Alumni in the News

Jonathan Kulp (M.M., Theory, 1994; Ph.D., Musicology, 2001) was promoted to full professor in fall 2016 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he is also director of the School of Music and Performing Arts. Photo by Amy Windsor.

Natalia Anciso (B.A., Studio Art, 2008) was the only visual artist to make TVyNovelas’s list of Hispanic Leaders/Top 50 Latinos for her “vibrant, romantic art that reflects the Chicana/Tejano culture.”  She will appear in the October 2016 issue with other prolific Latinos, including the Pope, Jorge Ramos and Jennifer Lopez.

Emily Edwards (B.A., Art History, 2015) recently joined the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York as the Exhibitions and Collections Coordinator. 

Flutist Joan Schubert (B.M., Applied Music/Performance, 1982) and guitarist Bryon Dahl’s recent album, Our Favorite Things, went live on Pandora Radio in June 2016.

Marian Kansas (B.A., Directing, 2016) and Nicole Oglesby (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2016) launched a new feminist theatre company in Austin called The Heartland Theatre Collective. They will premiere their first show, Dust by Oglesby and directed by Kansas, Oct. 6 -10, 12 - 15 at The Pony Shed at The VORTEX. Dust is a full length play about three sisters fighting to stay alive in the Texas panhandle during the dust bowl in the shadow of a dying farm and a miraculous apricot tree. Photo by Daniel Berkowitz.

Art Therapy Austin, as SIMS Foundation providers, will host a "Make A Record!" fundraiser for this local organization that supports Austin area musicians, music industry professionals, and their families. During the East Austin Studio Tour, Art Therapy Austin will exhibit vinyl "Art Records" for sale at their studio/gallery space. In addition, Art Therapy Austin founder Deanna Miesch (B.F.A., Studio Art, 1991), and art therapists Deann Acton (B.F.A., Studio Art, 1991), and Shannon Mekuly (B.F.A., Studio Art, 1997) will exhibit and sell their own inspiring works during the tour.

Mary Stengel Bentley (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2007) will present the solo exhibition “The Downtown Series” at Four Barrel in San Francisco, California, through Oct. 27.

Austin's Dougherty Art Center presents “Valerie Fowler: Nature and Other Stories,” Dec. 1 through Jan. 7, an exhibition of the complex, nature-themed, oil paintings and large works on paper selected from a survey of work spanning 20 years from artist Valerie Fowler (B.A., Studio Art, 1985). Also included will be Fowler’s original illustrations for the musical project and book “Ivy and the Wicker Suitcase,” written by her spouse, Brian Beattie. 

John Steffa (D.M.A., Composition, 1985) will present a recital of new, original, chamber music for the students in the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina-Asheville on Sept. 30. A repeat program will be presented that evening for a general audience. The recital precedes a program on Oct. 7, in the Music Room of the Strathmore Mansion in Bethesda, Maryland. 

James Welsch (D.M.A., Orchestral Conducting, 2016) was recently appointed Music Director/General Manager of the El Paso Symphony Youth Orchestras and Assistant Conductor of the El Paso Symphony.