University of the Arts

We are excited to reaffirm our plans for the fall 2021 semester. You can expect to see our studios, classrooms, workshops and performance spaces open and active again.
 

As we near the completion of the current academic year, and as vaccine access is broadening and health regulations changing, we are excited to reaffirm our plans for the fall 2021 semester. As President Yager relayed in his Jan. 28 email, our intention is to return to an in-person and on-campus experience by the start of the fall semester. 

We are hard at work confirming the details of what the fall semester will look like. Though the health and safety of our community remains paramount to our planning, we do anticipate an in-person and on-campus academic and student life experience, as well as the reopening of our residence halls and dining facilities.

Regarding the academic experience, each dean is working with their faculty and the Office of the Provost to develop a plan for on-campus and in-person course delivery methods that will best serve our students and uphold the anticipated health and safety guidelines of the city, state and nation. Though the expected availability and access to vaccinations will make a return to in-person instruction a reality, we may still incorporate some elements of hybrid learning that have proven beneficial to the academic experience of our students. But you can expect to see our studios, classrooms, workshops and performance spaces open and active again.

Similarly, our staff leaders across all departments are hard at work envisioning a return to on-campus and in-person delivery of services. Some important lessons have been gained during the pandemic, and in some instances, we have learned how to serve students better through remote engagement. With this in mind, some departments may continue to offer remote appointments and services to students. Each department will develop and communicate opening plans that uphold city, state and national health and safety standards. 

Finally, many of you have asked if UArts will require the COVID vaccine for students, faculty and staff. Please know that key staff and senior leadership are deeply engaged in conversations with the Philadelphia Department of Health and following this topic across higher education closely. Though a decision has not yet been made, our overarching commitment to the health and safety of our entire community will guide any determination at UArts. In the meantime, and as vaccine access continues to improve, we strongly encourage those students, faculty and staff who are eligible to receive the vaccine in their home communities to do so. 

Details of what to expect next will continue to be shared in the coming months. An FAQ regarding some of these details can be found here (insert link). You can direct questions about this announcement to [insert email address]. Please watch your inbox and revisit this link for important updates. 

In closing, we cannot wait to welcome you back to campus in the fall!

COVID Response Team 

President David Yager announced that the university is the recipient of a $1 million Redevelopment Assistance Capitol Program (RACP) grant from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This crucial funding will enable the university to develop a new Student Center to support UArts’ community of visual and performing artists.

“At University of the Arts, we believe that creativity is the true catalyst for social and economic change and the most essential skill for success in today’s global, technology-driven society,” President Yager said. “Now more than ever, we need to invest heavily in human creativity in order to build a more innovative and adaptable future for the next generation of thinkers, doers and dreamers—and that is just what this grant will allow us to do with the Student Center.

“On behalf of the entire university community, I want to offer my sincere thanks to Gov. Tom Wolf for choosing UArts to receive this very competitive funding, as well as Senator Larry Farnese, Representative Brian Sims and all the members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly who supported this project.”

With more than 65 percent of UArts students currently utilizing Gershman Hall’s classrooms on a weekly basis, the new space will not only act as the heart of student activity on campus, but will also be a vehicle to kindle human creativity and innovation in Philadelphia and beyond. The new center will provide an important gathering and learning space that is currently lacking on UArts’ very urban campus. It will also feature a gallery space, a film screening room and a performance center to showcase works of art by the university’s extremely diverse and talented student body, as well as performing and visual arts talent from around the globe.

“The construction of the new University of the Arts Student Center is a significant win for the entire university community,” said Paul Beideman, president of Avenue of the Arts Inc. “It will create a hub to foster human creativity and artistic growth for University of the Arts students for decades to come. But, importantly, it is also a significant win for the entire Avenue of the Arts and Center City neighborhoods in Philadelphia. It will be an imaginative space to share works by performing and visual artists from beyond university borders and will create a destination for arts and cultural enthusiasts from across the city, the region and the commonwealth. It will add a much-needed boost to our hard-hit restaurant and entertainment industry by patrons who travel to the university to view exhibitions and shows at the Student Center. This project is exactly what we need on South Broad Street at this moment.”

With shovels ready to hit the ground, this project will create dozens of high-quality, good-paying jobs in downtown Philadelphia over the course of the project. Consistent with its ongoing commitment to creating as diverse a student body and facility as possible, the university will ensure that at least 25 percent of those employed on the project are from minority populations and that at least 40 percent of those who are hired throughout the course of this project are based in Pennsylvania.

For naming opportunities, contact Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Andrew Pack at apack@uarts.edu.

University of the Arts is honoring two extremely accomplished individuals at its virtual Commencement ceremony this year: Agnes Gund and Carrie Mae Weems. UArts’ virtual Commencement ceremony will be celebrated Saturday, May 22, at 10 a.m. EDT, via commencement.uarts.edu.

Agnes Gund is president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and chair of its International Council. She is also chair emerita of MoMA PS1. Gund joined the MoMA Board in 1976 and served as president from 1991 until 2002. She is also founder and chair emerita of Studio in a School, a nonprofit organization she established in 1977 in response to budget cuts that virtually eliminated arts classes from New York City public schools.

A philanthropist and collector of modern and contemporary art, Gund serves on the boards of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, and the Morgan Library and Museum. She is cofounder and chair emerita of the Center for Curatorial Leadership; trustee emerita of the Barnes Foundation and the National YoungArts Foundation; and an honorary trustee of Independent Curators International and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland.

A civic leader and staunch supporter of education, environmental concerns and social justice, Gund has served on the boards of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, the Andy Warhol Foundation, Chess in the Schools, the Frick Collection, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the New York City Mayor’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, among other organizations. In June 2017, she launched the Art for Justice Fund in partnership with the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to support criminal justice reform in the U.S.

Gund earned a BA in History from Connecticut College and an MA in Art History from Harvard University. She holds honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College (2012), the CUNY Graduate Center (2007), and Brown University (1996), and was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts (2016). She received the National Medal of the Arts from President Clinton (1997), the J. Paul Getty Medal (2018), the inaugural Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award (2020) and the French Legion of Honour (2021).

Carrie Mae Weems will also address graduating students. Widely renowned as one of the most influential living artists in the U.S., Weems examines how our society structures power through deeply embedded stories, images and ideas. Among many other honors, Weems is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the “genius” grant) and was the first Black woman to have a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. In addition, Weems has exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Tate Modern, the Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art and many other institutions. She is also the recipient of the BET Honors Visual Artist Award, the Prix de Rome, the Frida Kahlo Award for Innovative Creativity, the International Center for Photography Spotlight Award, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, the Lucie Award for Fine Art Photography and the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. Weems has received honorary degrees from Bowdoin College, California College of the Arts, Colgate University, the School of Visual Arts and Syracuse University. In 2012, Weems was presented with one of the first U.S. Department of State’s Medals of Arts, in recognition for her commitment to the State Department’s Art in Embassies program.

In August 2020, UArts installed a public art project of Weems’ on its campus. Resist Covid Take 6! which aimed to create an artist-driven public awareness campaign to educate and enlighten Black, Latinx and Native American communities about the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. In fall 2020, UArts also hosted an exclusive conversation with Carrie for its community in support of her project. 

UArts’ virtual Commencement ceremony is open to everyone. Join the celebration Saturday, May 22, at 10 a.m. EDT.

Visit the Commencement website. 

To all our UArts alumni and friends, what a year!

All of us have seen life transform before our eyes. At UArts, we’ve been privileged to witness how the creative spirit is thriving through these transitions. We are proud to share with you our first-ever online edition of Edge: The Magazine of University of the Arts, which can be downloaded as a PDF below.

Download the full magazine.

Select stories are also available at edge.uarts.edu. In this issue, President David Yager reflects on the opportunities this year has presented. Additionally, we show how we are living apart, but creating together, and pay tribute to the generous alumni and donors that share our belief that creativity is not only essential for success, but also the catalyst for change.

Visit edge.uarts.edu.

The short documentary Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa, co-directed by University of the Arts Film Program Director and Assistant Professor Mike Attie along with Barabara Attie and Janet Goldwater, is included on the shortlist for various upcoming documentary film awards.

The film, which follows the work of the Philadelphia abortion hotline phone counselors, is among 15 others eligible to be nominated for the Best Shorts category for the 36th annual International Documentary Association (IDA) awards. The IDA Documentary Awards ceremony—which will be held virtually in January 2021—is notable for being the “world’s most prestigious event dedicated to the documentary genre, celebrating the best nonfiction films and programs of the year,” according to the IDA website. The site also indicates that the IDA “seeks to represent excellence in the documentary field from around the world, by emerging and established documentarians.” The final list of 10 nominees will be announced on Nov. 24.

Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa was also included on the recently released DOC NYC Short List. The 12 films included will be reviewed by a jury and one will be selected for a Directing Award. In addition, this list serves as the festival’s prediction for what might be shortlisted for the Academy Awards. According to IndieWire, “Historically, most of the DOC NYC short-list titles overlap with the Academy’s official 15-film Oscar Short List.”

