Department/Centre News

• The Department of Music on stage!

  Monday, November 06, 2017 | By dtemprile

  

  Pictured above is a previous season performance of the Guitar Extravaganza (top), The Walker Quartet (left to right: Anna Hughes (2^nd violin), Faith Lau (viola), Gordon Cleland (cello) and Vera Alexeeva (1^st violin)), and pianist Dr. Karin Di Bella (bottom right).

  This weekend the Department of Music is presenting two spectacular concerts that will surely be among the highlights of the fall season.

  On Friday Nov. 10, as part of the Walker Cultural Leader Series, Encore! Professional Concert Series presents: The Walker Quartet with faculty pianist Karin Di Bella. The Walker Cultural Leader Series was generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker.

  Now in its second season, the Department of Music’s resident Walker String Quartet and Karin Di Bella present a program of two of the most iconic works in the string quintet repertoire, the Piano Quintets by Schumann in E-flat Major and Shostakovich in G Minor.

  This concert takes place on Friday Nov. 10, 2017 in the Partridge Concert Hall at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, starting at 7:30 pm. For more information, please visit the Department concert events webpage and the ExperienceBU page.

  Then on Saturday Nov. 11 as part of our continuing celebration of Canada’s 150 year of Confederation, the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre is once again the venue for the ever-popular Guitar Extravangaza III including a special Canada 150 performance of Carpe Noctem.

  Brock University’s annual celebration of the guitar commences at 7:30 pm on Saturday Nov. 11 in the Cairns Recital Hall.  An orchestra of 60 guitars comprised of Brock students, local amateurs and professionals will be directed by Brock University Guitar Instructor, Timothy Phelan. Special guest soloists include Matthew McAllister (Scotland) and Emma Rush (Canada).  The concert features a tribute to the late Warren Stirtzinger with George Kane (USA) and James Bryan McCollum (Canada), music composed by Timothy Phelan and the World Premiere of Carpe Noctem – a six-movement work written especially for this occasion by Niagara composer Floyd Turner.  For more information, please visit the Department concert events webpage and the ExperienceBU page.

  Tickets for both events can be ordered from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office (905.688.0722) or from their website.

  Tags: Brock University, Canada 150, Concert, downtown St. Catharines, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Guitar Extravaganza, Karin Di Bella, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, The Walker Quartet, Walker Cultural Leader Series
  Categories: Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Walker Cultural Leader Series

• Work of Visual Arts prof featured on Diana Krall tour

  Friday, November 03, 2017 | By dtemprile

  

  The artwork of Brock Fine Arts Assistant Professor Amy Friend is being featured on the international tour of renowned Canadian musician Diana Krall.

  (Source: The Brock News, Thursday, November 2, 2017 | By: Maryanne Firth)

  When the e-mail popped into Amy Friend’s inbox, she was certain it couldn’t be real.

  But a feeling inside prompted the Brock Fine Arts assistant professor to respond to the inquiry, which asked about her artwork and whether she’d consider collaborating with renowned Canadian musician Diana Krall.

  It was soon after that Friend found herself on the phone with the Grammy Award winner discussing possibilities for her upcoming tour.

  Friend’s experimental photography has since helped Krall to set the scene on stage, acting as her backdrop as she captivates crowds in venues across North America and Europe.

  

  Brock University Fine Arts Assistant Professor Amy Friend.

  Friend’s work has been featured on the jazz singer’s international tour since June and the partnership is expected to continue through to the summer.

  The project, which includes art pieces from three different bodies of work, has been “particularly fulfilling,” Friend said.

  She has enjoyed the challenge of working with Krall to find pieces that fit the mood and message of individual songs, while also complementing the title of the tour and Krall’s most recent album, Turn Up the Quiet.

  “It’s about trying to respect your own work, while also seeing how you can accommodate a vision that will fit within the repertoire they’re working with,” she said.

  Friend is currently working to select new pieces for Krall’s Canadian tour dates, including a Nov. 24 show at Massey Hall in Toronto that she plans to attend.

  “I’m looking forward to seeing her perform and to seeing my work filling the stage in a concert hall where I have heard musicians like Johnny Cash, Tom Waits and Nick Cave perform,” she said.

