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(12/09/14 1:52am)
Lyndsay Jones’ first-person account is striking because of her willingness to share her story on the record with her name and photo. By talking openly about a subject that is normally cloaked in anonymity, she shines a light on difficult issues of sexual assault that are common across college campuses.
(09/14/14 2:33am)
Last Saturday morning, Lisa Quigley and her kids, Tera and Will, bundled up against the cool morning air and walked.
(04/23/14 12:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nathan Davis plays many roles in his life. A husband. A father. A practicing Bahá’í. A lover of theater. After three years in IU’s MFA playwriting program, he can add a new role to his repertoire.“Now, I really consider myself a playwright,” Davis said.Since 2011, Davis has studied under Ken Weitzman in IU’s playwriting program. He will graduate from the program this spring after staging two of his original plays, “Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea” and “The Art of Bowing,” through IU Theatre.Davis said working with other aspiring playwrights and experienced professors gave him the confidence and validation he needed to pursue playwriting.“It’s all about the collaboration,” he said. “When other artists are sparked and excited and inspired by something I write, I know I’m on the right track.”Though Davis’ plays made their debuts at IU, he said his desire to write and create original works has been with him since childhood. He grew up in Rockford, Ill., a city that Davis remembers as being too small for his theater dreams. His father acted as an ensemble performer in the town’s lone theater company, the New American Theater. His mother worked as a mime and a theater teacher at a local private school, the Spectrum School.As the son of a faculty member, Davis attended the school for free.Davis said he remembers his time in elementary school fondly, as a place where he could freely experiment with his creativity. It was there that Davis wrote his first play — an adaptation of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy for a class performance.Davis said he and his classmates were extremely passionate about the play, taking the reins on everything from the script to the set and costume design.“Our school allowed us to immerse ourselves completely in the process,” he said. “The result was, among other things, long battle scenes underscored by classical music with strobe lights. Lots of wooden swords. Lots of polyester cloaks. It was one of the happiest times of my life.”Davis’ passion for theater carried into high school. He attended Auburn High School, a public school in the area, and enrolled in the Creative and Performing Arts program.He took a curriculum of classes focused around theater and acting. After many years of dedication to theater, deciding what he wanted to do with his future was a no-brainer.“Every time I had a choice whether to do theater or something else, I chose to do theater,” Davis said. “So I thought to myself, ‘You know, I’m probably going to keep doing that, so I might as well just admit to myself that that’s what I’m going to do.’”Davis planned to study theater at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but he first took a year off to perform a service project.As a member of the Bahá’í religion, Davis said it is common for young Bahá’ís to take a year around high school or college to take part in some sort of service project. Davis worked with a group called Project Wildfire, staging amateur dance and theater productions in Minneapolis and throughout the Midwest.“Project Wildfire was a coming-of-age experience,” Davis said. “Giving myself over to a cause bigger than myself transformed me in every way. I was taken out of my comfort zone over and over again. But once your horizons expand, you can never really go back, and that’s a wonderful thing.”It was during his time with Project Wildfire that Davis met Liz Gordon. She would eventually become his wife, but the relationship developed slowly.After their year with the group, Gordon returned to Ohio, and Davis pursued his theater degree in Illinois. The two met up again during a spring break trip in Arizona, and it was there that their relationship began. They were married in January 2003, when Davis was 23 and Gordon was 22. Turning his focus back to his education, Davis said his undergraduate career focused primarily on acting, though he believed a desire to write plays was always at the back of his mind. “I think at that time I knew that I eventually wanted to write plays,” Davis said. “I tried to write plays, but I had a hard time finishing them.” It didn’t help, he said, that he hadn’t mastered the skills required of a playwright. Or the scope, for that matter.“I had really big ideas, and I didn’t have the skill to execute them,” Davis said. “I just didn’t fully understand the craft. From acting and from being in plays and being around theater, I knew what a play was, but to actually make that happen and to make your own story happen, it’s tough.”That all changed in May 2006 with the birth of his first daughter, Olivia.Davis and his wife have since had two more girls — Elsie, 5 years old, and Eleanor, 7 months. Davis said having his daughters caused him to think differently about all aspects of his life, including his own upbringing and what his parents must have gone through while raising him.This new look on life inspired him to more actively pursue playwriting, he said.“When you become a parent, your entire world view shifts,” he said. “It opened up my heart in ways I didn’t even think it could be opened.”Davis also said practicality influenced his transition from acting to playwriting. He’d had to pass on auditions and other acting opportunities once his daughter was born, and he said if he focused more on playwriting, he could fit writing in during breaks at work or at home late at night.Davis began his first play, “The Unremembranced Sunset of Salona,” in 2008. He described the play as more of a release to let out all his beginner’s mistakes and admitted he has never seen the play performed.