In reaction to these announcements, Mike Attie commented, “Of course it's very exciting to be included on these lists. We never really considered the awards potential for Abortion Helpline—it's not what you think about when making a film like this—but clearly it is striking a nerve with audiences and programmers.”

These are just the most recent accolades among many that the project has received since its debut in 2019. Previously, the film was chosen from among 9,000 submissions to be screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival; was an official selection of the 2019 Philadelphia Film Festival as well as the 2020 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival; and won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Films at the AFI DOCS Film Festival, a major nonfiction film festival in the U.S. 

All of this continued momentum serves to support the ultimate goals of the film: to raise awareness about the negative impact of discriminatory policies surrounding abortion—notably, the Hyde Amendment—and highlight the need for reproductive justice. 
 

Learn more about the Film program at UArts.

Kym Moore, an innovative and imaginative leader, theater-maker and scholar who continues to demonstrate the interconnected power of creative disciplines to impact and shape our reality, will join University of the Arts as dean of the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts. Moore brings a passion and conviction that inspires joy, unity and drive within the artists, makers and creatives fortunate enough to work with her. Moore’s appointment will begin in January and concludes a nine-month national search for the future leader of the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts, which began in fall 2019.

Currently, Moore serves as full professor and director of undergraduate studies in Brown
University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, where she has taught for
more than a decade. As an educator, theater-maker and producer, she directs, devises and
writes works that utilize the unique materials of theater to examine the multiple dimensions of human existence and seek to cultivate a “culture worth living in.” She is the co-founder/co-artistic director of the Antigravity Performance Project, which was founded in 2012 to challenge the boundaries of theatrical convention and forge new frontiers in performance-making. Moore and her collaborators recently completed their second residency at the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media toward the creation of a transmedia performance installation, Do Eye Know You? which they plan to premiere in Philadelphia next season. As a director and producer, Moore has received numerous awards together with her collaborators, including the Salomon Award (Time’s Up!), the Pen and Brush Playwriting Award (The Date) and two Dorry Awards for Best Direction and Production of a Play (The Road Weeps, The Well Runs Dry).

“We set out to find a truly imaginative and future-focused leader who gets the relevance of art and creativity today, and how it can change our world,” says UArts President and CEO David Yager. “In Kym we have found that leader, and she also defies the boundaries between disciplines. She understands what creatives bring to our society and knows how we must prepare—the work we must lead—to be relevant and reflective of the world we live in. To say we are pleased to welcome Kym to UArts is a great understatement. I can say with confidence, and together with the Office of the Provost and the entire search committee, from her very first on-campus visit back in March, we all feel as though we are welcoming Kym home.”

“The thought of working collaboratively across disciplines to ‘advance human creativity’ is
beyond my wildest expectations!” says Moore. “Centering the arts as a primary contributor to the development of society has been my mission as an artist and educator from the very start. To find an institution filled with faculty, students, staff and administrators that share the mission is surely a dream come true. I’m thrilled to be coming ‘home’ to a place I didn’t know existed beyond that dream state.”

Throughout her career, Moore has taught acting and directing nationally and internationally at Swarthmore College, Hampshire College, SUNY Purchase, Sarah Lawrence College, Notre Dame University, Indiana State University, the Juilliard School, Carnegie Mellon University, the SIBIU International Theater Festival (Romania), and the Belgrade Theatre (UK), among many other organizations. Her course Acting Outside the Box: Considering Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality in Performance has also been taught nationally and internationally, including at the National Theater Institute/Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, NYU Graduate Acting, University of Oklahoma/Norman, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Columbia University and the Juilliard School. Moore is a graduate of the State University of New York New Paltz (BA) and University of Massachusetts Amherst (MFA). She is an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the National Alliance of Acting Teachers.

Moore will assume leadership of University of the Arts’ theater programs, originally founded by Walter Dallas in 1983 and which became known as the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts in 2009. The school comprises four undergraduate degree programs and two graduate programs in partnership with Pig Iron Theater Company. The Ira Brind School of Theater Arts is one of seven schools at University of the Arts that span art, dance, design, film, music and theater.

Moore will succeed current Dean David Howey, who has announced his retirement after 24 years of outstanding service to University of the Arts as a faculty member, program head and dean. Moore’s appointment concludes a nine-month-long search process, charged by the Office of the Provost and led by a search committee comprising a truly interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff.