September 18, 2003

Activities to mark 10 years of Hixson-Lied college

On July 1, 1993, UNL established a College of Fine and Performing Arts to unify the arts on campus into a single college. This academic year, the college will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a yearlong celebration of performances, exhibitions and special events.

"As we now prepare to mark the college's 10th anniversary, we are mindful of the fact that every bit of what has been accomplished stands as a tribute to the loyalty, dedication and commitment to excellence of our faculty, our students, our staff and our alumni," said Giacomo M. Oliva, dean.

The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts includes the Department of Art and Art History, the School of Music and the Department of Theatre Arts. Affiliated units include the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, the Lentz Center for Asian Culture, the Lied Center for Performing Arts, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, and the Nebraska Repertory Theatre.

More than 25 events have been scheduled as part of the 10th anniversary schedule, beginning with a regional sculpture exhibition in the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall that opened Sept. 17. Other anniversary events include University Theatre's Romeo and Juliet in October; UNL Opera's Susannah Nov. 7 and 9; the Holiday Choral Festival on Dec. 7; the UNL Dance performance Feb. 27-29; the Annual Undergraduate Exhibition March 1-12 in the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery; the musical Guys and Dolls, which is a collaboration between the Lied Center for Performing Arts and the Hixson-Lied College of Fine & Performing Arts; and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 by the NU Symphony Orchestra and University Singers at the Lied Center on April 24.

The College will hold its annual Alumni Weekend April 23-25, 2004, featuring an Honors Day Awards Dinner, an alumni recital and the Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 performance, among many other activities.

Other events Other visiting artists and special events will be included throughout the year. A full schedule of activities is available at <www.unl.edu/finearts>.

David Holt, Richard Watson and Doc Watson will perform 'Hills of Home' at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

Musicians to create 'Hills of Home'

aA celebration of homegrown American music will fill the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 when famed guitarist Doc Watson will be joined by his grandson, Richard Watson, and David Holt for an evening of traditional music titled "Hills of Home."

The first act will feature Doc Watson and Holt performing together, with Watson on guitar and harmonica and Holt on banjo, guitar, harmonica and hambone. The second act will begin with some solo pieces by Doc Watson, who will then be joined for a few numbers by Richard Watson on guitar. Holt will then join the Watsons to close the evening.

Recipient of the National Medal of Arts, National Heritage Fellowship and five Grammy Awards, Doc Watson blends his traditional Appalachian musical roots with bluegrass, country, gospel, and blues to create a unique style.

Born into a musical family in North Carolina, Doc Watson started playing the banjo as a child. Blind since childhood, Watson picked up a guitar at 13 and found he had a talent for picking out chords. He didn't begin taking paying gigs until he was 30, and he gave his first solo performance at Gerde's Folk City in New York in 1961. He has nearly 60 albums to his credit and at 80 years old now only plays a limited number of engagements each year.

David Holt is a Grammy Award winner known for his folk music and storytelling recordings, his numerous programs on TNN, Folkways on PBS, "Riverwalk" on public radio and his concerts. Holt was founder and director of the Appalachian Music Program at Warren Wilson College from 1975-1981. He is also the three-time winner of Frets' magazine readers' poll for "best old-time banjoist." Watson and Holt have known each other since 1971 and have recorded several CDs together, including the three-volume Legacy.

Robert Vaughn, senior director of finance and administration at the Lied Center and a guitar enthusiast, will give a pre-performance talk 30 minutes before curtain in Lied's Steinhart Room.

Tickets are $32, $26 and $22; tickets are half-price for university students and youths 18 and younger. Call the Lied box office at 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231 for tickets.

Contest eggs now on display

The eggs decorated to enter the contest sponsored by the poultry and egg division of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture are on display on the third floor of the University of Nebraska State Museum from now until Oct. 13.

Nineteen Nebraska artists have submitted entries in the 10th annual egg artistry contest, and the public can view them and vote for their favorites. The museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sundays.

Eggs are to be judged based on the best depiction of the state of Nebraska. The winning egg will be taken by the American Egg Board, along with other states' submissions, to Washington, D.C., to be on display at the White House during Easter 2004.

Entries this year came from Bancroft, Beatrice, Belgrade, Chadron, Columbus, Creston, Fremont, Lincoln, Oakland, Omaha, Ord, Seward, Walthill, Waverly, West Point and York.

The contestants' eggs can be viewed on the Nebraska Department of Agriculture's website at <www.agr.state. ne.us/photos/egg/04contest.htm>. For information about the egg display, call Mary Torell at the poultry and egg division, 472-0752.