  Krall’s latest repertoire will include a cover of Bob Dylan’s Simple Twist of Fate, which Friend is particularly excited to find a piece to accompany.

  “Much of my work revolves around ideas of memory, impermanence, history and time,” said Friend, who has worked at Brock for the past decade. “I am less concerned with capturing a ‘concrete’ reality. Instead, I aim to use photography as a medium that offers the possibility of exploring the relationship between what is visible and non-visible.”

  Work featured on the tour includes hand-manipulated photographs, pieces featuring floating handkerchiefs once belonging to Friend’s grandparents, and artwork inspired by snippets of film from her childhood.

  Over the past few months, Friend and Krall have shared many inspiring conversations about family, creativity and women in the arts.

  “She has been so great to work with, you could almost forget her status in the music world,” Friend said.

  Krall often emphasized the need to respect Friend’s work and always checks in with the artist to ensure she’s pleased with the end results of each tour stop.

  Friend called it “refreshing” to be able to engage with other artists.

  “It exposes you to experiences that have commonalities and, at times, interesting variances,” she said. “It’s also wonderful to see how my work found a place to exist far beyond my initial intentions.”

  The team responsible for the on-stage initiative also included Judy Jacob, a video and visual content director, and Paul Normandale, a lighting designer, who Friend said “took the project to the next level.”

  In addition to her work with the tour, Friend has been busy over the past year with international exhibitions in Spain, Korea, Poland, Portugal and France. She has shows coming up in Boston and Italy and plans to release a new book in the near future.

  

  The artwork of Brock Fine Arts Assistant Professor Amy Friend is being featured on the international tour of renowned Canadian musician Diana Krall.

  Tags: Amy Friend, Brock University, canadian musician, diana krall, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, visual arts
  Categories: Department/Centre News, In the Media, News

• Brock co-led research to study police training in mental illness

  Monday, October 02, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Dr. Natalie Alvarez, an associate professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts

  (Source: The Brock News, Wednesday, September 13, 2017 | by Cathy Majtenyi)

  It’s the heat of the moment. A person in mental health distress is waving a knife in the air, yelling or screaming or perhaps even silent. A police officer is on the scene.

  What happens next?

  It’s a question that undoubtedly will come up in Toronto police Constable James Forcillo’s appeal trial, which started Monday. Forcillo was convicted of attempted murder for the 2013 shooting of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar.

  It’s also a question that Brock University researchers Natalie Alvarez and Yasmine Kandil are exploring in their research on how to use theatre to train police officers.

  

  Dr. Yasmine Kandil

  Alvarez, an associate professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts, along with Yasmine Kandil, an assistant professor in Dramatic Arts, are co-leading a study that will create and evaluate the effectiveness of a type of scenario-based police training grounded in problem-based training methods the team refers to as ‘forum scenarios.’

  In forum scenarios, a scene is played out for an audience. The scene is then performed again, but an audience member can step in to intervene by making different choices, creating a different outcome and changing the way a particular issue is viewed or dealt with. It’s a form of teaching and learning that promotes the principles of procedural justice.

  Theatre educators Alvarez and Kandil of Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts, and Wilfred Laurier forensic psychologist Jennifer Lavoie, alongside their cross-Canada team with specializations in mental illness and de-escalation training, are partnering with the Durham Regional Police and collaborators from the Ontario Police College.

  The federal government’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council has awarded the team a $310,960 grant to carry out the four-year study.

  “Experiential learning through forum methods is much more effective in integrating knowledge, being able to apply that knowledge and retain it long term,” says Alvarez. The study builds on Alvarez’s upcoming book that examines the use of immersive simulations in a variety of training and educational contexts.

  Experts involved in the scenarios aim to teach police officers how to recognize behavioural characteristics of various mental illnesses that may present barriers to communication in high-stakes encounters, the impacts and consequences that certain actions will have on the person in crisis, and how to de-escalate volatile situations.

  “We want to recreate situations where the officer perceives a situation where there’s an imminent threat, they’re under extreme stress, and they have to make refined, ethical judgments in that moment of stress,” says Alvarez.

  The team will also address mental health stigmas and misconceptions.

  For Alvarez, the research is not just academic.

