VCU School of the Arts Qatar (VCUQ) is pleased to present Tasmeem Doha 2007 Annual Design Conference from March 5-8, 2007.  This year’s theme, "Sometimes, You Just Have To Do It Yourself," underscores the link between personal responsibility and sustainability.  It also addresses the Qatari goal of “Qatarization” and speaks to the professional reality many of VCUQ’s students - particularly as females in that region - will face upon graduation. 

The conference will bring together 16 leading scientists, designers, artists, entrepreneurs, architects and journalists who will address the idea that many developments in the sustainable design field begin where there is little social, regulatory, professional or economic support in place for such design approaches. It often takes a single person or single community leading the way to get things started. These initiatives often begin as reactions to conditions that many of us may be generally aware of but unsure of how or even whether to address.

The speakers include keynote speaker David Suzuki, geneticist; Anita Ahuja, Conserve; Gijs Baker, Droog Design; Jonathan Barnbrook, Barnbrook Design; Nicholas Belchman, Knickerbocker Design; Natalie Chanin, Alabama Chanin; Kirsten Childs, Croxton Collaborative; Sheila de Bretteville, Yale University School of Art; Rebecca Early, University of Arts, London; Yasser Elsheshtawy, UAE University; Pliny Fisk III, Center of Maximum Potential Building Systems; Dawn Hancock, Firebelly Design; Yasmeem Lari, Heritage Foundation Pakistan; Cameron Sinclair, Architecture for Humanity; Dan Sturges, Intra-Go Smart Mobility Solutions, and Susan Szenasy, Metropolis Magazine.

Since the first conference in 2005, Tasmeem Doha has gained international attention as a forum for cutting edge ideas and reactions to global issues.  The conference is held on the campus of VCUQ and encourages a dialogue of problem seeking and design solutions through the interaction of students, instructors and guest speakers. Each year, students are encouraged to participate in a design project and this year’s topic is water use. 

For more information on the conference and speakers, please visit http://tasmeem.qatar.vcu.edu/tasmeem/index.html.  Additional information on VCUQ may be found at www.qatar.vcu.edu.

VCUarts is pleased to announce the Dean’s Exploratory Research Underwriting Program Grants for 2007 which support research for faculty members.  Unlike other faculty research support programs which expect defined outcomes in performance, exhibition, or publication, this new grant program is intended to support research for which outcomes cannot yet be established.

Bob Paris, Kinetic Imaging, has been awarded $4,896 for The War Show – A Virtual Web-Based Exhibition.  He explains, “In my recent video exhibition, Disturbance, the ghostly remains of the 1992 Los Angeles riots were excavated to consider spectacle, social disaster and historical erasure. The War Show continues this technique of transforming concrete artifacts from popular media into a probing inquiry of American social history. Funding will support construction of a virtual exhibition, one that would come to life on the internet and, perhaps later, be transformed for physical installation in a museum or gallery environment.”

The Department of Dance and Choreography has appointed Dr. James Frazier as its new chair. 
“I am excited about this new appointment to the position of chairperson of Dance and Choreography, as it represents the accomplishment of a major professional goal,” stated Frazier.  “VCU Dance is a vibrant community of artists, committed to the performance, creation, and presentation of dance that reflects a wide range of aesthetics.   For this reason, I feel all the more fortunate to have gotten this opportunity here.  My mission is to grow the department and I look forward to  further cultivating a national reputation of excellence that befits the quality of the work that is being done by our students, faculty and guest artists in collaboration.”

Frazier’s earned degrees include the Doctorate of Education in Dance from Temple University, the Master of Fine Arts in Dance and the Bachelor of Science in Marketing, both from Florida State University (FSU).  He joined the faculty of VCU in 2001, after having been a visiting professor of dance history for two years at FSU and having served as adjunct faculty at Montgomery College, Temple University, FSU and Florida A& M University.  He is a former Associate Director of the Dance Institute of Washington (DC), Publicity Coordinator for the Urban Bush Women/FSU Summer Dance Institute, and the FSU Department of Dance.  In 2006 he was honored by the Council of Dance Administrators (CODA) with the Alma Hawkins Award for Excellence in Dance Education, in recognition of emerging leadership in the field.

In his on-going performing life, Frazier was a member of Kokuma Dance Theatre Company (Birmingham, England), Dallas Black Dance Theatre (TX), and was a founding member of Edgeworks Dance Theater (Washington, DC).  In addition, he performed in productions by, and/or as a guest with, choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women, Artifacts Productions (Philadelphia, PA), Skeletons Dance Projects (New York City), Mason/Rhynes Productions (Washington, DC), and Richmond's Starr Foster Dance Project, Ground Zero Dance, Chris Burnside and Dancers and the Richmond Ballet, where he is also on the part-time faculty.