“I didn’t have anybody read it out loud,” he said. “I didn’t do any of the things you’re really supposed to do as a playwright. I just decided that I really wanted to write a play on my own terms without getting too deep into any other outside concerns.”After “Salona,” Davis began shipping some of his work around to playwriting schools across the country to further his education. He came upon IU and enrolled in the MFA program in fall 2011. Now, Weitzman serves as director of the MFA playwriting program at IU and said he has seen Davis grow as an artist throughout his time in the program. “I think he’s become a terrific collaborator, and he’s learned to be open to the input of his directors, designers and actors,” Weitzman said. “Stylistically, he’s always challenging himself. I’ve seen his palate expand even more here.”The play focuses on Dontrell Jones III, a character who has visions of an African man diving from the deck of a slave ship into the ocean. He makes plans to sail out to the spot and dive in after the man, despite his family’s objections. It is through this journey that Dontrell discovers secrets of his family’s past that ultimately shape his identity.Davis said he had grand visions for the play, such as a spectacular ship for Dontrell and his soulmate to ride off on. But because of budget restrictions, revisions had to be made. “It taught me that there are other ways of creating spectacle,” Davis said.He said the hardest thing about being a playwright instead of an actor is the experience of live performances. Actors can get caught up in the actions and emotions of the play. As a playwright, he said, it’s harder for him to get lost during the live show.“When I’m in the audience, I’m thinking of the entire event,” Davis said. “I look at the audience, any tweaks I need to make, the mood. But I love that. It’s thrilling and nerve-wrecking.”After successfully staging his first play, Davis began work on “The Art of Bowing” for the 2014 “At First Sight” repertory, his last to be shown at IU. Robert Heller, who directed “The Art of Bowing,” worked with Davis through the revision process. Davis had a very different vision for this play, Heller said.“He was like ‘I’m pretty terrified of writing. I don’t want it to be like realism. I want it to be more of an exploration. I’ve never really written that, and I’m a little horrified of it,’” Heller said of his early conversations with Davis.What Davis ended up creating was a play about human nature and the problems that plague the human race, told through the separated storylines of three characters.Davis said the goal of “The Art of Bowing” was to use the confidence he’d gained from “Dontrell” to try something completely outside his comfort zone.“The cast really hit their stride in the last performance,” Davis said of the play’s reception. “And the audience seemed engaged, which I thought would be tricky since there’s no tidy message.”Davis said he hopes “The Art of Bowing” finds an audience soon as well, and, until then, he will keep working on it.Weitzman said no matter where Davis ends up, he is sure to find success in theater, and his upcoming opportunities are tremendous launching boards.“His work is at the same time deeply philosophical and very poetic and at the same time contemporary and very funny,” he said. “I think he’s really being launched as a playwright in a significant way. I expect him to continue to challenge himself and grow as an artist.”Davis said he’s going to allow some time to gestate after being in an intense writing mode for so long at IU. But he can’t stop himself from coming up with new play ideas.“It’s just tremendously satisfying to be able to tell a story, create characters, create the world that you want to see or the story you want to see and just see it realized,” Davis said. “As a playwright, you’re able to shape the entire world. It’s kind of like you get to make the playground everyone plays on.”
(04/22/14 3:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior Eric Curbow has never been a victim of sexual assault or rape, but it’s an issue close to his heart.On his 21st birthday, Curbow’s friend was raped in her apartment. Curbow didn’t find out about the rape until a couple of days later.“It’s horrible and something no one should ever have to face, especially when you’re at home,” Curbow said.The most difficult part about his friend’s assault, Curbow said, was seeing the emotional and mental toll it took on her. It’s something he said he never wants to see happen to anyone. So on Monday night, he took a stand.Curbow was one of many men and women who marched through the drizzling rain Monday in the 2014 Slut Walk, sponsored by the IU Women’s Student Association.Slut Walk is an international movement that seeks to end rape culture and stigmatization against women as instigators of rape. The catalyst for this movement was Toronto Police Constable Michael Sanguinetti, who gave a statement in 2011 about the force’s views of sexual assault. “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,” Sanguinetti said in the statement.The movement began in Toronto and was designed to convince the police force to change its stance out of respect to women, but Slut Walk has since broken into an international call for the end of rape culture.Freshman Morgan Mohr, the director of activism for WSA, said the event seeks to raise awareness for sexual assault at IU.“It’s such a critical issue, especially here at IU where we have a huge underreporting of rape,” Mohr said. “The problem hasn’t gone away, and we aren’t going away either.”For the IU event, women were encouraged to come dressed however they wanted. “To show that rapists, not the victims, are at fault for rape,” a representative posted on the event’s Facebook page.Women came donning bustiers and fishnet stockings with words like “My Body” and “Still Not Asking For It” scrawled on their bodies. More extreme participants came wearing opened button-down shirts with tape covering their nipples.Tables were set up offering marchers materials and brochures on sexual assault and how to receive help at IU, courtesy of Counseling and Psychological Services at IU. There were also stations to make banners to carry during the march, along with suggestions for messages to write. Most marchers didn’t need the suggestions to create their banners. Emily Gall, a junior studio art and art history major, held up a sign reading “There are no Blurred Lines — FUCK Robin Thicke.” She said her sign was both a testament to her hatred of Thicke and a critique of pop culture’s role in rape culture.