The CAFAD Newsletter

egistration is underway for the 2006 CAFAD AGM and Symposium to be hosted by the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, October 26 – 28.

9:45am-11:45am: Panel: Art and Science: Fusion and Confusion - Maria Lantin, Director, Intersections Digital Studio

1:45pm-4:00pm: Panel: Artist as Researcher: What's Up With That?- Randy Lee Cutler, Associate Dean, Emily Carr Institute

4:30pm-6:00pm: President's Reception at Charles H Scott Gallery, Emily Carr Institute

1. Updates on Retirement Policies, Succession Planning and Faculty Recruitment
2. Health and Safety and Risk Management in Fine Arts Education

obody would ever suggest that School of Music founding director D. F. Cook was in need of a make-over. D. F. Cook Hall, on the other hand, is a whole other matter. After more than twenty years of loving use, Newfoundland and Labrador’s premiere recital venue was in need of more than a bit of nip and tuck. Last year, in partnership with the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Cultural Spaces Canada, we were able to complete some major structural and technical upgrades. Once again in 2006 Canadian Heritage has waved its make-over wand in our direction, this time with funds to metamorphose the hall back into the raving beauty of its youth. New carpeting, luxurious (and silent!) new seating and the first paint job in twenty years has transformed the hall from its dowdy acoustic perfection to an absolute knockout. The “wow factor” is back!

Work on the make-over was completed on June 24^th, just in time to welcome the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, followed in quick succession by Sound Symposium, the St. John’s Jazz Festival and the Tuckamore Festival: Chamber Music in Newfoundland and Labrador. With barely time catch our breath, the School of Music only now has the opportunity to celebrate the totally renewed facility with its friends and supporters. The date set for the rededication of the Hall is September 11^th with a gala concert at 8 pm. The program will feature spectacular performances by School of Music alumni, faculty and students, as well as a representation of some of the musicians from the Newfoundland and Labrador community who call D. F. Cook Hall their favourite performance venue.

As excited as we are about the D. F. Cook make-over, we have not forgotten the essential contribution of those who donated so significantly to the construction of the hall twenty plus years ago through the “purchase” of seats. Before this round of renovations began, we carefully removed all 249 dedicatory plaques and are re-mounting them on a wall of honour which will be installed in the entrance to the Hall. An added benefit: now you won’t have to sit in every seat in the house to find out who to thank for supporting out wonderful concert venue! “

n May, Professor Michael Coyne, Founding Head of the Department of Visual Arts and Professor Ken Livingstone, Founding Head of the Department of Theatre, were inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council “Hall of Honour” for their contributions to the arts community in Newfoundland and Labrador. The School of Fine Arts opened in September 1988. Also in May Professor Marlene MacCallum, Printmaker, Visual Arts, and Professor Don Foulds, Sculpture, Visual Arts were inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy.

In July the Theatre Department’s original production of Fear of Flight created in association with Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland played to standing-room only houses at the Magnetic North Festival in St. John’s.

In August School of Fine Arts Head, Ken Livingstone directed The Tempest for Rising Tide Theatre’s Trinity Festival. The production featured an original score by Newfoundland’s legendary musicians Pamela Morgan and Figgy Duff.

ncoming Dalhousie violin student, Paul Medeiros, is the recipient of the 2006 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant in Classical Music (Orchestral Instrument), an award given to a student entering first year in a music performance program. Paul is a student of Prof. Philippe Djokic.

Dalhousie soprano, Maureen Batt, of Fredericton, N.B. placed second at the 2006 National Musical Festival held in Thunder Bay, Ontario in August. Maureen is entering her fourth year of a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, studying with Professor Marcia Swanston.

Members of the Performance Faculty were heard in numerous Summer Music Festivals: Philippe Djokic (Ottawa Int’l. Chamber Music Festival, Clear Lake Music Festival, New Brunswick Music Festival), Lynn Stodola (Ottawa), Peter Allen (Scotia Festival, Kincardin and New Brunswick).

Marcia Swanston, mezzo soprano spent the month of April rehearsing and performing with Vancouver Opera in their critically acclaimed production of Faust. She sang with Symphony Nova Scotia in two performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and shared a recital in idyllic Mahone Bay with baritone, Andrew Tees.

Dr. Jennifer Bain had an article in Plainsong and Medieval Music and this summer received national media attention (CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, the Montreal Gazette, the Toronto Star etc.) for her research on the Salzinnes Antiphonal, a magnificent 16th-century manuscript owned by the Patrick Power Library at St. Mary's University in Halifax.

Josh MacDonald and Anthony Black (Theatre Studies), Susan Leblanc, Peter Horne and Andrea Leigh Smith (Acting).

