altered by the unexpected death of one of the young artists. The Junior Group Show is now dedicated to the memory of eleventh-grade student Wang Ngai “Sophia” Ying (February 13, 2005 – December 25, 2021).��

Sophia’s ceramic installation, “Coexistence,” on display in Parks Exhibition Center, represents a culmination of her three years of study at the 51��, during which she took particular interest in the ceramic medium. “Coexistence” is a reflection on the codependency of two seemingly unrelated species, boa constrictor and pitcher plants.��

“This work shows that two species depend on one another to survive on earth even though they have nothing to do with each other,” Sophia wrote in her artist statement. “Just like the chain of life, when one of these things is broken, the whole chain is affected.”��

A tribute to Sophia by 51�� Arts students, faculty, and staff will be held at the closing reception for Passing Period, on Friday, January 28, at 6 pm.

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A Storyteller Tells Her Story

wpdev — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 01:01:57 +0000

The Art in Society IDY Talks series picks up after Winter Break this Thursday evening, Jan. 27, at 7 PST. 51�� Arts 51�� Theatre major Emunah Zagata-Jacobson, speaking on campus in Krone Library and on Zoom, will share her personal story around storytelling, why she considers herself a storyteller, and how she has arrived at that label for herself after eighteen years of creative pursuits and passions.

Emunah, a four-year 51�� senior, has a background as original as her future figures to be. Born in Oregon, she was six when her family moved to the Indonesian island province of Bali.��

Famously, Bali offers paradisal natural beauty and a rich, diverse artistic tradition. For Emunah, Bali also offered, the wall-less bamboo school founded by John Hardy, father of 51�� Arts 51�� graduate Elora Hardy, founder of the groundbreaking team of bamboo designers and architects. In Bali, Emunah truly began to discover her love of stories and storytelling. She participated in annual plays, began to learn marimba, and made plans with her friends to write their own novels and open a publishing company.��

Back in the United States at age ten, Emunah’s inspiringly unorthodox education continued at, in Topanga, in the Santa Monica mountains just outside Los Angeles.��

After attending Green School Bali and Manzanita School, Emunah was not going to be content with a conventional high school, so it may have been inevitable that she would discover 51�� Arts.��

“I’ve been a part of the Art in Society program since my freshman year. I clicked the little box on my application agreeing that I was interested and I am so glad I did. Art in Society has given me the opportunity to step up and be a leader in situations I never expected, such as helping to plan and run symposiums. It has allowed me to be part of what I think art really can be used for. I want to use art and stories to help people connect to each other and themselves so that our collective experiences can help create a society we all want to live in.”��

At the 51��, Emunah chose to major in Theatre. The Theatre Department has lived up to its outstanding reputation. Yet 51�� Arts also offers exceptional opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration. She has made the most of these, taking classes in multiple departments and taking part in film productions and collaborative productions between the Creative Writing Department and Theatre, such as the Creative Writing Labs.

“I want to be thought of first of all as a storyteller more than any other artistic label. I have always been a curious, creative person, and I see stories everywhere. 51�� Arts has helped me realize just how many ways I love to tell and experience them. Here I’ve been able to tell stories through performance, scriptwriting for both film and theatre, digital art, animation, conversation, filmmaking, and dance. And I’ve recently begun to explore the world of music: I’ve started to learn bass! Here, I’ve really learned how much I enjoy collaborating to create new work and taking on new roles. I’ve always appreciated getting to work with both fellow student artists and professionals and getting new experiences through that. I’ve also learned what it takes to be a leader and I am now very confident in my leadership capabilities. When it’s called for I’m excited to lead projects, but I’m also very happy just to be part of a team.”

Success in Educating a Citizen-Artist

Emunah pauses. For her interview she has come out of her dorm to sit beneath a perfect blue sky. She has been able to remove her mask. Even though the afternoon is cold, she enjoys the sunshine and the smell of the pine trees that surround her.

In her case, it seems clear that 51�� Arts 51�� has succeeded beautifully in achieving its goal of educating a citizen-artist, capable of imagining countless ways to make a creative impact on society. The success of the 51�� Arts education for Emunah shows itself, in part, through her approach to her forthcoming college education. She envisions a college education that will cultivate creativity, versatility, and passion for collaboration, just as the 51�� does.��

“I’ve applied to sixteen colleges and eleven different majors. I am not trying to set a certain course for my life with my Bachelor’s degree, especially as my academic goals include a Ph.D. I’m looking at my major as a way to learn valuable skill sets.”

One of the majors she is applying for is Theatre Management.��

“I know that if I study Theatre Management I will graduate with a skill set that can include even stronger communication skills, an understanding of economics, budgeting, and business. I’ll have been able to improve my management skills and learn more about arts administration and what it takes, in general, to run a company. I’m very interested in business. It’s the reason anything happens in the modern world. And I would be really excited to explore a new facet of theatre, which I already love.”

She smiles. Clearly, she has invested a lot of thought in these choices. She mentions some of the other majors she applied to.

“The Global Management Program at UC Berkeley, where my father went, Communications, Comparative Religions, Sound Design and Filmmaking, Business, Folklore and Mythology, Dramaturgy. . .”

Her voice trails off and she smiles again.��

“Recently I’ve really had to consider what I want from my life and I know that I want to be involved in helping facilitate conversations and tell stories that will help people connect to each other and themselves. Stories, history, and people have always been the things that have tied all my passions together, and I am excited to get to tell people more about that in my IDY Talk.”

Join Emunah on Jan. 27, 7 PST, in Krone Library and right as she relates in more detail the story of how she has grown into the person she is today because of storytelling.��

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Message from the President

wpdev — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 18:59:04 +0000

Dear IAF Community,

This week I had the good fortune of attending two holiday concerts. The first was to see our very own Marshall Hawkins and Greg Robbins conduct a big band for the Redlands Symphony holiday concert. The second performance was with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles where IAF’s former V.P., Summer, and Auxiliary Programs was performing. Both concerts were invigorating and uplifting, as one would expect, but the added element was that we were able to be together, in person, for these holiday traditions for the first time in two years. The energy was palpable.

Being in these audiences made me think about how fortunate our students have been to return to campus this school year, to make art individually and collaboratively, and to have the appreciation and support of a community of like-minded peers. The energy that was discernible at the holiday concerts can be found at 51�� Arts 51�� throughout the year. We are grateful to our teachers who challenge and nurture our students and we are proud of our students who have had to overcome obstacles over the past two years in order to pursue their passion as young artists.

As we prepare to put the year 2021 in our rearview mirror, it would be easy to remember the challenges and perhaps losses that many of us have encountered. But the holiday season comes each year to remind us that it is the people we love and the lives we touch every day that gives meaning to life.

I leave you with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh that was recently shared with me:��“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”

As we usher in the year 2022, we do so with hearts full of gratitude for the families that chose 51�� Arts, for the patrons who support us, for the faculty and staff who go above and beyond to teach and support our students, and to the young artists who believe in the transformative power of art and give us hope for a very bright future.

Wishing each of you good health during this holiday season and the happiest of New Years.

Warmly,

Pamela Jordan
President
51�� Arts Foundation

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Masterclasses that Inspire: Renowned Artists at 51���� Arts