It’s no secret that Athens is known and loved for its art scene. The only mystery is why we so often forget just how much is going on in this town, particularly on UGA’s campus. Between the various departments, venues, events and publications, the on-campus art scene is bustling.
Last year alone, the Hugh Hodgson School of Music hosted world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; the Georgia Museum of Art saw nearly 60,000 visitors and extended its certifiably sustainable development to make room for its growing collection; the Lamar Dodd School of Art ranked 22nd overall in U.S. News and World Report’s survey of graduate programs and seventh in printmaking, in particular; Chet Walker, the Tony award-winning creator of the musical Fosse, guest directed Chicago for University Theatre; the dance department engaged with the community through its Community Dance Day Celebration; and The Georgia Review received 10 awards from the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Across the board, the achievements of the art departments, directors, faculty, staff and students are nearly as innumerable as they are frequent.
In an effort to heighten student and community engagement with the arts on campus, the UGA Arts Council was formed in October 2011. The council consists of faculty and staff members across the artistic disciplines and is backed by the Office of the Provost.
“The goal is to raise awareness of the role of the arts on campus and in the community,†says Dr. Dale Monson, the director of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and a member of the UGA Arts Council. “So, it isn’t just on campus; we’re also reaching out to the community in a variety of ways… to promote and focus on the contribution that the arts make to our university and community life.â€
As its first major task, the Arts Council planned Spotlight on the Arts, a nine-day-long festival (Nov. 3–11) celebrating the exceptional arts programming on campus.
“The idea was to ‘spotlight’ the performing, visual and literary arts at UGA during this time frame,†says Sharron Hannon, the director of public relations for Academic Affairs who is coordinating promotional activities for the event. “The Arts Council units have planned more than 50 events, and student groups have scheduled several more ‘impromptu’ performances, about which we’ll be sharing details on Facebook and Twitter.â€
The scheduled events include lectures, dance and theater performances, book signings, concerts, film screenings and poetry readings. Special guest performances include Béla Fleck and the Marcus Roberts Trio and Blue Man Group, both presented by the Performing Arts Center; the latter is co-presented by the Classic Center, where it will be held.
Other highlights include a University Theatre production of Rita Dove’s play The Darker Face of the Earth, concerts by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, performances of choreography by UGA dance majors and the opening of a Jack Davis exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art, as well as an exhibition by BFA students in the Lamar Dodd School of Art. Jack Davis and Alex Murawski, a LDSOA professor, will sign the recently published book Jack Davis: Drawing American Popular Culture at the GMOA on Nov. 4 at 1:30 p.m. There will also be a reception to celebrate the mural “Doors” by acclaimed local artist Art Rosenbaum at the Richard B. Russell Building, Special Collections Libraries on Nov. 5, 5:50–7 p.m. U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey will speak Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. in the Chapel, delivering the UGA Charter Lecture as one of the signature events during the Spotlight on the Arts festival. A public reception in Demosthenian Hall will immediately follow her address.
The festival is noteworthy not only for the caliber of its performances and programs, but also for its breadth of coverage across campus and into the community.
“This is the biggest arts festival at the university in the 24 years I’ve worked here,†Hannon says. “When the  Performing and Visual Arts Complex opened in 1996, there was a week-long celebration, and when the Lamar Dodd School of Art moved to the arts complex in 2008, there was a four-day festival.  But Spotlight on the Arts involves more campus units and more events than either of those.â€Â
In an event committed to shedding light on the overlooked wealth of UGA creativity, the festival will proudly and aptly present a screening of Somebodies, an independent film written and directed by and starring UGA Grady College graduate, Hadjii. Somebodies was warmly received at the Sundance Film Festival and transformed into a sitcom for BET, but never saw commercial theater distribution. And although the movie was filmed in Athens, it never had an Athens screening—until now. The screening will be presented by the Harry and Jane Willson Center for Humanities and the Arts at Ciné on Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. Hadjii, as well as co-star Kaira Akita, will be on hand to introduce the film and entertain a Q&A session afterwards.
Along with its diverse array of events, the festival will also provide a rare insight into what goes on in the art departments with various “open door” opportunities, including open dance classes and open house days at The Georgia Review.
“We are trying in multiple ways to open our doors to the campus and the community during this arts festival,†Monson says. “There are open houses that are being held in each of the arts units where people can go and kind of see a rehearsal or people painting or something like that and tour our facilities. We’re trying to help people understand who we are and what we do and how we do that and why this is important.â€
As the inaugural event approaches, excitement builds among the members of the UGA Arts Council, not only for this year’s festival but also for what may come.
“We are all waiting to see how it goes,†says Monson. “We’re hoping that there will be a huge public response, that it will be enthusiastic and people will respond well to it, and if that happens, we will probably try to go down this road again some time soon.â€
To view the Spotlight on the Arts’ extensive schedule of events, please visit arts.uga.edu/about/schedule.
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