  “My oldest sister suffers from schizophrenia and she’s become an advocate for the rights of people living with mental illness,” says Alvarez, adding that her sister frequently gives talks to RCMP officers on the subject.

  Tags: dramatic arts, miwsfpa, natalie alvarez, Police Training, SSHRC, Yasmine Kandil
  Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, Media Releases, News

• Material Girls opens at Rodman Hall

  Thursday, September 21, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Soheila Esfahani is one of 25 artists featured in Material Girls, an exhibition that opened Sept. 14 at Rodman Hall. She is pictured with her work, Cultured Pallets: Persian.

  (originally published in The Brock News on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 by Alison Innes)

  Women have claimed the spotlight at Rodman Hall this fall with a new large-scale exhibition.

  Material Girls — all about women taking up space — brings together work by 25 Canadian and international artists from across all artistic disciplines and cultural backgrounds. The exhibition, which opened Sept. 14, explores how material processes and ideas of excess relate to the feminized body and gendered space.

  “At Rodman Hall, we strive to be an agent of social change, presenting exhibitions that have resonance within our community, while engaging with dialogues beyond it,” says Rodman Hall Curator Marcie Bronson. “Among the issues our curatorial team took into consideration when planning to present Material Girls is the reality that our community is ranked one of the worst places in Canada to be a woman.”

  Niagara is considered one of the worst places in the country for women to live. A 2016 review by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ranked St. Catharines 19 out of Canada’s largest 25 metropolitan areas in terms of women’s education, health, personal security, economic security and positions of leadership.

  Women who are working in Niagara are earning 75 per cent of what men make for the same work. Out of all the communities surveyed, Niagara has the lowest level of full-time female employment, despite women being more likely than men to have completed higher education. Women are also underrepresented in leadership roles in government and business.

  “It is our hope that this exhibition and related programming will spark not only dialogue, but more importantly, action to affect the positive and lasting change that is necessary to close the gender gap and reach our city’s vision of being dynamic, innovative, sustainable and livable,” Bronson explains.

  Hosting the exhibition in Rodman’s historic domestic space is particularly meaningful.

  “The show Material Girls has inserted itself into the house, and has re-imagined this domestic space in a way that pulls the focus towards women,” explains Gallery Assistant Lauren Regier. “This is especially significant as there is little known about the Merritt women — Mary Benson Merritt and Maud Hudson Merritt — both of whom seem to have resided in the house longer than their respective husbands.”

  Rodman Hall has partnered with YWCA Niagara to present an outreach program that invites girls in Grades 10 to 12 to explore visual arts materials within the themes of taking up space and the feminized body. Participants in Power Girl Material Girl will create a collaborative installation that will be on view at Rodman Hall beginning Nov. 17 and wrapping up alongside the full Material Girls exhibition Dec. 30.

  The exhibition, for which tours are available Saturdays at 2 p.m., is curated by Blair Fornwald, Jennifer Matotek and Wendy Peart of the Dunlop Art Gallery, a unit of the Regina Public Library.

  Tags: Lauren Regier, Marcie Bronson, Material Girls, Rodman Hall Art Centre, visual arts
  Categories: Alumni, Department/Centre News, In the Media, News

• Dramatic Arts alumna honoured with Faculty of Humanities Distinguished Graduate Award

  Thursday, September 14, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Brock alumna and puppeteer Sarah Argue will be giving a talk about her business at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Friday, Sept. 15, before being honoured at the Alumni Recognition Reception on Saturday, Sept. 16 as part of Homecoming weekend.

  (Source: The Brock News, Wednesday, September 13, 2017 | by Alison Innes)

  With a little felt and a lot of talent, Sarah Argue (BA ’06) has created a career for herself in the world of puppetry.

  Through her business, Rock the Arts, the Brock dramatic arts alumna has been touring across Canada with her crew of unique characters sharing shows about compassion, enjoying the little things in life and the power of choice.

  She will return to her alma mater Friday, Sept. 15 to share insight into her professional puppet company. The presentation will take place at 1 p.m. in Studio A of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. All members of the Brock community are invited to attend.

  Argue is in town to receive the Faculty of Humanities Distinguished Graduate Award, to be presented on Saturday, Sept. 16 during the Alumni Recognition Reception held as part of Brock’s Homecoming weekend.

  It has been seven years since Argue launched her successful business after quitting what she described as a “normal job” — working as a program co-ordinator for the City of Ottawa — to pursue her passion.

  She taught herself how to make the felt creations and began taking her show on the road.

  Argue now has a roster of 80 puppets that she uses to perform shows in schools, libraries and theatres. She has also produced a children’s CD and currently has multiple projects on the go, including a film, children’s book and book to support other artists wanting to build their own careers.

  Argue credits the diverse theatre experience she received at Brock — where she performed in The Crucible and directed a Norm Foster play, among other productions — for preparing her for the stage.

  “I didn’t realize at the time what a gift it was,” Argue said of her Brock degree. “I didn’t realize what a well-balanced degree I was getting in theatre.”

  Her time as an undergrad had her touch on lighting, acting, directing and costuming — all beneficial to her career. That experience gave her the confidence to walk into any theatre and comfortably speak to the techs in charge about how her show is set up.

  Argue’s love for creating puppets is matched only by the experience of giving them a voice and watching them evolve into life-like characters.

  Turning her passion into a business hasn’t always been easy, but Argue has relied on the support of other artists. Puppeteer Noreen Young, from Under the Umbrella Tree, has been a mentor to Argue, helping her learn how to pitch to networks and encouraging her to keep going when times get tough.

  Workshops with puppeteer Trish Leeper of Muppets fame have introduced Argue to the idea of puppetry on camera, guiding her toward more film work, including the #IHopeFor awareness campaign for childhood cancer.

  “You need a lot of support from other artists to keep going,” Argue said, while expressing her desire to pay that sentiment forward.

  Carol Merriam, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, said the Faculty is pleased to recognize Argue with the Distinguished Graduate award.

  “The skills that she learned in her studies in dramatic arts and the creativity, enthusiasm and drive that were fostered at Brock have led her to create her own niche,” she said. “Hers is the kind of success we hope and expect from graduates of Brock.”

  Tags: Distinguished Alumni, dramatic arts, puppets, Rock the Arts, Sarah Argue
  Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, News

• Brock University Annual Homecoming Weekend and Ontario 150 Presents … A Free SESQUI Virtual Reality Experience

  Tuesday, September 12, 2017 | By jmacanuel

  

  Saturday, September 16, 2017 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
  Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, Ontario

  SESQUI, in collaboration with the James A. Gibson Library’s Makerspace, will be bringing a free Virtual Reality Experience to the Marilyn I. Walker Campus. The VR experience features 5-minute stories about Canadians who are shaping their world through creativity.

  Visitors can also make their own Sesquatch, allowing Canadians to explore their identity in an interactive and playful way.  Alongside virtual reality, the Makerspace will also be showcasing some of the emerging technologies, such as 3D printing, robotics, and circuitry, available at the James A. Gibson Library.

  Tags: 3D printing, Brock University Homecoming Weekend, Makerspace, sesquatch, SESQUI, virtual reality
  Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Future Students, News, Uncategorised

• Suzanne Rochon-Burnett’s contribution to indigenous arts honoured in new exhibit

  Wednesday, August 30, 2017 | By jmacanuel

  

  published WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2017 | by The Brock News

  Before Suzanne Rochon-Burnett passed away, she asked that her daughter Michele-Elise take over where she had left off.

  “She gave me instructions for her art,” said Michele-Elise Burnett. “She said, ‘you’ve been fortunate to see and know this art, but it will be your responsibility to continue to share the knowledge, the teachings and the messages that are being told through our people’s art.’”

  The desire to continue advocating and sharing indigenous art is the driving force behind a new art exhibition opening next week at Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

  

  Daphne Odjig (Odawa – Potawatomi) “In touch with her spirit”

  Brock University, The FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre and Kakekalanicks Indigenous Arts Consultancy are joining together to present Awakening Her Spirit — Select Works from the collection of Suzanne Rochon-Burnett as part of the first Celebration of Nations event.

  The exhibit opens at the MIWSFPA Visual Arts Gallery Thursday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.

  The exhibition follows Suzanne Rochon-Burnett’s journey to empower and support indigenous arts in Canada and globally through a collection of paintings, mixed media, sculpture and personal objects. Curated by Samuel Thomas (Cayuga), the show will feature never-before exhibited original works by Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Beam, Roy Thomas, Vince Bomberry, Simon Brascoupe, Bruce King and more.