Dr. Kate Bredeson is joining the Department for two years on a Killam postdoctoral fellowship.

Dr. Jure Gantar has just returned from a year long sabbatical that was spent in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Jennifer Overton (Acting) premiered her first play, God's Middle Name, based on life with her autistic son, at Eastern Front Theatre's On The Waterfront Festival in May 2006. The response to the production was very positive, and a
remount in Halifax and subsequent tour are in being planned for next year.

Bruce Mac Lennan (Technical/Scenography) designed lighting for "God's Middle Name" and for "The Mystery of Maddy Heisler" and "Lillibet" two new Canadian plays for Ship's Company Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.

The 2006-07 DalTheatre season:
A History of the American Film, by Christopher Durang, October 17 to 21, 2006
Marathon ?33, by June Havoc, Nov.28 to Dec. 2, 2006
A Dream Play, by August Strindberg, Feb. 6 to 10, 2007
The Bourgeois Gentleman, by Molière, Mar. 27 to 31, 2007

ean Catherine Wild is pleased to announce that the Faculty of Fine Arts has been awarded a new Tier-2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Inter-X Art Practice and Theory, for Sandeep Bhagwati in the Departments of Music and Theatre. Tier-2 chairs are for exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead their field. Tier-2 Chairs are awarded $100,000 annually for five years.

In addition to the CRC recognition and funding, Professor Bhagwati has also been awarded another $50 000 in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for his MATRA ((Movement/Media/Music) (Art) (Theatre/Theory) (Research) (Agency)) project.

Professor Bhagwati arrived at Concordia in August from Musikhochschule Karlsruhe in Germany, where he teaches multimedia composition. At Concordia, he will use interdisciplinary art practices to bridge the gap between emerging art forms and their aesthetic reflection. The aim of his research is to establish a practical and theoretical framework for the creation and evaluation of inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural, inter-media and inter-active art.

Dr. Truong Vo-Van, Vice-Provost, Research, and Chair of the University Research Awards Adjudication Committee, announced that Dr. Catherine Russell, from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, was the recipient of the (senior) 2006 University Research Award.

From June 7^thto August 28^th the Centre for the Arts in Human Development invited the Concordia community to a vernissage of artwork by its participants at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The works by adults with developmental or related disabilities were on display as the result of the participants’ involvement in a series of workshops in the Education and Public Programmes Department of the Museum.

he Schulich School of Music is thrilled to announce that it will host the Sixth Annual Future of Music Policy Summit, October 5 – 7, 2006, in conjunction with Festival Pop Montreal.

FMC's Policy Summit is known as one of the year's most important music/technology/policy conferences – the place where musicians, industry and policymakers engage in core issues in a meaningful way. In 2006, for the first time, FMC will expand these conversations to the world stage by presenting the Summit in Montreal, Canada, in collaboration with McGill University's Schulich School of Music and Pop Montreal.

Join us for conversations about international copyright issues, new revenue streams, digital rights management, and how orchestras are navigating change. Learn how musicians are dealing with new marketing and licensing options. Attend special sessions on audio fidelity, archiving and preservation, international touring/visas, and sampling/remixing. For more information visit the FMC Summit website at:

native of Seoul, South Korea, Jinny M.J. Yu has lived in Seoul, Montreal, Toronto, Sackville, and Venice and is presently living in Ottawa. She holds an MFA and MBA degree from York University and from Schulich School of Business and a BFA degree from Concordia University.

Since 1996, Yu’s works have been shown in numerous exhibitions, in museums and galleries across Canada, in the U.S., Japan and Russia. An artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre in 1999, at Stiftung Starke in Berlin in 2004, at Red Gate Gallery in Beijing in 2005, and a grant recipient of Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, Jinny Yu has previously taught at York University in Toronto and at Mount Allison University before coming to teach at University of Ottawa. From 2005, she has also taken part on research projects at the Center for Studies on Technologies in Distributed Intelligence Systems at the Venice International University. She has given guest lectures at various educational institutions, such as Sangmyung University in Seoul, Korea, NSCAD University in Halifax, Concordia University and Cegep Rosemont in Montreal.

Represented by the Galerie Art Mûr in Montreal, her paintings are featured in various museum, corporation, foundation and private collections.

he Faculty of Fine Arts and The Accolade Project, York’s magnificent new teaching, performance and exhibition complex, were the beneficiaries of the 2006 Brazilian Carnival Ball, Canada’s premier fundraising gala, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in May. The event, attended by more than 1,700 people from the arts, business, fashion, finance and social scene, resulted in a contribution of $2-million to support the capital campaign for the Accolade Project and graduate and undergraduate student scholarships in Fine Arts.