A 2003 recipient of the Virginia Commission for the Arts Choreographic Fellowship, Frazier has created dance works for a range of companies and groups, from youth companies to college students and pre-professionals, to professional dancers.  His choreography has been presented in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Louisiana, including some noted venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and DC's Carter Barron Amphitheatre.  In 2006 his dance Suspect Seven was chosen as an alternate for the national gala performance of the American College Dance Festival, representing the southeast region of the United States. 

Some of Dr. Frazier's past and present professional affiliations include the Council of Dance Administrators, the National Association of Schools of Dance, the Black College Dance Exchange, the Congress on Research in Dance, and the International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Lucas Krost, BFA ‘03 in photography and filmmaking, won the $100,000 grand prize in the “Seeds of Tolerance” contest sponsored by Current TV and The Third Millennium Foundation.  Presented by foundation chairman Al Gore, the award also includes a $15,000 donation to the charity of Krost’s choice.  Krost’s award-winning film, “One Nation Under Guard,” spotlights the U.S. prison system and specifically the aggressive construction of private, for-profit prisons, the disproportionate number of incarcerated African-Americans and the intolerance against those released after serving their sentence.

The competition invited.htmiring filmmakers to produce short videos illuminating a story about “respecting diversity or unlearning intolerance.”  The panel of celebrity judges included writer/director and 2006 Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Best Picture, Crash), filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me), actor Edward Norton, comedienne Margaret Cho, director M. Night Shyamalan, actor Jeffrey Wright and musician Melissa Etheridge.

Throughout the year, VCU Music invites numerous guest artists to work with its students through master classes and private lessons, and to offer performances for the community.  These artists are well-respected performers who are often pioneers in their field.   The series provides a rich experience for the students as they are able to learn new techniques, hear new ideas and listen to excellent musicians perform repertoire specific to their instrument.  This spring the department will welcome percussionist Eric Hollenbeck, flutist Therese Wacker and the East Coast Composers' Ensemble.

Eric Hollenbeck holds a doctor of percussion performance from Northwestern University. He is in his fourth year as assistant professor of percussion at Colorado State University.  Hollenbeck has studied with Michael Burritt, Leigh Howard Stevens, Tom Siwe, Jim Ross of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tom Freer and Paul Yancich of the Cleveland Orchestra, Paul Wertico of the Pat Metheny Group, Ed Thigpen of the Oscar Peterson Trio, and marched under the direction of Thom Hannum.

His recent activities include appearing as a guest artist at Eastman School of Music, University of Kansas, University of South Carolina, Louisiana State University, University of Louisville, University of Georgia, University of Illinois, University of Buffalo, Fredonia University, Geneseo University, Nazareth College, and Lee University.

He will present a master class at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 1, 2007 and a concert that evening at 8:00 p.m., both at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts.

Later in March, flutist Therese Wacker will visit VCUarts.  She is assistant professor of Music at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and a flutist with the Woodwind Forum and the Keystone Winds. Dr. Wacker is the former principal flute/piccolo of The Air Force Band of Flight. She performed as a frequent soloist with the Band of Flight and taught master classes throughout the United States. She also served as the non-commissioned officer in charge of the Huffman Prairie Winds; the Band of Flight`s Woodwind Quintet. As a member of the Air Force Band she recorded seven CD`s including one for the Huffman Prairie Winds.

Dr. Wacker will present a master class at 12 p.m. on Friday, March 23, 2007 and a concert at 5:00 p.m. that evening, both at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts.

In April, the East Coast Composers' Ensemble will perform at VCUarts.  Founded in 2005 by John Aylward, Wes Matthews and Nathan Shields, ECCE’s mission is to support the creation and performance of contemporary art music through concerts, symposia, and outreach events.
ECCE's goal is to help revitalize the connection between contemporary music and the wider intellectual and artistic community, and to promote new forms of engagement with modern music.
Through its efforts, ECCE hopes to inspire audiences unfamiliar with contemporary music, encourage young musicians to pursue interests in this area, and simply communicate the joy of artistic creation.

ECCE will perform at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 13, 2007 at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts.

Other notable guest artists this year have included composer/arranger Bernard Hoffer, The Boston Brass, trumpeter Jens Lindemann, Blair Tyndall, author of "Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music"; New Orleans-based contemporary jazz ensemble, The Astral Project, and clarinetist William O. Smith.