  “My mom was an advocate and champion of indigenous art before it was being recognized as legitimate art,” Michele-Elise Burnett said. “She helped build recognition and respect to ensure that indigenous artists were compensated fairly like everybody else. She championed artists and their work and encouraged them to find value in it.” Samuel Thomas, a master bead worker and family friend, will lead an interactive Curator’s Talk on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. at the Visual Arts Gallery. “My mother took beading lessons from Sam’s mother,” Michele-Elise explained. “When I told Sam about the Celebration of Nations exhibit of my mother’s art, he was pleased and honoured to help pull it together.”

  Rochon-Burnett was a Métis broadcaster and businesswoman who started her career as a journalist in Quebec. Among her many accomplishments, she and daughter Michele-Elise became the first indigenous Canadians to own a CRTC broadcast license as owner and operator of Spirit 91.7 FM radio in Niagara.

  Rochon-Burnett would also become co-founder and first vice-chair of the Métis Nation of Ontario, and sat on boards at TV Ontario, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canadian Council of the Arts, among others. In 2002, Rochon-Burnett received an Honorary Doctorate from Brock in recognition of her contributions to Canadian cultural life.

  She has left many legacies, including the Suzanne Rochon-Burnett Scholarship at the University, which has to date helped 18 indigenous students embark on a university education they may have otherwise never had. Fiercely proud of her heritage, Rochon- Burnett has shown that an individual who is inspired can wake up every day and follow and achieve their dreams.

  Awakening Her Spirit is part of Celebration of Nations, a gathering of indigenous arts, culture and tradition set for Sept. 8-10. The gathering features ticketed performances by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, DJ Shub as well as free workshops, performances and teachings all weekend long. The full schedule is available at www.celebrationofnations.ca

  The exhibit continues through Sept. 30 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts located at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines. Situated on the lower level of the MIWSFPA, regular hours of the Art Gallery are Tuesday through Friday from 1-5 p.m. Additional open hours for Celebration of Nations include:

  Thursday, Sept. 7 from 6-9 p.m.
  Friday, Sept. 8 from 1-8 p.m.
  Saturday, Sept. 9 from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
  Sunday, Sept. 10 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  Saturday, Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Tags: Awakening Her Spirit, Celebration of Nations, indigenous art exhibition, Kakekalanicks Indigenous Arts Consultancy, Suzanne Rochon-Burnett
  Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events, Media Releases, News

• Visual Arts Professor Amy Friend exhibits in Provence, France.

  Wednesday, August 23, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  AMY FRIEND, INCONNUS FAMILIERS / Familiar Strangers

  “Amy Friend est une photographe canadienne. «Dare alla luce» («apporter à la lumière») est un travail où l’artiste mêle vieux clichés familiaux et photos glanées au hasard de ses promenades. Une fois perforées et rétro-éclairées, la lumière révèle une seconde fois le cliché. Grâce à ce procédé, Amy peut donner une seconde vie à ses photographies. Des notions telles que l’histoire intime, la mémoire, la présence et l’absence traversent tout son travail.”
  from www.liberation.fr/photographie/2017/08/21/amy-friend-inconnus-familiers_1590958 

  Amy Friend is a Canadian photographer. In “Dare alla luce” (bringing to light), she collects old family portraits and photos gathered in her walks. Once perforated and backlighted, the light reveals the images a second time. Through this process Amy gives a second life to her photographs. Notions of privacy, memory, presence and absence cross-pollinate her work.
  [translation by C. Parayre]

  for more information and to see her work:

  www.liberation.fr/photographie/2017/08/21/amy-friend-inconnus-familiers_1590958 

  https://www.facebook.com/recitsphotographiques/

  Récits Photographiques
  August 24 > September 30, 2017
  Abbaye De Silvacane, La Roque D’Antheron
  Les Terrasses Du Chateau, Lauris
  Provence, France

  Assistant Professor Amy Friend holds a BFA honours Degree and BEd from York University and an MFA from the University of Windsor. She has received grants from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. In 2015 Amy was awarded the Clarke Thompson Award for Sessional Teaching at Brock University.

  For more information about her creative and research work see her faculty profile.