“His song’s just terrible, and everyone just keeps playing it over and over again,” Gall said. “Culture always tells guys ‘You need to get laid’ and ‘You need to be masculine and assertive,’ and for women it’s always ‘Shut up and don’t complain. You’re lucky you got laid.’”Before the walk began, marchers heard speeches from club officers Connie Lu and Hannah Milner, as well as Stacy Weida, a prevention coordinator at Middle Way House.The women talked about what the event means to them, and Weida shared the severity of sexual assault within the state.“The national average for girls in grades nine through 12 is 10.5 percent for rape,” she said. “In Indiana, 17.3 percent of women will be raped before they finish high school.”Indiana has the second-worst rate in the nation for sexual assault, Weida said.Participants were encouraged to share their personal connections or reasons behind participating in the march by writing them on slips of paper. WSA officers Mohr and Carmen Vernon read the “Slut Statements” aloud to boost morale before the march. Statements denouncing rape as a societal problem or a result of the Republican movement perceived as a war on women earned overall approval from the crowd. One comment from a rape victim received overwhelming applause and cheers from marchers.“I am here because my rapist tried to stop my spirits, but they failed,” Mohr read. “They don’t get to win. I do. I win every damn day.”As the march began, participants were warned to refrain from interacting with any members of Trad Youth, who had set up a protest of the march at the corner of Kirkwood and Indiana avenues. Supporters of the Slut Walk attempted to cover the Trad Youth protesters and their sign with sheets. Matthew Heimbach, a co-founder of Trad Youth, said the issue the group had was with slut culture, not with rape culture and sexual assault.“We stand against both the slut culture and the bro culture that promotes sexual promiscuity amongst IU students,” Heimbach said. “We came to be able to encourage people to live a modest and chaste lifestyle, but also to stand against the rape culture.”Trad Youth protesters set up at 6 p.m. with signs reading “Against Rape Culture, Against Slut Culture, Slut Culture Hurts Everyone,” among others. Tensions were high among Trad Youth members and Slut Walk supporters attempting to hide their protest. One woman holding a sheet felt her breast grazed by a Trad Youth member and angrily called him out on it. “Is that rape culture?” the Trad Youth member asked. “Do you feel triggered? You don’t look triggered.”But overall, the event was driven by a desire to empower people of all genders and sexual orientations and to bring down the walls instilled by traditional gender definitions, something Mohr said she knows all too well.“In my junior year in high school, my AP English teacher told me that I was going to be successful not because I was the smartest, but because I was attractive enough,” Mohr explained. “For me personally, this event is a huge source of empowerment.”
(04/01/14 3:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Monroe County Public Library cleared out two adjoining rooms on the first floor so volunteers from the Friends of the Library Bookstore could set up their semi-annual clearance sale Thursday.Tables were pushed together to form long rows, and more racks and boxes lined the walls to fit as many books as possible.When fully stocked, there wasn’t an empty spot in the store.Bookstore manager Mike Burns couldn’t even estimate how many books they’d received.“We’ll just go with thousands,” he said. “It could easily be hundreds of thousands.”On Monday the books had still not run out, and shortly after the sale’s 9 a.m. opening, dozens of people were already filing in to see what the Friends of the Library had to offer. Friends of the Library is a non-profit organization that works with volunteers and community outreach to raise funds for MCPL.Membership fees start at $25 for an individual or family, and donations of any amount are welcome. Donors are also given the opportunity to designate where their money will go, either to endowments or current initiatives.While membership fees and donations play a key role in the group’s fundraising, the bookstore and its clearance sales are the major money makers, said John Baumert, vice president of the Friends of the Library and co-chair of the group’s bookstore committee.The bookstore, a permanent fixture in the library, is run year-round by a group of about 10 volunteers, whose responsibilities include processing donations, stocking shelves and running the cash register. Burns said they can usually anticipate 30 to 40 volunteers to help with the clearance sale, helping with everything from straightening the tables to more daunting tasks like cleaning donated books.“Last week, we got a bunch of CDs that looked like they’d been dipped in dirt,” he said with a laugh. “But they were still good, so we cleaned them up.”The library provides books to the sale, and Friends of the Library also accepts donations from the public.The donations don’t stop when the sale begins. Baumert teasingly shooed away a shopper who came Monday morning bearing more books to contribute to the sale.“We don’t need to put any more out,” he said jokingly. “We’re trying to get rid of stuff.”Baumert said the sale also exemplifies the group’s dedication to Bloomington’s youth and getting more kids reading. He said children’s books are priced significantly lower, starting at around $0.50 each.The group is so dedicated to encouraging kids to read, Baumert said, because they are the future and need to be well informed.“We want the kids to read,” he said. “We want them to understand what’s going on so they can become smart voters and good citizens.”The Friends of the Library also funds other programs, such as the library’s summer reading program, which incentivizes kids to read during the summer by awarding them prizes each week they finish a book.Katherine Wallskog, who browsed through the sale Monday, said she likes that the library supplements youth programming, even though her kids are too old to benefit from it. “Children need literacy, not just places to play,” Wallskog said.Baumert said libraries are continually evolving with technology, but he doesn’t see people’s passion for reading dying away anytime soon.“Obviously, there’s still an interest in books,” he said, motioning to the sale room. “Look at all the people in there. “The need for reading and the need for knowledge is there. The need for entertainment is there. I think it’s important to keep these things going.”