Last month saw the launch of a new interdisciplinary, professional development program offered jointly by York University and the Ontario Arts Council: a Certificate Course in Arts Education designed for artists who present special arts education projects in Ontario schools. The course brought 42 professional musicians, dancers, theatre artists, writers and visual artists to York to study the stages of child and adolescent development and current issues in education. The course was developed by Fine Arts Associate Dean Belarie Zatzman in collaboration with Kathleen Gould Lundy, who teaches in the Faculties of Education and Fine Arts at York, and Steven Campbell, director of community partnerships at the OAC. “From exploring the arts as a form of literacy, to examining best practices in arts in education, this certificate reflects contemporary educational practices which provoke questions and acknowledge the complexity of teaching the arts,” Zatzman said.

York Dances
York was Canada’s dance central in July as the Department of Dance hosted a series of international gatherings, including the pinnacle dance conference of the year: the World Dance Alliance Global Assembly 2006. Produced and organized by dance department Chair Mary Jane Warner, the WDA Assembly brought together more than 300 dance artists, scholars and students from more than 20 countries for discussions and performances around the theme Dance/Diversity/Dialogue: Bridging Communities and Cultures. International presenters include Dance Forum Taipei (Taiwan), Conny Janssen Danst (The Netherlands), Surdance Ensemble (Argentina) and Contempodanza (Mexico). Canadian artists included Karen Jamieson Dance Company with Byron Chief-Moon, Calgary’s Bird Soul Productions and York alumna Debra Brown, choreographer for nine Cirque du Soleil productions. The WDA Global Assembly was book-ended by Living Ritual: World Indigenous Dance Festival organized by First Nations dancer-choreographer and York alumna Santee Smith, and The CORPS de Ballet International Conference, co-hosted by York’s dance department and Canada’s National Ballet School and co-organized by York dance professor Claire Wootten.

Student Honours
York film student Ryan Knight was the National Film Board of Canada’s official English-language cinematographer at the Ceremony of Remembrance held on July 1 in France to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battles of the Somme and Beaumont Hamel. Knight was awarded this honour when his production, The Road of the World, won first prize in the Make Shorts Not War film competition co-sponsored by the NFB, Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. His film was chosen from some 280 entries across Canada.

Third-year York/Sheridan design student Nelson Cheng beat out 200 competitors to win the Canadian leg of the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition for his design of a martini glass. Cheng's prize included the opportunity to select an internship from a list of leading design studios in Canada and the U.S. as well as a trip to Milan, where he represented Canada at the global Bombay Sapphire finals. He spent the summer interning at the New York studio of world-renowned design guru Karim Rashid.

avid Tucker, Chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts received the 2006 Media Award for Excellence in health reporting from the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Nurses Association for his documentary Change of Heart.

Finbarr O’Reilly, a graduate from the School of Journalism, won the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year 2005 award for an image of a one-year old malnourished child and his mother in Niger.

The inaugural Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival (TIDFAF) took place in May 2006 under the founding leadership of Catherine MacKinnon, a 2004 graduate from the School of Image Arts.

Fashion - Allison Matthews David, Kimberly Wahl, Joseph Medaglia, Grahame Lynch.

In September 2006, Ryerson was an official venue of the Toronto International Film Festival, and in May 2006, hosted Sprockets, TIFFG’s children’s film festival. In May 2006, Timothy Moore, an Image Arts graduate, won top prize in TIFFG’s Student Film Showcase for his two minute film Colourbars.

Final year collections of fashion graduates were showcased windows of the Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street store in July/August, while three graduating Fashion students, Tanya Tessier, Mary-Helen-Muldoon, and Danielle Meder sold their designs at HBC and Zellers over the past year.

This summer, Ingrid Haas, Sophia Walker, and Aidan de Salaiz, graduates of the Theatre School, performed either with the Stratford or Blythe Festivals. Another graduate, Natalie Lisinska, starred in the CBC miniseries At the Hotel. The Ryerson School of Interior Design also played host to the HGTV reality mini-series Design Interns which airs this October.

Dr. Michael Murphy, School of Radio and Television Arts, received a $400,000 grant from Communications and Information Technology Canada to research the impact of the Semantic Web in facilitating industrial design and manufacturing in the automotive sector.

FCAD launches four new graduate programs in including: Master of Business Administration in Management and Innovation with a field of study in Media Management (fall 2006); Master of Arts in Media Production (fall 2007); Master of Fine Arts in documentary Media (fall 2007); and Master of Journalism (fall 2007).

he Faculty of Music received its second Provost’s Academic Initiative Fund grant, this one to support its global music education initiative, Thinking Outside the Bachs: The Global Music Initiative. The grant will help the Faculty expand its number of ongoing world music ensembles to at least seven, build new facilities for world music ensemble rehearsal, bring to campus leading artists from around the world for 9-month residencies, initiate international exchange programs, and contribute to cultural programming and education with the Toronto District School Board and the community at large. The Faculty of Music also received support from the University’s new Student Experience Fund to replace all of its seating, develop a paperless registrarial system, and renovate student gathering spaces.

Scholarships The Faculty of Music has established two awards that will act as a boost to the fledgling careers of graduates. These $25,000 awards go to graduating students deemed to have the greatest potential to make an important contribution to the field of music with students from all faculty divisions being eligible. The inaugural Tecumseh Sherman Rogers Graduating Award goes to organist Ryan Jackson. This award was established by John B. Lawson in memory of his grandfather. The William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award of the same amount goes to violinist Sarah Nematallah. This award honours the founders of the Waters Challenge Fund in Music and is funded through a gift from James and Margaret Fleck in combination with donations from music alumni and patrons to the Springboard Student Awards program.

Christopher Ku was named a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists after having completed theoretical and practical examinations in organ performance, church music and comprehensive musical skills with the highest standards. At age 22, the youngest organist ever to be named a Fellow since the foundation of the RCCO, he received three scholarships: The Willan Scholarship (for highest overall marks), The Doreen Porter Prize (for highest marks in the test portion of the Practical exam), and The Heather Spry Prize (for highest marks in theoretical work). Christopher is in his fourth year as an undergraduate student majoring in Organ Performance and studying with John Tuttle.

Andrew Staniland (D.Mus candidate), Aaron Gervais (B.Mus, 2005) and Henry J. Ng (M.Mus candidate) are among this year's winners at the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers. Aaron Gervais was awarded first prize (Pierre Mercure Awards) in the "solo or duet compositions" category for Culture No. 1 for harp, piano and audio samples. Andrew Staniland captured first prize (Hugh Le Caine Awards) in the "electronic and electro acoustic music" category for Despite Bright Ideas. Andrew was also awarded second prize in the "solo or duet compositions" category for Air, three short pieces for percussion and accordion. Henry J. Ng was awarded third prize in the "solo and duet compositions" category for Extension, for electric bassoon and digital signal processing. This year’s competition attracted 210 entries, with 15 award recipients receiving a total $26,250 in prizes.

he Association for Theatre in Higher Education named Diana Mady Kelly, Professor Emeritus and past director of the School of Dramatic Art, as the 2006 Outstanding Teacher of Theatre in Higher Education at their annual conference in August.

The University of Windsor was the first Canadian institution to host The Michael Chekhov Association’s annual International Michael Chekhov Workshop and Festival on July 6 through 15. The School of Dramatic Art welcomed approximately 80 actors, directors, and university professors from seven different countries to its Jackman Dramatic Art Centre. The annual event features the training of actors, directors, and educators in the acting techniques of Michael Chekhov (nephew of playwright Anton Chekhov).

The School of Dramatic Art and Sibling Rivalry offered a two week intensive stage combat workshop this August. One hundred percent of participants passed their Academy of Dramatic Combat certification exam.

David French will be visiting the University of Windsor yet again, this time for the opening night of the University Players’ 2006-2007 season opener, That Summer by David French.

The School of Music is pleased to welcome two new tenure-track professors. Dr. Janice Waldron work with Music Education students and Dr. Charity Marsh will be teaching courses and doing research on popular music and ethnomusicology. We are also pleased to welcome Dr. Lucanne Magill into our Music Therapy program.

The School is making great strides in pursuit of its new goal of embracing diverse musics and innovation. The School now offers private instruction in jazz and popular music and is working towards a combined Music Therapy and Social Work degree.

The LeBel Gallery in the School of Visual Arts is undergoing a facelift. This exhibition space is being transformed to a new white box space just in time for students to launch their year of exhibitions.

