Articles tagged with: Dean’s Discretionary Fund

  • Student-run podcast provides guidance, inspiration for future artists

    Tuesday, April 12, 2022 | By

    A grey and red building sits against a clear, blue sky with green grass surrounding it. The building has white text on it on a red background reading ‘Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University.’ A street sign reading ‘Artists’ Common’ sits in the foreground.

    The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in downtown St. Catharines is home to the student-run podcast, Dear Marilyn, named in honour of the late textile artist and philanthropist.

    Originally published in The Brock News | TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2022 | by 

    What started as a passion project for two Brock University students in search of career tips has become a robust podcast series providing invaluable insight to the next generation of creators.

    Produced for students by students, the popular podcast Dear Marilyn is now in its second season of connecting the student community with professional artists, with plans to continue production on an ongoing basis.

    Created in 2021 by Dramatic Arts (DART) students Danielle Letourneau and Luca D’Amico, the podcast name honours celebrated textile artist, philanthropist and arts advocate Marilyn I. Walker. In 2008, Walker made a historic donation to Brock that led to the creation of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA).

    Letourneau, the podcast’s producer who is now in her fourth year of study with a concentration in Drama and Education and minor in History, says that she has often felt anxiety about entering theatre as a profession.

    “I started this podcast to give students like myself a resource for practical job advice,” Letourneau said. “The arts industry is not always considered the most conventional career path, but we do it because this is what we love; the arts nurture our souls.”

    Supported by Dean Carol Merriam of the Faculty of Humanities through the Dean’s Discretionary Fund in 2021, the Associate Dean of Fine and Performing Arts and MIWSFPA department Chairs, the Dear Marilyn team invites local and surrounding artists from a range of artistic disciplines to share their stories.

    Co-hosts Hayley Bando, a second-year Dramatic Arts major with a concentration in Production and Design, and Chloe Racho, a third-year Music major with a minor in French Studies, are thrilled to be part of the project.

    “We are honoured to help bring these diverse perspectives about professional journeys in the arts to the Brock community,” Bando said.

    Recent podcast guests include actor, writer and producer Thet Win, voice actor Keegan Vaillancourt and singer-songwriter Glenn Marais.

    MIWSFPA faculty have been supportive since day one, with Karen Fricker, Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts, championing the podcast idea in its early stages.

    “I was happy to support Dear Marilyn initially because it’s a great idea, and a positive student-led project during the hard time of the pandemic,” she said. “I looked forward to each episode and was entertained and educated by the hosts’ sparky exchanges with guests.”

    DART Associate Professor Gyllian Raby guided the grant proposal for Dear Marilyn resulting in the expansion of the podcast to include all four departments at the downtown arts campus (Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual Arts and Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture).

    “What’s not to like about Dear Marilyn? It relates directly to our mission to create experiential, professionalized learning for students producing, hosting, editing and broadcasting,” Raby said. “And, it’s entertaining and insightful.”

    DART Associate Professor Danielle Wilson has been working with the team on the second season. Episodes are edited by Alex Sykes, a fourth-year DART student with a concentration in Production and Design.

    Available on Spotify, the next episode goes live this week. For the latest news, follow Dear Marilyn on Instagram.

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, News, Uncategorised

  • Celebrated Canadian artist Michael Snow’s contribution to Brock revisited in new documentary

    Wednesday, August 18, 2021 | By

    A still image from the new documentary short Timed Images

    A still image from the new documentary short Timed Images premiering Friday, Aug. 20 at the Mighty Niagara Film Fest. The film was produced and researched by Lesley Bell with video work and direction by Tracy Van Oosten.

    WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2021 | The Brock News | by 

    The legacy and impact of artwork created for Brock University in 1972 by internationally regarded Canadian artist Michael Snow has been captured on film and is being premiered Friday, Aug. 20 at a local film festival.

    Part of the Mighty Niagara Film Fest presented by Niagara Artists Centre (NAC), Timed Images is a new documentary that intimately explores two works of public art created by Snow when he was engaged by Brock University and architect Raymond Moriyama during the construction of Brock’s Mackenzie Chown Complex in 1972. Snow holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brock University received in 1974.

    The short documentary is produced and researched by Lesley Bell, artist and retired support staff for the Department of Visual Arts (VISA) at Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), and directed by Brock graduate Tracy Van Oosten (BA ’10), artist, filmmaker and current VISA Instructor at the MIWSFPA.

    Bell, who managed Brock’s Fine Art Collection for 18 years, was drawn to Snow’s work and wanted to uncover the story behind his pieces and appreciate how they found their home in St. Catharines.

    Bell and Van Oosten, a filmmaker and artist who works with text, video and installations and explores moving images within immersive contexts, collaborated to create an artistic documentary that retraces Snow’s innovative art that delighted the University population in 1972.