(03/03/14 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The stage at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater is usually known for presenting local theater productions and speakers as part of IU lecture series. But Sunday night, the theater screened the 86th Academy Awards in grand fashion, installing a movie theater-sized screen on the stage and inviting Bloomington residents to show up in their finest attire and take in the show like the A-list celebrities.This is the first year the Buskirk-Chumley has screened the Academy Awards in its theater. Associate Director Rebecca Stanze said the event was created to support the theater’s mission to promote film. Stanze said the theater started off as a movie theater, but the community has come to recognize it as a venue for plays, musicals and other live performing arts.“We wanted to remind them this is a place for film as well,” she said.The event kicked off at 7 p.m. with the red carpet pre-show. While guests were able to take in the glamorous fashions of Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lawrence, Lupita Nyong’o and other stylish celebrities, the theater offered activities to give guests a full cinematic event.During commercial breaks, theater workers took to the stage for movie trivia, where guests ran up to microphones set up at the end of the aisles to respond to prompts such as the first movie to win best animated film. Other games like Oscar Bingo took place throughout the night. Guests were given bingo ballots with different moments to look out for during the live telecast and the event at the Buskirk-Chumley.Guests were also invited to fill out prediction sheets before the event. The guest who predicted the most awards correctly was offered a prize. Stanze said locals expressed a lot of interest in the event, though the turbulent weather might have turned people away. That proved true for friends of Dena El Saffar and 13-year-old Layla Moore. Both from Bloomington, they came to the event after hearing about it from friends, who were unable to attend due to the inclement weather. El Saffar said it’s hard to watch award shows like this in Bloomington without having cable, which was part of the reason she and Moore came out Sunday night.“I feel like I always miss out on these things,” she said. “And for once, I’ve seen a lot of the movies.”IU seniors Apeksha Shivnani and Kanwal Jaggi also attended Sunday night because of all the nominated films they’d seen.“It’s interesting Bloomington hosts something like this for free,” Shivnani said.Stanze said the event offered guests who are passionate about film an opportunity to experience the prominent award show on a larger scale.“I think when you’re watching at home in your sweatpants, you can’t get as excited about people getting dressed up and winning these awards,” she said. “It’s really an event for the people to get dressed up and celebrate in a fancy way.”
(02/19/14 4:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The New York Times called him “the most ambitious and widely admired American actor of his generation.” When actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died Feb. 2 from an apparent heroin overdose, members of Hollywood came out in droves to show their remorse and praise the late actor. On Tuesday, IU paid tribute to Hoffman in its own way with a 24-hour film tribute at the IU Cinema, featuring a collection of films in which he starred. Jon Vickers, director of the IU Cinema, said his initial reaction to the actor’s passing was sadness. If the cinema was going to do something to honor the late actor, Vickers wanted to do something big. With financial backing from friends of the cinema and quick planning, Vickers said the retrospective went from a possibility to a reality.“Many of our patrons are viewing this as an event, dedicating as much time to the cinema as they can,” he said. “Seeing more than one film in a row also allows our audience to see the great range that he had as an actor.”Vickers said while Hoffman’s death is a major loss to the film community, the cinema’s event should serve as more of a celebration of his contributions to film.“I think that this event allows everyone to focus on his performances – whether leading roles or minor characters – and see what a fine actor he was,” he said. “Though thoroughly dedicated to his craft, he made it all seem effortless.”The event started with the 2010 film “Jack Goes Boating,” which Hoffman directed and starred in. Other films shown Tuesday included “The Savages,” “The Master” and “Mission: Impossible III.”Bloomington resident Maggie Rossman came out early to see “Jack Goes Boating” for the first time.“It’s a double whammy,” Rossman said. “To get to see him act and what the film’s like that he directed.”Rossman said she came to the tribute to commemorate Hoffman and be a part of the celebration of his life. She said she only wished she could camp out at the cinema to see all of Hoffman’s films.Junior Michael Goldenberg said he was a big Philip Seymour Hoffman fan and was saddened by Hoffman’s death. Goldenberg said he took the IU Cinema event as an opportunity to see some of the actor’s less prominent work.“Not only was he great at portraying complex, layered characters, but he contributed to the scene just by being there or being in the moment,” he said.One of Hoffman’s most notable films, screening at 2:15 p.m. today, is “Capote.” Hoffman played the highly acclaimed and controversial author Truman Capote. In 2006 Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.Reid Ralston, a sophomore at IU, said seeing Hoffman as Capote sold him on the actor’s brilliance and talent.“It’s so spot on, his portrayal,” Ralston said. “It’s one of those performances where you just feel the character.”The 12-film tribute concludes today with the screening of “Owning Mahowny.” While Rossman said it’s a joy to experience Hoffman’s memorable roles all over again, the humanity and familiarity he brought to his characters will be missed.“He’s made almost every role memorable,” she said. “He’s left us with a lot of work, but there was a lot of work to give.”Follow reporter Carolyn Crowcroft on Twitter @carol_crowcroft.
(01/14/14 8:51pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts study showed that in 2011, two years after the end of the Great Recession, gross income accumulated from arts and cultural production accounted for 3.2 percent of the GDP, or about $504 billion.This was the first in-depth analysis of arts and cultural production’s impact on GDP.Michael Rushton, director of the arts administration programs at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, worked on an advisory panel created by the NEA and gave NEA members advice while they worked with the Bureau of Economic Analysis on the study.Rushton said he believes the study was prompted by an increasing interest in the arts and culture as a generator of jobs and income.In a town like Bloomington, he said, arts and culture are important catalysts in the local economy.“If you take institutions like the Jacobs School of Music, that one school was an important part of the whole economy in terms of the amount of production,” Rushton said. “When you think of the number of people who work there and the number of students who go through there, that’s a huge arts institution.”The study showed that during the recession, specifically between 2007 and 2009, the economy as a whole struggled and arts industries were hit particularly hard.Adelheid Gealt, director of the IU Art Museum, said although it’s hard to say exactly how the recession affected the economy in Bloomington, the art community felt the cuts.“Cutbacks in government spending on the NEA and National Endowment for the Humanities meant fewer grants coming to Bloomington,” Gealt said. “That, in turn, meant less money. Also, endowments dropped, meaning income from them was less.”While dips were significant — arts and cultural production went from accounting for more than 3.7 percent of the GDP in 2004 to less than 3.2 percent in 2009 — the arts sector of the economy is slowly rebounding.One of the top commodities that accounted for arts and cultural production output, according to the study, was arts education.Arts education, including fine arts schools and academic performing arts and fine arts departments, brought in more than $100 billion in 2011, making it the second highest-earning commodity in arts and cultural production behind creative content advertising.Rushton said the inclusion of arts education in this study, as well as its high economic performance, is good news for a town like Bloomington.“If you think of all the cultural events, all the arts education, all the people who work in the arts on this campus — it’s huge,” he said. “It’s nice to know that that’s being included in here as part of the measure of what the arts are.”Rushton said the arts and cultural environment that exists in Bloomington, largely thanks to IU, could play a significant role in the economic development of the town due to the kind of people it attracts.“Most participation in the arts — people who go to the theater, people who visit the art museum, people who go to the symphony — tend to be people who are highly educated,” he said. “They tend to be higher income people. When you’re attracting people who really like the arts scene, often it is the people who bring in high incomes and actually bring in jobs.”But outside of economic aspects, Rushton said a vibrant arts and culture scene can be a deciding factor in where people choose to live.“The arts make cities into places where people want to live,” he said. “We can see the impact of the arts of this University on the city of Bloomington. It’s one of the major things that makes people want to live here.”Rushton emphasized, however, that this study shows arts and cultural production is starting to rise after a fairly substantial decline. While it’s headed in the right direction, he said only time will tell if arts and cultural production can reach its proportions prior to the recession.“Employment numbers really took a huge dip with that recession, and it’s still climbing out of it,” Rushton said. “People are hopeful, but it’s still got a ways to go. We’re still in a troubled economy. We’ll just have to wait and see how we come out of that.”Follow reporter Carolyn Crowcroft on Twitter @carol_crowcroft.
(12/16/13 12:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Student Cinema Guild will present the 2013 Crimson Film Festival at 9 p.m. Monday at the IU Cinema.The festival will spotlight 12 original short films produced by student and local filmmakers. Tickets for the event are free and available to the public.Jacob Gabbard, co-president of the Student Cinema Guild, said the group’s film festival complements another film festival that takes place on campus in the spring.“We came up with the idea for the festival as a way to keep films being made in the fall rather than the huge surge that comes in in April due to Campus Movie Fest,” Gabbard said. “Essentially, this CMF is the main student film festival that takes place in the spring, but we also wanted to have a festival that took place in the fall.”The group receives submissions for the festival online via Google Drive or DropBox accounts, as well as on DVDs.In its first year in existence, the festival received 35 submissions, mostly from IU students, Gubbard said. However, he said the group received many other submissions from filmmakers throughout the state and country.The guild selected films to screen in the festival through a judging process, narrowing the field down to a group of films that would fit the festival’s two-hour screening at the IU Cinema.“The judges considered a number of things when screening the films,” Gabbard said. “They looked for original story lines, interesting cinematic techniques and diversity in content to help create an entertaining festival.”Following the film screenings, an award ceremony will take place honoring select films in the festival. Gabbard said the films the group has selected for the premiere festival are fantastic and festival-goers should anticipate a night of fantastic amateur films. “There is a wide variety of films ranging in genre that were almost all made outside of a classroom,” Gabbard said. “It’s so exciting to see the film community in Bloomington blow up the way it has, and even more so it’s super exciting to be part of the growing community by providing events like the Crimson Film Festival to the University and community.”Follow reporter Carolyn Crowcroft on Twitter @carol_crowcroft.
(12/03/13 5:06am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Composer Libby Larsen will take up a residency Wednesday and Thursday at the Jacobs School of Music as part of the music school’s “Five Friends Master Class Series.”Larsen will give a lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Ford-Crawford Hall.She will also serve as guest composer for the New Music Ensemble’s performance at 8 p.m. Thursday in Auer Hall.As part of her residency, Larsen will offer free lessons to Jacobs composition students.The Master Class Series honors the lives of five Jacobs students.Larsen’s residency will honor former student Robert Samels.Throughout her career, Larsen has created more than 400 compositions, including more than 12 operas, and has received multiple honors for her work, including a Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance in 1994. In 1973, Larsen co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composers Forum.The organization encourages composers and musicians to make and perform new music.Larsen’s lecture and the New Music Ensemble’s performance are free and open to the public.— Carolyn Crowcroft
(12/03/13 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Professor Emeritus William Adam of the Jacobs School of Music died Nov. 25 at the IU Health Hospice House in Bloomington. He was 96 years old. Adam, a renowned trumpet pedagogue, taught at Jacobs for 42 years, from 1946 to 1988. Born in 1917 in Kansas City, Kan., Adam began playing the trumpet at age seven. He took his first lessons from Ben Foltz, a former cornetist with the John Philip Sousa Band. Adam’s determination to master the instrument carried on throughout his childhood. According to a Jacobs press release, he used to take rides from his Fort Collins, Colo., home to Denver to study under Denver Symphony Orchestra trumpet player John S. Leick. At the age of 16, he left home to play professionally in the Hal Kemp Orchestra in California.During his time in California, Adam also played for the Lucky Strike Hit Parade and the Los Angeles Civic Orchestra as well as a number of radio shows. He also attended Pasadena Junior College and the University of California-Los Angeles.During World War II, Adams returned to Colorado to join the army at Ft. Logan in Denver. Though he failed to pass the physical examination due to a previous injury, Adam worked for the Remington Arms Munitions Factory. Following his service, Adam completed his studies at the University of Colorado at Denver and Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, earning a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance. Adam taught music in high schools in Colorado and performed in hotels and radio orchestras. In 1948, he earned his master’s degree in music theory and composition from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.In 1946, Adam began his career as a professor at Jacobs, where he worked until the late 1980s.John Rommel, a trumpet player and professor of music at Jacobs, studied privately under Adam.Though he was already playing professionally when he started taking lessons with Adam, Rommel said he was feeling discouraged by his trumpet playing, and it was Adam who helped turn his attitude around.“He always said you can accomplish whatever you want if you just stay positive and focus on a task,” Rommel said. “He changed the way I thought about pretty much everything, but definitely the trumpet. His outlook kept me in music.”Rommel said over the years, Adam’s earned a devoted group of students who were touched by his influential teaching skills.“There have been a lot of great teachers at Jacobs, and he’s one of them,” Rommel said.A celebration of Adam’s life will be at a later date. Members of Adam’s family have requested memorial contributions to be made to the William Adam Trumpet Scholarship through the IU Foundation.Condolences can be shared online at caringbridge.org/visit/williamadam as well as on the Jacobs School’s blog.Follow reporter Carolyn Crowcroft on Twitter @carol_crowcroft.
