The College of Fine Arts will host a very special series of events in New York City on December 18 and 19, 2005 which will shine the spotlight on the talent we have here in the College. From a faculty and alumni art exhibit to the Texas Piano Quartet's debut performance at Carnegie Hall, we plan to prove that the arts really do thrive deep in the heart of Texas.

Texas Piano Quartet
The Texas Piano Quartet consists of four extraordinary young faculty members from The University of Texas at Austin: violinist Brian Lewis, violist Roger Myers, cellist Bion Tsang, and pianist Anton Nel. The quartet formed in the spring of 2005 and adopted the name of Texas Piano Quartet at the suggestion of Robert Freeman, Dean of the university's College of Fine Arts. Since Texas symbolizes a state of mind as much as a geographic location, the quartet's name represents the irrepressible spirit, energy, and imagination that defines life - and the arts - in our country's second largest state. Read more about the Texas Piano Quartet...

Deep in the Heart
Deep in the Heart: a gallery of works by UT Faculty/Alumni. Including works by: John Yancey, Dan Sutherland, Michael Mogavero, Carolyn Porter, Ken Hale, Bill Wiman, Holly Fischer, Andy Coolquitt, Eric Tomberlin, and Margo Sawyer.

The exhibition will be held at 511 Gallery, 529 West 20th Street. Reception will be held on December 18, from 2:00-4:00 pm. Exhibit will be up from December 8, 2005 January 21, 2006. www.511gallery.com

Academic Symposium at Lincoln Center

Featuring President Larry Faulkner, Provost Sheldon Ekland-Olson, and Jackie Davis, Executive Director of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, this symposium will focus on the future of art museums and the growing role of the arts in higher education. In a recent article in The Texas Exes' Alumni magazine, The Alcalde, Senior Associate Dean Doug Dempster touched upon this latter concern. The following is an excerpt from his article, "Supply and Demand in the Arts":

"It’s a remarkable fact that the single strongest — in fact, overwhelmingly strongest — predictor of an adult’s involvement with the arts, either as a consumer or practitioner, is not childhood exposure to the arts or arts activities; it’s not affluence; it’s not heritage. It is formal educational attainment and the exposure to the arts and culture that normally comes with that education.

There is little doubt that we are oversupplying society with aspiring artists and performers, but we should also be doing more to build demand by insuring that the arts are part of the educational programs of non-arts majors..."

Download the full article (pdf).