May 2009

Ira Brind School of Theater Arts
verge
the e-newsletter of the university of the arts

University Honors Trustee with Naming of Ira Brind School of Theater Arts
The University of the Arts has named its School of Theater Arts in honor of long-time trustee and performing arts patron Ira Brind (photo, above right), one of the chief architects of the 1987 merger of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (PCPA) and Philadelphia College of Art (PCA) to form the University of the Arts. Read more.
Charles Gilbert Named Director of the Brind School Charlie Gilbert
After serving as interim director for this past year, Charles Gilbert has been named director of the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts. A composer, writer, director and three-time Barrymore Award-nominee, Gilbert has led the School's Musical Theater program since its 1990 inception. Read more.
Professor Camille Paglia Selected as Panelist for National Book Awards Competition Camille Paglia
University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies Camille Paglia has been chosen by the National Book Foundation to serve as a judge on the non-fiction panel for the 2009 National Book Awards. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in New York City on November 18. In 2007, Paglia was selected to announce that year's National Book Award finalists. Read more.
School of Music Alumnus Stephen Costello Earns Prestigious Stephen CostelloTucker Award
Stephen Costello '03 (Voice) was recently announced as the 2009 winner of opera's prestigious Richard Tucker Award, a $30,000 prize that recognizes an American singer considered to be on the threshold of a significant international opera career. Read more.
Famed Broadway Director James Lapine Headlines Commencement Honorees
This year's University of the Arts graduates will make the annual procession from Hamilton Hall to the Academy of Music (240 S. Broad St., Philadelphia) for the 131st commencement on May 21 at 10:30 a.m. Two individuals will be honored with honorary doctor of fine arts degrees: award-winning Broadway director JaJames Lapinemes Lapine (right) and Please Touch Museum founder Portia Hamilton Sperr. A Pulitzer Prize, Tony and Drama Desk Award winner, Lapine has been honored for "Sunday in the Park with George" (1984), "Into the Woods" (1988), "Falsettos" (1992), "Passion" (1994) and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" (2005). Sperr is a former University of the Arts faculty member and museum pioneer who was instrumental in creating the University's Museum Education Program, and who spearheaded the innovative Philadelphia program "Museums in the Life of the City."
Teaching Artist Certification - A First in the Nation
Recognizing artists as a vital component in Pre K - 12 educational reform, the University of the Arts and the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership (PAEP), in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, will begin offering a first-in-the-nation Teaching Artist certificate through the University's Continuing Studies Division this fall. The research-based certificate program comprises visual, performing, literary, media and crafts, and is designed to build the knowledge and capacity of artists to work alongside teachers and arts specialists in Pre K-12 classrooms and community settings. Read more.
Board of Trustees Appointments
The University of the Arts Board of Trustees added four new members at its April 24 meeting:
  • Mark Donnolo '85 (Graphic Design), chairman-elect of the University's Alumni Council; founder and officer with The Sales Leadership Forum and SalesGlobe, an Atlanta-based senior executive and management consulting firm that works with Fortune 500 and mid-cap companies.

  • Brian Effron, president of Media, Pa.-based Healthcare Administrative Partners, a leading supplier of state-of the-art medical billing, consulting and practice management solutions.

  • William R. Gast '68 (Graphic Design), member of the University's Marketing Committee; president and CEO of Mangos, Inc., a Malvern, Pa.-based full-service advertising agency with clients that include Bank of America, Cannondale Bicycles, Olympus and Siemens Healthcare.

  • Sueyun Pyo Locks, owner of Philadelphia's Locks Gallery, which has represented an international group of critically respected contemporary artists working in a wide variety of disciplines since 1968.
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