Professor Emeritus Iain Baxter will travel to Barcelona to execute a print project at the Poligrafa Obra Grafica facility and his 2005 retrospective exhibition curated by Gallery Vox will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Nice this fall.

his academic year marks the twentieth anniversary of the undergraduate music therapy program at Wilfrid Laurier University. On November 25, the Music Therapy program will formally celebrate with a symposium on Physioacoustics. Keynote speaker, Marco Kärkkäinen, a leading expert in the field, will speak about the two physioacoustic chairs that arrived at the Laurier Centre for Music Therapy Research (LCMTR) last December. The chairs, invented in Finland by Petri Lehikoinen after 20 years of research, look like recliners, and have been used by clients and medical health practitioners in the area. The patient feels sound as a computer emits low frequency sound waves (within the range of 27-114 HZ) through six audio speakers in the chair that relieve stress and tension through deep body massage. LCMTR Director Heidi Ahonen–Eerikäinen, who worked for six years to bring the chairs to the Centre, says that they have many applications: “This form of therapy is safe and has been used to treat various conditions, from migraines to heart problems, and high blood pressure to insomnia. Physioacoustic therapy has been used in occupational healthcare, sports medicine, and geriatric rehabilitation, and I know that insurance companies in Finland and the United States, recognizing its benefits, are covering the cost of this therapy.”

Dr. Charles Morrison, Dean of Music, hopes that in the coming years, Laurier’s Music Therapy program will establish a PhD program and be a key player in Laurier’s new Faculty of Education, offering courses and possibly more extensive programs in Special Education. “I would like to see within the next decade a body of research built up in the Laurier Centre for Music Therapy Research (LCMTR) that firmly secures Music Therapy a place among the most serious, well-respected, and demonstrably effective health care options.”

In other news, Composition professors and a voice grad are enjoying deserved rewards: Dr. Glenn Buhr received a Genie Award for a song he wrote for the film Seven Times Lucky, Dr. Peter Hatch was named the University’s Research Professor of the Year, and this month, voice alum Jane Archibald begins a two-year soloist engagement with the Vienna State Opera.

he Department of Fine Arts is hosting a two-day symposium, To DRAW or not, 4-5 October, with talks by Cathy Daley, Andy Fabo, Patrick Maynard, Ed Pien, Margaret Priest, Isabella Stefanescu, and Tony Urquhart.

Jane Buyers’s work is featured in two exhibitions: Natural Selections at Paul Petro Gallery, Toronto (8 September - 7 October) and Into the Woods: Jane Buyers and Mary Catherine Newcomb at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo (10 September - 7 January).

Cora Cluett has work in Informal Ideas: 01/06 Stand at Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto (8 July - 26 August); Abstraction at Diaz Contemporary in Toronto (27 July - 2 September); and Pulse: Film and Painting After the Image, Mount St. Vincent Art Gallery (14 October - 26 November).

Joan Coutu’s book, Persuasion and Propaganda: Monuments and the Eighteenth-century British Empire will be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in October.

Paul Dignan is participating in a group show at the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Studio Alert: Illuminating the Source, which also features two UW grads, Melissa Doherty and Soheila Esfahani (5 October - 7 January).

Andrew Hunter, recently appointed Director/Curator of the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, has curated an exhibition at the University of Toronto Art Centre, To a Watery Grave, that examines the lore and imagery associated with doomed ships, deaths by drowning, and lost souls (25 July - 30 September).

Split-Level Paradise: Simon Glass, Ed Pien and Thelma Rosner, curated by former Director/Curator of the UW Art Gallery, Carol Podedworny opens on 15 September and runs until 19 October.

Robert Linsley’s work is featured in New Research in Abstraction at Hacienda Sarria, Kitchener (opens 15 September). The exhibition also includes work by UW grads Mike Murphy and Sasha Pierce.

he Department of Dramatic Arts has announced its main stage productions for 2006/07 under the banner ‘Love and Loss: the troubled dawn of the last millennium.’ In November new faculty member Virginia Reh will direct Jean Anouilh’s Ring Round the Moon (L’invitation au château), and in February 2007 Associate Professor Gyllian Raby revisits the same decade on the Canadian prairies in Kevin Kerr’s Unity 1918. Both productions feature set and costume design by Assistant Professor David Vivian.

David Vivian recently returned from Helsinki where he convened the Scenography Working Group at the World Congress of the International Federation of Theatre Research. Addressing the conference theme of Global versus Local, David presented a paper about the Department's recent production of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country's Good, directed by Assistant Professor David Fancy and designed by himself. As convener and in collaboration with Scenography International, OISTAT History and Research Commission and the Theatre Institute in Prague, Prof. Vivian will be hosting a conference on the occasion of the Prague Quadrennial of Scenography next year, where he is also the faculty coordinator responsible for the participation of Canadian schools of theatre.

The Department of Visual Arts has expanded its studios significantly with a new interdisciplinary studio and digital arts lab. In addition, the department has strengthened its New Media program with four new course offerings: Web-based Interactive Media, 3D Modeling and Animation, Digital Video Art and Intermedia: Time and Space. Faculty members Jean Bridge and Duncan MacDonald are providing leadership in this growing area of studio practice.