   

  Tags: Amy Friend, exhibition, photography
  Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

• Brock University welcomes Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff!

  Tuesday, July 04, 2017 | By dvivian

  

  Brock University welcomes Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff to the Department of Music at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts.

  Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff is the newly appointed Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brock University. She has also been named Artistic Director of the Niagara-based Avanti Chamber Singers.

  Former conductor of the McMaster University Choir and founder of the McMaster Women’s Choir, Dr. Rensink-Hoff completed her Doctorate and Master of Music degree at Western University, pursuing additional studies at the Eastman School of Music Conducting Institute, the Voice Care Network of St. John’s University, Minnesota, and the University of Toronto. She has engaged in master-classes under conductors Helmuth Rilling, Joseph Flummerfelt, Anton Armstrong, Dale Warland and the late Sir David Willcocks.

  Vice-President of Programming for Choral Canada, Rachel Rensink-Hoff is the 2014 winner of the prestigious Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting awarded by the Ontario Arts Council. In 2015, her McMaster Women’s Choir was awarded first prize in the National Choral Competition for Amateur Choirs of the CBC and Choral Canada. That same year she was nominated for the Excellence in Teaching Award at McMaster University.

  She publishes regularly in the Choral Journal of the American Choral Directors’ Association as well as in Choral Canada’s Anacrusis and The Canadian Music Educator. Rachel works frequently as guest conductor, adjudicator, conference presenter and workshop clinician. Current engagements include a session on Canadian and American women choral composers at the 2017 national conference of the American Choral Directors’ Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota and a presentation on Canadian choral music at the 2017 World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona, Spain. She also looks forward to serving as guest conductor of this year’s 2017 Nova Scotia Provincial Youth Choir.

  Tags: choir, choral, Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff
  Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, News

• City reveals nominees for St. Catharines Arts Awards

  Tuesday, April 18, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden

  (Source: Brock University Humanities, via Facebook)

  The list of St. Catharines Arts Awards nominees was released Monday and our faculty is very well represented! Congratulations to our staff, faculty, and alumni who have been nominated for an award!

  Rodman Hall Art Centre has been nominated for the Arts in Education award and is described as a “leading centre for visual arts education and creative expression in St. Catharines, with talented staff who connect the community with contemporary art through exhibits, special events and classes.”

  Nominees for the Emerging Artist award include a number of graduates and faculty from Brock’s visual arts, dramatic arts and music programs:

  • Jo Pacinda, Brock University Dramatic Arts graduate, works as a costume designer with local theatre companies.
  • Lauren Regier, a visual arts graduate, explores the relationships between plants and machines through her photography. (Brock University Humanities featured her on their blog and in Brock News earlier this year.)
  • Twitches & Itches Theatre features a number of Brock dramatic arts graduates and is a “multi-disciplinary artist ensemble devoted to creating new theatre works through a collaborative process.” (Their production of The Bacchae with director Colin B. Anthes was featured in Brock News.)
  • Gordon Cleland teaches cello with Brock University Music, plays principle cello with the Niagara Symphony, and works with the Niagara Youth Orchestra.
  • Danielle Wilson, a professor with Brock University Dramatic Arts, is co-founder and co-artistic director of Stolen Theatre Collective.
  • Gregory Betts, a professor with the Department of English Language and Literature and The Centre for Canadian Studies, has been nominated for the “Making a Difference” award. Betts is a poet and advocate for literature. He is the artistic director and founder of St. Catharine’s Festival of Readers.
  • Marcie Bronson, acting director and curator of Rodman Hall Art Centre, has also been nominated for the “Making a Difference” award for “playing a central role in the transformation of Rodman Hall into a nationally recognized institution of excellence that promotes local artists.”

  Read more about the nominees and the St. Catharines Arts Awards at stcatharines.ca

  Congratulations and good luck to all!

  Tags: Colin B. Anthes, Danielle Wilson, dramatic arts, Gordon Cleland, Gregory Betts, Jo Pacinda, Lauren Regier, Marcie Bronson, music, Niagara Symphony, Niagara Youth Orchestra, Rodman Hall Art Centre, St. Catharines Arts Awards, Stolen Theatre Collective, The Bacchae, Twitches & Itches Theatre, visual arts
  Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News