    “In order to tell the story about these two artworks by Snow, I envisioned a video document. I had no understanding of the process,” Bell said. “With patience and skill, Tracy Van Oosten crafted the information that I found into an intelligent and visually stimulating artistic video work. This has been a satisfying collaboration.”

    Timed Images screens Friday, Aug. 20 at the RiverBrink Art Museum in Queenston, Niagara-on-the-Lake. Doors open at 8 p.m., with the screening scheduled to start at sunset. The documentary is part of an art-inspired program at NAC’s film fest called ‘An Ode to Escarpment School Films.

    For more information about Timed Images and to purchase tickets, visit the Mighty Niagara Film Fest website.

    This project is supported by David Vivian, the Director of the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture, and Dean Carol Merriam of the Faculty of Humanities, through the Dean’s Discretionary Fund (2020). An installation for the public to view Timed Images at the MIWSFPA and online is currently in development.

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    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Uncategorised

  • Humanities launches second season of Foreword podcast

    Tuesday, June 08, 2021 | By

    Alison Innes

    Image caption: Alison Innes, Social Media Co-ordinator for the Faculty of Humanities, produces and hosts Foreword, a podcast featuring Humanities faculty members and graduates.

    Originally published in The Brock News | MONDAY, JUNE 07, 2021 | by 

    After a successful first season, Foreword has returned to again connect listeners with researchers in Brock’s Faculty of Humanities.

    The podcast, which recently passed the 1,000-downloads mark, features interviews with professors and graduates from across the Faculty, exploring not only what they do, but also why they do it and why it matters.

    The second season returns with 11 episodes. Each one-hour episode is released each Wednesday until the end of August.

    Similar to a foreword in a book, the podcast acts as an introduction to the Humanities and the diverse and impactful research being conducted at Brock, said Alison Innes, the Faculty’s Social Media Co-ordinator, who produces and hosts the show.

    “I want to convey the forward momentum — how the humanities are relevant and important both today and as we move forward,” Innes said.

    Listeners can expect to dive into topics such as literary journalism, the connection between art and engineering, the need for a global perspective on the ongoing pandemic and the how societies have responded to plagues and unrest in the past.

    The season kicked off with a conversation with Nina Penner, Assistant Professor in the Department of Music, who specializes in opera, musical theatre and film music.

    In the June 2 episode, Penner helps to demystify the world of opera for listeners and shares how modern opera is responding to social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter.

    “You do not need to be an opera aficionado to appreciate the conversation,” Innes said. “All of the episodes are geared towards people who don’t necessarily have an academic background in these topics. They’re meant to feel accessible and be engaging.”

    The episodes, she said, are “made to sound as though we’re in a coffee shop and there’s me, the researcher and the listener at the table.”

    Foreword also aims to “pull back the curtain on the research and academic process,” Innes said.

    For instance, an upcoming episode features Modern Languages Associate Professor Cristina Santos and her work on the Argentinian disappearances from 1977 to 1983.

    “We talk about what it is like for researchers to deal with really difficult topics,” Innes said. “We talk about how, as a researcher, you examine a topic that’s traumatic without traumatizing yourself.”

    The podcast helps listeners to understand the role the Humanities play in society, said Faculty Dean Carol Merriam.

    “The research and creative activity practised in the Faculty of Humanities is central to all of the questions and issues that confront us today,” she said. “We’re asking and answering the crucial questions, and the world needs to hear about those questions and answers.”

    The podcast, Merriam said, is an “innovative way to take our work into the mainstream of people’s lives and thoughts.”

    “The impressive performance of the podcast, and the audience that it has reached, demonstrates the importance and vitality of the Humanities in today’s world.”

    Supported by the Dean’s Discretionary Fund, the podcast is also made possible by the sound-editing skills of first-year Interactive Arts and Science student Nicole Arnt.

    Arnt said the experience has taught her that Brock “offers opportunities for learning and connection beyond the obvious places,” and she was thrilled to get involved with the project.

    “This podcast highlights how professors are not only teachers but also learners,” she said. “It’s a good reminder that universities in general and Brock’s Faculty of Humanities specifically, are places to stimulate thought, discussion and curiosity.”

    Foreword is more than just a “transfer of knowledge,” she said, while encouraging her fellow students to tune in.

    “It allows listeners to get a sense of who some of the Humanities professors are outside the lecture hall: What motivates them, what they are concerned about and why they are passionate about a certain topic. It brings the humanity back to the Humanities and it will give us a connection point in class beyond marks and assignments.”

    New Foreword episodes are released every Wednesday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify. Transcripts of the episodes are also available here.

    Some upcoming episodes of Foreword include:

    • June 9: Associate Professor Rob Alexander (English) — “Literary Journalism”
    • June 23: Associate Professor Elizabeth Vlossak (History) — “History Beyond the Classroom”
    • June 30: Alumna April Pett (French) — “April in Paris”
    • July 7: Professor Christine Daigle (Interdisciplinary Humanities PhD) — “Entangled Humans”

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, In the Media, News, Uncategorised