Assistant Professor Diane Borsato is maintaining an active exhibition schedule, adding to recent projects in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec with a performance for the City of Toronto Nuit Blanche International Contemporary Art Event (fall 2006), a poster project for SAW Gallery in Ottawa (September/October 2006), and a relational performance/installation for the Art Gallery at York University (spring 2007). Visiting Artist Amanda Burk has exhibited recently at AWOL Gallery in Miami, Hangman Gallery in Toronto, and the Rotunda Gallery in Kitchener. Associate Professor Jean Bridge unveiled new digital media work this spring at Toronto Free Gallery and St. Catharines, Ontario City Hall.

In the Department of Music, Associate Professor Harris Loewen, director of Brock's choirs, is hosting an expanded choral series this year. On the concert lineup will be the Strata Vocal Ensemble of Hamilton (including Associate Professor and choral tenor Dr. Brian Power), along with three groups conducted by Dr. Loewen: the Niagara Vocal Ensemble, the Brock Chamber Choir and the Brock Women’s' Chorus.

Brandon University

School Of Music

David Playfair was a professional singer/dancer/actor for ten years in and around Toronto before completing his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the University of Toronto. His voice teachers included Gary Relyea, Lorna MacDonald and Mary Morrison. Playfair has taught voice privately and at the university level for many years and has also taught children in schools and in the community. He has been director of many musical theatre productions and has appeared professionally in Phantom of the Opera in Toronto and Vancouver. His concert and opera experience is extensive, ranging from a recital with the St. Lawrence String Quartet to Gilbert and Sullivan productions at the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Kennedy Centre (Washington) and Stratford Festival. Earlier in his career, he acted in several productions at the Stratford and Charlottetown Festivals and sang with Opera Atelier. Playfair is a candidate for the PhD in Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Iowa and has also studied at the Banff Centre of the Arts and Britten-Pears School of Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh.

Megumi Masaki obtained a Master of Music from the University of Western Ontario, as well as a Postgraduate Diploma from the Royal College of Music in London, England. She has performed extensively since 1985 across North America and around the world, including China, Cyprus, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, the Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan. She is artistic director of the ESF Orchestra in Germany, where she has conducted opera and symphonic concerts and she co-founded the Waterford Summer Music Festival in Utah, where she has been artistic and programming director for the past seven years.

Masaki’s doctoral thesis is entitled “The Life and Works of S. C. Eckhardt-Gramatté” and her research projects on Eckhardt-Gramatté’s music will not only complement the past research of members of the School of Music, but will strengthen the strong commitment Brandon University maintains to advance the music of Eckhardt-Gramatté. Masaki produced a critical performing edition of Eckhardt-Gramatte’s Piano Caprices that was published by Brandon University Press in 1996. A revised second edition was published in 2006. Masaki was also researcher/performer for the film documentary “Appassionata: the Extraordinary Life and Music of S. C. Eckhardt-Gramatté” prepared by Buffalo Gals Film Production for the CBC “Opening Night” program.

he Music Department received a donation of more than 3,000 scores for band from the Regina Lions Band. Brent Ghiglione, U of R Director of Bands, was instrumental in procuring the donation that will be housed in the Music Ensemble Library.

After thirty-two years with the Department as the jazz and trumpet specialist, Dr. Ed Lewis retired June 30^th. Dr Lewis has been named Professor Emeritus.

The Claybank Brick Plant National Historic site was host to Crossfiring, a Sound and Site Installation Exhibition of national and international artists from August 18 to September 1^st. The exhibition culminated on September 2nd with a community-based, cross-cultural, site-specific Performance Event. The dawn-to-dusk extravaganza included 40 performances by dancers, singers, ceramists, sound artists, performers, musicians, and media artists in the Brick Plant and up into the "cuts" through the historic clay pits. Crossfiring was produced by Knowhere Productions (Kathleen Irwin, Theatre Department, and Rory McDonald, Visual Arts Department) and featured performances and installations by faculty from all four Fine Arts departments.

Musical Theatre for a New Millennium, an intensive summer credit program designed to help students to adapt and grow as performers, was held Aug 7 to 19 at the U of R. Students from high school to the graduate level participated in two weeks of dance, singing, acting, writing and production that culminated in a performance and earned them nine credit hours of University study.

Instructors included U of R Theatre Department faculty members Kelly Handerek and Shaun Phillips, and Grant Wenaus, originally from Regina, who is a pianist, conductor and vocal coach at New York University.

The Faculty is pleased to welcome new faculty member, David McBride, a term appointment, Technical Theatre and Production Management. David holds a BFA (Technical Theatre) from the U of R and has worked as the house technician at Regina’s Globe Theatre and does lighting design and technical direction for theatre companies around Saskatchewan.

Faculty member Kathryn Bracht received a $7,500 grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board for her project signs: the monologue in five voices. This interdisciplinary performance involved artists responding to a piece of text by creating a monologue in their art form (writing, photography, soundscape).

Angela Schroeder joins us in the area of Wind Band Conducting. A native of Calgary, Prof. Schroeder has an undergraduate music degree from U of Calgary, MMus in Conducting from Northwestern University, and is currently completing her doctorate at University of North Texas.

Federico Spinetti has been appointed in the area of Ethnomusicology. From Bergamo, Italy, Dr. Spinetti studied at the University of Bologna, and completed graduate studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Dr. Spinetti’s research centers on the music of Tajikistan

Henry Klumpenhouwer, associate professor of music theory, was recently appointed the editor for Music Theory Spectrum, the twice-yearly journal of The Society for Music Theory.

The University of Alberta Madrigal Singers (Leonard Ratzlaff, conductor) has been awarded the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors’ National Choral Award in the Recordings category for their CD “The Passing of the Year”.

The Faculty of Arts is pleased to announce that M. Elizabeth (Betsy) Boone is new Chair and Professor of the History of Art, Design and Visual Culture at the University of Alberta. Betsy’s book, Vistas de España: American Views of Art and Life in Spain, 1860-1914, explores American artists’ perceptions of Spain and demonstrates how artistic responses to Spanish art helped to answer emerging, complex questions about American national identity. It will be published by Yale University Press in spring 2007.

Colleen Skidmore saw the publication of her book, This Wild Spirit: Women in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, by the University of Alberta Press in summer 2006. This Wild Spirit explores a sampling of women's creative responses—in fiction and travel writing, photographs and paintings, embroidery and beadwork, letters and diaries, poetry and posters—to their experiences in the Rocky Mountains of Canada.

Joan Greer, Susan Colberg, and Blair Brennan collaborated with Margaret Asch, Regula Burckhardt Qureshi, Jon McCollum, and Atesh Sonneborn on Seeing the World of Sound: the Cover Art of Folkways Records, an exhibition that showcased 209 record covers—a mere one-tenth of the entire Folkways catalogue—and explored how the visual relates and contributes to the recorded sound. Commemorating the birth centennial of Moses Asch, the exhibition and catalogue highlighted 38 years of musical and artistic collaboration, featuring the work of important artists, photographers, and designers such as Walker Evans, David Stone Martin and Ben Shahn.

Jan Selman (MFA Directing ’79) returns to the Department Chair office this fall after a one year administrative leave working full time as the principal investigator on the Community-University Research Alliance grant project, Are We There Yet? : Using Theatre in Teen Sexuality Education.

A group of 10 graduate and 5 undergraduate students, with Dr. Rosalind Kerr and Dr. Piet Defraeye, enjoyed a whirlwind ten days in Germany this past April, filled with theatre, art, culture and learning, but also friendship, food, drink and socializing

Professor Dr. Rosalind Kerr has edited Lesbian Plays: Coming of Age in Canada, Canada's first anthology of lesbian plays. Coming of Age contains a dozen works, including several award winners, produced since 1989 in Canadian venues large-and-small. In June, the anthology sold all on-hand copies at its Toronto Pride launch. Contributing artists like Alec Butler, Susan G. Cole and Corrina Hodgson joined Kerr for the celebratory event. The anthology is now sold on-line by Playwrights' Canada Press at www.playwrightscanada.com.

In Ragged Islands, Don Hannah – University of Alberta Lee Playwright-In-Residence and celebrated novelist – gives us a moving, witty and tender portrait of a woman whose life has been shaped equally by family secrets and by the turbulent history of the twentieth century.

Several Department of Drama alumni were invited to represent Canada at Washington's first "Capital Fringe" Festival this summer. Tracy Penner (BFA Acting '05) starred in her Sterling award nominated Simple Gifts, a one-woman show she wrote for herself to perform at the 2005 Edmonton Fringe, directed by Melissa Thinglestad (BFA Acting '05). Bradley Moss (MFA Directing '95) directed Never Swim Alone featuring Caroline Livingstone (BFA Acting '96) and Amber Borotsik (BFA Acting '01). Michele Brown (BFA Acting '81) starred in Spring Alibi.

agdalena von Eccher, a senior music major, was awarded the First Prize for the Piano Division of the National Music Competition held in Thunder Bay in August. “This is a remarkable accomplishment in one of the most challenging competitions in the country,” said Glen Montgomery, the music faculty member who accompanied her during the 45 minute performance. “Adjudicators Dr. Michael Kim, and Mary Lou Fallis were amazed by Magdalena's artistry and remarkable poetry in performances of the Mozart A -r Sonata and of the Ravel G+ Concerto. This is certainly a great achievement for her and a great honour for the University of Lethbridge.”