Author to give reading Sept. 22

Author Kent Nelson will read from his new book, Land That Moves, Land That Stands Still, at 7 p.m. Sept. 22 in the Dudley Bailey Library, 228 Andrews Hall.

Land That Moves, Land that Stands Still portrays an unusual family and is set on a ranch east of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Library Journal said the book paints a realistic picture that offers readers a close look at this unique family.

Nelson has won the Edward Abbey Prize for Ecofiction and has received two National Endowment for the Arts grants.

The reading, sponsored by the UNL English Department and Creative Writing Program, is free and open to the public.

For more information, call Jonis Agee at 472-1834 or 797-2416.

Opening reception for Lentz display

The opening reception for Through My Father's Eyes: The Filipino American Photographs of Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado (1914-1976) at the UNL Lentz Center for Asian Culture is from 1-4 p.m. Sept. 20 at the center.

Through My Father's Eyes is a collection of 50 rare photographs organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service that will be on display at the Lentz Center, 1155 Q St., from Sept. 20 through Nov. 16. The opening reception will include a performance of tinikling, the Filipino national dance, at 2:30 p.m.

The reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public.

School of Music director on NPRN

The new director of UNL's School of Music, John Richmond, will participate in a live broadcast of the Nebraska Public Radio Network series "Classics By Request" from 2-3 p.m. Sept. 26.

Richmond will select music for the hour based on some of his favorite classical pieces, which he says include Handel's Hallelujah from The Messiah; Vivaldi's Gloria in Excelsis Deo; Barber's Agnus Dei and Barber's The Coolin' from Reincarnations.

Student documentary on Cuba premieres tonight

Since their 11-day trip to Cuba in January, UNL depth reporting students have been busy writing, editing, publishing and producing an 87-page, full-color magazine, "Cuba: An Elusive Truth," and a 60-minute broadcast documentary, Cuba: Illogical Temple. Both are being presented to the public this month for the first time.

The documentary Cuba: Illogical Temple, executive-produced by College of Journalism and Mass Communications professors Jerry Renaud and Joe Starita and produced by broadcasting students Lindsey Kealy and Dave Pittock, premieres at a special showing at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, 313 N. 13th St. The documentary will be shown on NETV2 at 11 p.m. Sept. 21 and at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sept. 23.

The Cuba fact-finding mission was part of the College of Journalism and Mass Communication's depth reporting class project. Dozens of students competed to be among the seven news-editorial and two broadcasting students selected for the Cuba reporting team. Between August 2002 and January 2003, the class conducted background research and prepared for the trip to Miami and Havana. During the spring semester they put together the magazine and a broadcast documentary on the people, culture, government, economy and everyday life of Cuba, as well as special in-depth topics like the 43-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba and whether eliminating it would benefit Nebraska farmers and cattle ranchers.

"There are few places where our students could experience life under a Marxist government," journalism dean Will Norton said. "Life in Havana provided our students with insights that will better prepare them for journalistic careers in Nebraska and anywhere else in the world. These young men and women were great representatives of this state and this university. I am proud that I can be associated with students of this caliber and persons of such character and determination."

Copies of the magazine at $10 and the documentary DVD at $15 are available at the journalism office at 147 Andersen Hall.

Tickets for the Ross film premiere Sept. 18 are $7 for general audience and $5 for members of the Ross Media Arts Center, students, seniors and children. The box office opens at 6:30 p.m.

'Statewide' peeks at prehistoric past

This week on "Statewide" on the Nebraska ETV Network, reporter Brad Penner's "Perspective" segment investigates how a chance discovery of an ancient animal bone led to a major excavation near Creighton, Neb. This episode airs at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19.

Texas teacher Mike Baldwin first discovered the bones more than a year ago during a visit to his parents' home near Creighton. His quest for answers about the fossilized remains led to the involvement of experts, including several from UNL. The ribs, several neck vertebrae and paddle bones of a fossilized plesiosaur are the product of delicate digging that reveals clues to Nebraska's prehistoric past.

Also, reporter Mike Tobias concludes a three-part series that profiles Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers who are part of the international NATO peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.

In the last part of the series, Tobias examines the effectiveness of the peacekeeping mission, as well as efforts to rebuild the nation. His story includes interviews with Bosnians, soldiers and UNL political science professor Patrice McMahon.

"Statewide" repeats at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and noon Sundays on Nebraska ETV. It also repeats on NETV2, the cable television service of Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, at 9:30 p.m. Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. Sundays and 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays.