UCA News
UCA alumna Kristin Lewis returns as Artist in Residence
Posted in Campus Life on February 23, 2009
Internationally known soprano and UCA alumna Kristin Lewis returns to campus to perform and teach with UCA's Spring 2009 Artists in Residence Program on Feb. 26-27 and Mar. 2.
"It is important that those (students) who strive for the same things that she has achieved can see the example of someone who, a decade ago, was sitting in the same classroom in which they are sitting, practicing in the same practice rooms in which they are practicing, and performing on the same recital hall stage on which they are performing," said Dr. Martha Antolik, the faculty sponsor of the residency.
Lewis' university performance will be after her January debut with Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, during which she sang the title role in Verdi's Aida under the baton of Maestro Daniel Oren. Her roles have gained international attention for her vocal performances.
Lewis will begin her residency by teaching an opera master class with an open forum Feb. 26 at 1:40 p.m. in Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall. The event is open to the public. Her next appearance will be a mini-concert of Italian arias and African-American spirituals for Conway High East Campus for vocal students Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m. She will be accompanied by UCA piano major Teodora Adhzarova.
"It is important that those (students) who strive for the same things that she has achieved can see the example of someone who, a decade ago, was sitting in the same classroom in which they are sitting, practicing in the same practice rooms in which they are practicing, and performing on the same recital hall stage on which they are performing," said Dr. Martha Antolik, the faculty sponsor of the residency.
Lewis' university performance will be after her January debut with Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, during which she sang the title role in Verdi's Aida under the baton of Maestro Daniel Oren. Her roles have gained international attention for her vocal performances.
Lewis will begin her residency by teaching an opera master class with an open forum Feb. 26 at 1:40 p.m. in Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall. The event is open to the public. Her next appearance will be a mini-concert of Italian arias and African-American spirituals for Conway High East Campus for vocal students Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m. She will be accompanied by UCA piano major Teodora Adhzarova.
Chronicle of Higher Education features UCA's arts scene
Posted in Campus Life on February 17, 2009
The Chronicle of Higher Education this week features UCA's extraordinary efforts to promote world-class culture for its campus and surrounding community, calling UCA an "academic incubator for the arts."
Full article here:
University Strives to Be a Cultural Hub in Central Arkansas
By CAROLYN MOONEY
Conway, Ark.
You might not immediately think of this city of 55,000 as an arts hub.
Just a few years ago, its downtown emptied out each evening. "You could shoot a gun down the main drag and not hit anyone in either direction," one local businessman says. You couldn't get a drink at a restaurant, much less attend a live telecast of the Metropolitan Opera here at the University of Central Arkansas, or see a play at the university-sponsored Shakespeare festival, or work as an intern at Oxford American's offices on campus.
But Conway is growing and changing, and the university's artistic aspirations have played a role. In recent years this campus of 13,000 students has become home to two prestigious literary magazines: Oxford American and Exquisite Corpse Annual, a reborn print edition of the cutting-edge magazine edited by the writer and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu. The university also founded the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, which produces an annual summer festival, and recently began playing host to the opera telecasts.
Last fall it commissioned and staged an original opera, The Scarlet Letter, and it helped arrange for the National Symphony Orchestra to spend a weeklong residency in Arkansas, which will include a campus performance, later this spring. An artists-in-residence program has brought distinguished writers and artists - including Mr. Codrescu, a professor at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, earlier this month - to an audience that used to have to travel 30 miles to Little Rock for cultural offerings.
Central Arkansas, like a number of regional institutions outside major cities or college towns, has become a kind of academic incubator for the arts.
Full article here:
University Strives to Be a Cultural Hub in Central Arkansas
By CAROLYN MOONEY
Conway, Ark.
You might not immediately think of this city of 55,000 as an arts hub.
Just a few years ago, its downtown emptied out each evening. "You could shoot a gun down the main drag and not hit anyone in either direction," one local businessman says. You couldn't get a drink at a restaurant, much less attend a live telecast of the Metropolitan Opera here at the University of Central Arkansas, or see a play at the university-sponsored Shakespeare festival, or work as an intern at Oxford American's offices on campus.
But Conway is growing and changing, and the university's artistic aspirations have played a role. In recent years this campus of 13,000 students has become home to two prestigious literary magazines: Oxford American and Exquisite Corpse Annual, a reborn print edition of the cutting-edge magazine edited by the writer and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu. The university also founded the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, which produces an annual summer festival, and recently began playing host to the opera telecasts.
Last fall it commissioned and staged an original opera, The Scarlet Letter, and it helped arrange for the National Symphony Orchestra to spend a weeklong residency in Arkansas, which will include a campus performance, later this spring. An artists-in-residence program has brought distinguished writers and artists - including Mr. Codrescu, a professor at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, earlier this month - to an audience that used to have to travel 30 miles to Little Rock for cultural offerings.
Central Arkansas, like a number of regional institutions outside major cities or college towns, has become a kind of academic incubator for the arts.
UCA Develops the Economy and Workforce of Conway
Posted in Visitors on February 21, 2008
The future of the University of Central Arkansas and the City of Conway are inextricably tied together. UCA, founded in 1907, has evolved from a teachers college with 100 students to the state's second largest university, with 12,650 students. And UCA has evolved in athletics, from three football national championships in the NAIA to its current Division I athletic program.
Conway's population has increased by 150 percent in the past 27 years, from 20,375 in 1980 to approximately 55,000 residents today, which makes it one of the state's largest cities. UCA and Conway have grown and continue to grow together. Fortunately, UCA and Conway have an extraordinary relationship. From transportation to road planning to community support, UCA and Conway have the same focus.
Conway's population has increased by 150 percent in the past 27 years, from 20,375 in 1980 to approximately 55,000 residents today, which makes it one of the state's largest cities. UCA and Conway have grown and continue to grow together. Fortunately, UCA and Conway have an extraordinary relationship. From transportation to road planning to community support, UCA and Conway have the same focus.