Alumni in the News

Natalie Svacina (B.A., Art History, 2006) was awarded the National Art Education Association’s 2020 Western Region Museum Education Art Educator Award. She was recognized for her exemplary contributions, service and achievements. She currently serves at the Education + Residency Director at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Houston, Texas, where she oversees all of HCCC’s educational programming, including hands-on activities, workshops, camps and the artist residency program. Photo by Andrew Buckler

Ruben Balboa (D.M.A., Strings and Harp, 2020) will serve as Instructional Assistant Professor of Viola,  Assistant Director and Master Teacher for the ISU String Project for the 2020-2021 academic school year at Illinois State University.

Roberta Rust’s (B.M., Piano, 1978) latest CD, Direct Contact, was released in May 2019 and has since then been praised by The Piano Magazine. She has also performed recitals and given master classes at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and Stephen F. Austin State University in January 2020. In 2019 she did the same at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory at the National University of Singapore, the Manila International Piano Masterclasses Festival, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Arizona State University, University of Oregon, Auburn University and Reinhardt University. Rust also performed alongside the Fine Arts Quartet at Lynn University and served as faculty for her seventh year at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival in Tampa. Photo by Richard Blinkoff

Anthony Gatto’s (M.M., Composition, 1991) two newest albums, The Making of Americans and Wise Blood, were commissioned by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and are set for release in July 2020 by New Focus Recordings. The first opera is based on the novel by Gertrude Stein while the second is based on the novel by Flannery O'Connor. Photo by Chris Larso

Andrew Rodriguez (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2019) will be a featured member of the 2019-2020 Professional Training Company for the play Are You There? This production depicts how technology has revolutionized the way we communicate with each other and can be streamed from the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays. Photo by Jonathan Roberts

Kathleen Kohl (M.F.A., Studio Art, 2017) sent her artwork, Memory Chain: A Pas de Deux of Artifact, into low earth orbit for 30 days through MIT Media Lab's Space Exploration Institute and Space-X's Dragon spacecraft. The art is a gold chain from her grandparents' tie clip and a watch that reference their work romance at NASA amid the Space Race. The exhibition was curated by Xin Liu, who arranged for nine projects to be on board the international payload, Sojourner 2020. Additionally, Kohl’s new installation Memory Palace, which composes building plans of her present and former homes, was also set to be part of the Future Visions exhibition during SXSW. Photo by Carlie deBoer

Altin Sencalar (B.M., Jazz Performance, 2017) released his second album, Realization, featuring performances by jazz veterans and luminaries. Sencalar is touring with his co-led group across the nation, and they will be featured as guest artists at the 2020 American Trombone Workshop at Fort Meyer in Washington, D.C. He was also named as one of the "Artists in Residence" for the 2020 Jazz Institute at Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina. Photo by Jessica D. Cowles

Joan Schubert (B.M., Woodwinds, 1981) has most recently recorded works by Astor Piazzolla, Django Reinhardt and Maurice Ravel. Schubert will also be performing and recording original music for voices and piano, “Caged Bird,” with text by Maya Angelou. Photo by Bryon Dahl

Hayley Austin (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2009) will publish her first monograph, “The Springs,” with Kris Graves Projects in April 2020. The book is comprised of photographs taken in Las Vegas in 2018 and is a limited edition, with only 250 copies available for pre-sale.

Robert Di Donato (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2016) helped create the performance collective Frank W/Men Collective and has been selected to be part of The Fusebox Festival 2020 lineup. Photo by Alex Masi