(12/03/13 5:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Professor Emeritus William Adam of the Jacobs School of Music died Nov. 25 at the IU Health Hospice House in Bloomington. He was 96 years old. Adam, a renowned trumpet pedagogue, taught at Jacobs for 42 years, from 1946 to 1988. Born in 1917 in Kansas City, Kan., Adam began playing the trumpet at age seven. He took his first lessons from Ben Foltz, a former cornetist with the John Philip Sousa Band. Adam’s determination to master the instrument carried on throughout his childhood. According to a Jacobs press release, he used to take rides from his Fort Collins, Colo., home to Denver to study under Denver Symphony Orchestra trumpet player John S. Leick. At the age of 16, he left home to play professionally in the Hal Kemp Orchestra in California.During his time in California, Adam also played for the Lucky Strike Hit Parade and the Los Angeles Civic Orchestra as well as a number of radio shows. He also attended Pasadena Junior College and the University of California-Los Angeles.During World War II, Adams returned to Colorado to join the army at Ft. Logan in Denver. Though he failed to pass the physical examination due to a previous injury, Adam worked for the Remington Arms Munitions Factory. Following his service, Adam completed his studies at the University of Colorado at Denver and Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, earning a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance. Adam taught music in high schools in Colorado and performed in hotels and radio orchestras. In 1948, he earned his master’s degree in music theory and composition from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.In 1946, Adam began his career as a professor at Jacobs, where he worked until the late 1980s.John Rommel, a trumpet player and professor of music at Jacobs, studied privately under Adam.Though he was already playing professionally when he started taking lessons with Adam, Rommel said he was feeling discouraged by his trumpet playing, and it was Adam who helped turn his attitude around.“He always said you can accomplish whatever you want if you just stay positive and focus on a task,” Rommel said. “He changed the way I thought about pretty much everything, but definitely the trumpet. His outlook kept me in music.”Rommel said over the years, Adam’s earned a devoted group of students who were touched by his influential teaching skills.“There have been a lot of great teachers at Jacobs, and he’s one of them,” Rommel said.A celebration of Adam’s life will be at a later date. Members of Adam’s family have requested memorial contributions to be made to the William Adam Trumpet Scholarship through the IU Foundation.Condolences can be shared online at caringbridge.org/visit/williamadam as well as on the Jacobs School’s blog.Follow reporter Carolyn Crowcroft on Twitter @carol_crowcroft.
(11/19/13 4:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indie rock band Cymbals Eat Guitars will perform at 9 p.m. tonight at the Bishop Bar. Bloomington band Stagnant Pools will open.Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased at the door, at Landlocked Music or also online at the Bishop’s website, www.thebishopbar.com. From Staten Island, N.Y., Cymbals Eat Guitars includes singer/songwriter/guitarist Joseph D’Agostino, bassist Matthew Whipple, keyboarder Brian Hamilton and drummer Andrew Dole. The group released its debut album, “Why There Are Mountains,” in 2009, followed by stints touring with bands such as the Flaming Lips and the Hold Steady. Cymbals Eat Guitars also performed at music festivals such as Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. The band signed with Barsuk Records in 2011 and released its second album, “Lenses Alien.” For this album, the band recorded primarily in Whipple’s basement in New Jersey. Cymbals Eat Guitars’ Bloomington show is one stop on the fall tour, which will also take the group to Columbus, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia and Brooklyn, N.Y. —Carolyn Crowcroft
(11/05/13 3:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU will be the host institution for the Society of Ethnomusicology’s 58th Annual Meeting Nov. 14-17 in Indianapolis.About 1,000 people are expected to attend this year’s meeting, including scholars, public practitioners and students, according the a press release.The meeting, which will last for four days, is planned to include more than 400 paper presentations, roundtables, workshops, film screenings and other various events dedicated to ethnomusicology.In addition, University of California, Los Angeles distinguished professor of anthropology Sherry Ortner will deliver this year’s keynote address at the Charles Seeger Lecture.The conference’s local arrangements committee organized a variety of performances for this year’s meeting. The committee is composed of staff members from IU as well as Indiana State University and Wabash College.Musical acts, such as the IU Soul Revue, Sogbety Diomande’s West African Drum and Dance Ensemble and Bernard Woma, are all scheduled to perform during the meeting. The Society of Ethnomusicology was founded in 1955, and since 1988, the group has been based at IU. The society works closely with IU’s Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and Archives of Traditional Music.Society of Enthnomusicology Executive Director Stephen Stuempfle said in a press release the society is grateful for the support that IU has given it over the years. “The co-presence of the Society for Ethnomusicology and a major academic ethnomusicology program at Bloomington continues to define the campus as an international center for the study of the world’s music,” Stuempfle said in the press release.— Carolyn Crowcroft
