Alumni in the News

Ariel René Jackson (M.F.A., Studio Art, 2019) and Michael J. Love (M.F.A., Theatre, 2020) were awarded the 2021 $15,000 Tito’s Prize. The award, sponsored by Tito’s Homemade Vodka and organized by non-profit Big Medium, was presented to these Autin-based artists for their project “Descendance.” The film features a performance by Love and an original score by jazz musician Joseph C. Dyson Jr.

Oladotun Ayobade (Ph.D., Theatre, 2016) has recently accepted a new position at Northwestern University where he will become an assistant professor with a joint appointment in Performance Studies and African American Studies. Dr. Ayobade was previously an assistant professor of Africana Studies at Brown University.

Kendra Friar (M.M., Music Education, 1999) was recently named Elementary Music Educator of the Year by the Oregon Music Educators Association for her Oregon teaching career, scholarship focusing on elementary general music and service to the profession. Friar has also published the first article in the three-part series, Scott Joplin: A Guide for Music Educators. The series is a collection of articles that provides K-12 teachers with an asset-based representation of Scott Joplin's life, artistic contributions and cultural impact. This will be the largest number of pages dedicated to Scott Joplin in any NAfME journal. Photo by Julie Metz

Jonathan Nesvadba (B.A., Music, 2005) is releasing an album next month with electronic musical icon Moby. The album, Reprise, features orchestral versions of the singer’s best-known hits. Nesvadba co-produced the album, contributing sound engineering and backup vocals along with his twin brother, Joel (B.M., Music Studies, 2004). Work on the album started at the beginning of 2020 with recording sessions at the legendary EastWest Studios in Hollywood; the orchestra was tracked at East Connection Music Recording in Budapest, Hungary. After widespread lockdowns in March 2020, however, Nesvadba said the group tracked featured musicians in various home studios in Los Angeles.
 

Helen Sung (B.M., Applied Music, 1993; M.M., Music Studies, 1995) was recently named a 2021 Guggenheim fellow in music composition. The College of Fine Arts honored Sung with the E. William Doty Distinguished Young Alumna Award in 2017 for her prolific work as a jazz pianist.

Jonas Criscoe (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2006) has  work featured in Art in Isolation, an exhibition hosted by The Macy Art Gallery at Columbia University. 

Jacob Schnitzer (B.M., Music Studies, 2016) collaborated with composer Thomas B. Yee (M.M., Music, 2017) to create the Holocaust Remembrance opera documentary film, Remembrance and Ritual: Reflections on Eva and the Angel of Death. The film is based on the opera Eva and the Angel of Death by composer Yee and librettist Aiden K. Feltkamp and contextualizes the story of Eva Mozes Kor, a survivor of Josef Mengele’s twin studies in Auschwitz. Photo by Hannah Rose Photography

Courtney Sale (M.F.A., Theatre, 2012) was recently featured in the HowlRound discussion, "Moving the Field Forward Faster at American Regional Theatres," dealing with the future of theatre and its inner workings since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gay Gaddis (B.F.A., Studio Art, 1977) will be featured at a free upcoming virtual art event addressing the impact arts and culture make on the overall business world. Texas Cultural Trust will host The Art of Business and Business of the Arts: A Conversation with Gay Gaddis on Wednesday, April 14 at 11 a.m.

riel Sturchio (M.F.A., Studio Art, 2018) was shortlisted for the 2020 ICP / GOST First Photo Book Award, alongside their sibling Bianca. The ICP / GOST First Photo Book Award was created to promote and support the work of unpublished photographers through the production of a first photo book by the ICP / GOST imprint. Sturchio's photo book, Chasing Light, is part of a project between Sturchio and their twin sibling, Bianca, where they utilize photography to delve into complications of their non-normative identities and health-related challenges.