The Art Gallery is launching its on-line research database, which provides the public with access to the more than 13,000 objects in the University of Lethbridge’s Art Collection. Information associated with these objects is as important as the objects themselves. With this user-friendly database, visitors to the Gallery website can search for information and research related to the artworks in one of the most significant art collections in Canada. The Collection’s strength is the diversity of the works, which include several movements from Canada, America and Europe spanning the 19^th and 20^th centuries and the collection continues to grow with 21^st century additions.

The Gushul Studio for Visual and Literary Artists received a matching grant of $20,000 from Alberta Historical Resources Foundation for conservation of the property in the Crowsnest Pass, on the spectacular eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. The Studio and Cottage, which opened in 1988, provides a location for professional artists to work for one to three month residencies

The Faculty of Fine Arts has signed exchange agreements with the University of Malaysia Sarawak and the Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology. The agreements allow U of L fine arts faculty and students to spend time in Kuching or Kuala Lumpur and for their students and faculty to visit the U of L.

he Banff Centre is pleased to announce that Visual Arts director Anthony Kiendl has been awarded a Leverhulme Visiting Research Fellowship at Middlesex University’s School of the Arts in London, UK. Following his time in London, Kiendl will return to the Banff Centre in March 2007 to guest curate the Informal Architecture exhibition and to develop two publications associated with this project. The Centre will publish a two volume Informal Architecture book. The first volume will cover the 2004 Tate Modern and Banff International Curatorial Institute, Informal Architecture symposiums and the fall 2004 Informal Architecture thematic residency. The second publication will include the exhibition catalogue and an overview of research on this subject.

Vincent Varga, Executive Artistic Director, Fine Arts will oversee the Visual Arts portfolio while the Centre searches for a replacement for Prof. Kiendl.

Grant MacEwan College

Richard Cook, MacEwan's Dean of the Centre for the Arts, has accepted a new assignment with the college. Effective August 1 of this year, Dean Cook will work full-time on pursuing funding and support for a new Centre for the Arts at Grant MacEwan College. The long-term strategic goal of the College is to build a new Centre for the Arts in Edmonton to house programs in communications, fine art and performing arts. He will work with business, government and arts communities to create partnerships, to raise the profile of the College, and to assist in obtaining the resources necessary for MacEwan's success in this venture. Denise Roy has been named acting dean. In addition, Jannie Edwards will be joining the Dean's Office as Associate Dean until June 30, 2007. Jannie brings twenty six years of experience across the college to the position.

A new season of upcoming student performances has been announced. The Theatre Arts and Theatre Production programs are getting ready to showcase seven musicals including adaptations over a period of a total of 28 days for the coming school year. All performances are open to the public and include three main stage musical events, "Urinetown", "CRAZY FOR YOU", and "The Full Monty". The Music program will showcase student performances in eight concerts including the acclaimed "Month of Music" in March 2007.

CI has launched a new industry and research initiative that will support the Institute’s core faculty and student body, the new Masters Degree program, and the new research facility, (Intersections Digital Studio). Leading this new initiative, as Chief Industry + Research Officer, will be Catherine Warren, President of FanTrust Entertainment Strategies. Catherine and her team will focus on expanding research innovation, building industry alliances, and customizing job placements for Masters’ students.

Catherine holds a degree in physics from Reed College, Portland, Oregon, and a Masters degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Construction of the Intersections Digital Studio (IDS) is complete and ECI now has a 10,000 square feet multidisciplinary research centre. IDS houses state-of-the- arts equipment to facilitate collaborative projects with other educational institutions and with industry. IDS was made possible through funding from Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund and Western Economic Diversification, ECI, as well as private donations.

Dr. Maria Lantin has been appointed to the new position of Director, IDS, and will be responsible for the leadership and day-to-day management, with a focus on developing research collaborations within the Institute community and with a diverse external community.

Most recently, Dr. Lantin led the Visualization Lab within the Advanced Research Technology (ART) Labs at The Banff Centre. She was granted her PhD in Computing Science by Simon Fraser University (SFU) in 1999. Alternating between academia and industry for a number of years, she has worked as a senior developer at Mainframe Entertainment, an assistant professor at the Technical University of British Columbia (now SFU), and the Director of Research at IDELIX Software Inc.

ECI launches the new Masters of Applied Arts program this September with a full cohort of students in Design, Media Arts, and Visual Arts. Additional space in close proximity to the main campus has been secured to offer graduate students dedicated studio space.