(10/29/13 2:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Union Board and the Office of International Services will partner once again to present IU World’s Fare Thursday, Nov. 7.The fare will take place at 5 p.m. in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union.The event allows student members of the 20 cultural student groups at IU to showcase their countries with a night of international food and performances. The event falls within IU’s International Education Week, a week dedicated to the education and exchange of different nations and cultures, according to the website of the Office of International Services.International student groups will represent their cultures and countries at booths throughout Alumni Hall. The groups will also hold performances throughout the event. Ethnic food will be served with recipes submitted by the international student groups and prepared by IMU Dining Services. Sandy Britton, associate director for international student life, said in a press release that the sense of unity this event brings year after year is what makes it so special.“Having this great event at IU Bloomington for the seventh year not only speaks to the value of global cultures, but to the commitment the international student groups have made to continue to bring awareness about their countries and the pride they feel sharing their cultures with the people who attend the event,” Britton said.— Carolyn Crowcroft
(10/22/13 2:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Comedian and filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait will screen his latest film, “Willow Creek,” at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 31 at the IU Cinema. Tickets are $3 and can be purchased at the IU Auditorium Box Office or one hour prior to screening at the IU Cinema.Goldthwait is famous for his comedic role in the “Police Academy” film series. He has screened films at multiple festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.As the latest addition to his filmography, “Willow Creek” focuses on the myth of Bigfoot and tells the story of a couple who find themselves in Willow Creek, Calif., a known Bigfoot territory.The film was shot in a found-footage style and features interviews with Willow Creek residents about the legend of Bigfoot in their town.Along with his new film, Goldthwait will also screen his 2012 film, “God Bless America,” at 6:30 p.m., prior to “Willow Creek.”The comedy tells the story of a recent divorcee who teams up with a high school student to take out reality TV stars and celebrities. Following his screenings, Goldthwait will give a free lecture at 3 p.m. Nov. 1 at the cinema.IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers said in a press release the cinema looks forward to welcoming Goldthwait.“He has had a successful life in entertainment, but in talking with him it is clear that making his own films is what he seems to love most,” Vickers said in a press release.— Carolyn Crowcroft
(10/03/13 3:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU alumnus and concert pianist Jeremy Denk has been named a 2013 MacArthur Fellow.Denk is one of 24 Fellows and will receive a $625,000 stipend over the next five years. Recipients of the stipend can spend it at their discretion.Denk joins an eclectic group of MacArthur Fellows, including choreographer/dancer Kyle Abraham, research psychologist Angela Duckworth, medieval historian Robin Fleming and playwright Tarell McCraney.Denk graduated from the Jacobs School of Music in 1993 with a master’s degree in music. He served as a visiting assistant professor at the school in 1996 and an assistant professor from 1997 until 2003.Throughout his career, Denk has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as orchestras in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.He has also toured with fellow IU alumnus and violinist Joshua Bell.In the future, Denk will perform in and curate the 2014 Ojai Music Festival, a classical and contemporary music festival held in Ojai, Calif. — Carolyn Crowcroft
(10/01/13 3:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>An exhibit of the 16th through mid-19th century diseases will be on display at the Lilly Library now through Dec. 20. “Visualizing Disease” features illustrations of ailments that have been published in books and other publications as far back as the 1500s. Images on display depict various diseases, including internal lesions and an array of dermatological conditions.According to a press release, many of the illustrations are the first documented images of these diseases. Other works featured in the exhibit include paintings from Grunwald Gallery Art Director Betsy Stirratt’s “La Maladie” series as well as works from the Bushong-Beasley Antiquarian Dermatology Collection.Domenico Bertoloni Meli, a professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science who also worked to curate the exhibit, said in a press release the exhibit is unlike any art exhibit people might expect. “Typically, artists have been interested in the human body and the beauty, harmony and proportion of its parts,” Meli said. “When you deal with disease, you are dealing with the opposite of that — there’s no beauty, harmony or proportion, but the images can be very powerful.”— Carolyn Crowcroft
(09/27/13 3:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>AMC’s acclaimed original series “Breaking Bad” ends at 9 p.m. Sunday after more than five years on the air. For IU alumnus Chelsey McKrill, the series finale is old news.After graduating with a degree in telecommunications from IU in 2012, McKrill has gone on to work on not only the set of “Breaking Bad,” but also “Porter Ridge,” a Discovery Channel reality show set in Spencer, Ind.A native of Bloomington, McKrill got her first break with television when she was a senior in high school. MTV reality show “Made” came to her high school and featured her in an episode. McKrill said the show attempted to “make” her into a rock star with Yellowcard frontman Ryan Key as her mentor. She said her time on the show wasn’t without embarrassing moments. “I’m a really, really bad singer,” McKrill said. “I was basically declared tone deaf on national television.”McKrill said she befriended her field producer while on the show, who convinced her she had an eye for video production. She enrolled in the telecommunications program at IU the next year.McKrill said she got a lot out of working collaboratively with other students while she was at IU. She was a member of GameZombie TV, a student group that produced videos and multimedia related to video games. “I really, really got to be hands on with different equipment and working with people in kind of like a real life studio model,” she said of her experience at GameZombie. McKrill said it was professors such as Susan Kelly, Steve Krahnke and Jim Krause who inspired her and the way she directs and produces. “They were all about story, how can you tell a story visually,” she said. “I think that whole idea is really what made me passionate about making movies.”After graduating from IU, McKrill worked a couple of internships before working on “Porter Ridge.” After filming a couple of episodes, production stopped with a plan to pick up again summer 2013. McKrill was working at Nicks’ English Hut on the side to save money for a car. She got her big break when fellow IU alumnus and “Breaking Bad” star Jonathan Banks visited the restaurant.“He was signing the famous wall that we have,” she said. “I’m, like, a huge fan of the show, it is, like, my favorite show, has always been my favorite show, and so I freaked out when I saw him and asked to get a photo with him.”To pay him back for the photo, McKrill said Banks asked her to convince his daughter, Elizabeth Banks, to come to IU. McKrill said she and Elizabeth hit it off right away.“She said she wanted to study production, which is the same thing I went for,” she said. “We talked on the phone a couple of times and emailed a couple of times, and she’s going to IU now.”A few months later, McKrill got a call from Jonathan saying he wanted her résumé. “I didn’t really expect anything of it,” McKrill said. “And then he called me and was like, ‘So I can’t promise you anything, I don’t know if anything’s gonna come of this. But I’m friends with the production manager of ‘Breaking Bad.’ I really appreciate everything you did, so I called him and emailed him and hopefully he’ll hit you back.’”After a month, McKrill said the production manager finally called, only to let her know there were no positions available. “He stayed on the phone with me for a half hour and just gave me some really good advice, like if I wanted to produce, here are the ways I should go about doing that,” she said. Another month passed before McKrill said she had a major revelation.“I was like, ‘I was talking to the production manager of ‘Breaking Bad,’ and I didn’t get a job, what’s wrong with that picture?’” she said. “I emailed him again and was like ‘Look, I’ll do anything to be on set. I’ll be your assistant’s assistant’s assistant. Basically, I’ll be your bitch. I’ll work for free.’”Her persistence paid off — two weeks later, she was offered a three-week trial run on the show, which went on to become a full-time job that lasted until the show’s end.McKrill said coming on board to such an established show was intimidating, but she was grateful for the experience. “I did get hired in an unusual way, so I didn’t know how the other PAs would feel about me,” she said. “I was pretty green, so I relied on them a lot to learn. Everyone was incredibly nice, from the actors to the people who have been there since the beginning. All just really fun to be around, really good energy.”After filming on “Breaking Bad” wrapped, McKrill returned to “Porter Ridge” as its talent coordinator. She said the contrast between that show and “Breaking Bad” was drastic.“That show is completely different from Breaking Bad in so many ways,” she said. “The mode of production, the way the crew works and the director works, the goals of the people to budget, to actors. It’s like a complete 180.”McKrill has a couple more shoots for “Porter Ridge” next month, but as far as the future goes, she said anything could happen — including working on the newly-announced “Breaking Bad” spinoff, “Better Call Saul.”“I am going to try to work my way on there,” she said of the spinoff. “It’d definitely be something I would try to do. Right now, everything is up in the air.”Follow reporter Carolyn Crowcroft on Twitter @carol_crowcroft.
(09/24/13 2:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The melodies of Burt Bacharach and Radiohead don’t often mix together, but Brent Wallarab Jazz Ensemble makes it work.The group, led for the second year by Associate Professor of Music Wallarab, performed its first concert of the year at 8 p.m. at the Musical Arts Center.Wallarab, who teaches many musical arranging and composition classes at the Jacobs School of Music, featured original pieces composed by students in the group. Wallarab said he encourages his students to expose their work in the ensemble.“I’m grateful to use this as a venue to showcase their talent and get their feet wet,” he said.Wallarab said the students can benefit from working their pieces with a group after composing.“They grow not just by hearing their music live, but by working it and tweaking it,” Wallarab said.The ensemble rehearses three times a week and took three weeks to prepare for the Monday night concert.In addition to original student works, the concert featured Radiohead’s “Creep,” arranged for jazz ensemble by Alexandra Signor and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” by Hal David and Burt Bacharach.Senior and drummer Mitch Shiner composed “6:20 Shuffle” and arranged “Raindrops.” Shiner said he has enjoyed the opportunity to work outside of the norms of jazz music.“Jazz isn’t all about going into a dark, smoky club,” he said. “It’s about experimenting.”Master’s student and guitarist Matt MacDougall also worked on an arrangement of Dave Brubeck’s “Three to Get Ready.” MacDougall said Wallarab has worked to get something new out of his students.“He’s taken the band in a unique direction that a lot of universities aren’t taking,” he said.Shiner said the group has worked to make the show as high energy as possible, and proof of that can been.“There’s not a soft spot in the show,” he said. “We prepared really well for it.”Wallarab said he hopes the ensemble is able to take the audience to a happier place, if only for the length of the program.“I want (the musicians) to communicate a wide variety of moods and varieties and textures and connect with the audience,” he said.Follow reporter Carolyn Crowcroft on Twitter @carol_crowcroft.