Four people connected with UNM’s College of Fine Arts were recently honored with the 25th annual Arts Alliance Bravos Awards, recognizing the best in Albuquerque arts and culture.
Susan Kempter, string pedagogy director, was recognized for Excellence in Music. Kempter is an influential expert in violin instruction. Her publications, “Between Parent and Teacher: A Teacher’s Guide to Parent Education,” “How Muscles Learn: Teaching the Violin with the Body in which Mind” and “Musical Activities for Preschool Children,” are used by string teachers across the country. Her most recent book, “How Muscles Learn,” is being translated into Korean, Japanese and Spanish. At UNM, she founded the string pedagogy program and the UNM Lab School, a teaching lab for UNM pedagogy students and string education to children throughout the Albuquerque community.
Alumnus Leonard Madrid received an award for Excellence in Theatre. Madrid’s nominators wrote of his “outstanding contribution to excellence in the theater arts” through his development of new programs, playwriting, production and volunteerism. He won the National Latino Playwriting Award three consecutive years as part of the National College Theater Festival at the Kennedy Center.
At UNM, Madrid helped to produce the Words Afire! Festival and reached out to students through an innovative theater festival for high schoolers. He also mentors young people with an interest in the field. Madrid, who acts and is part of the Blackout Theater Group in addition to having written nearly two dozen plays, received his M.F.A. in dramatic writing last spring.
The UNM Music Prep School was recognized for Excellence in Arts Education. Through the Music Prep School, UNM faculty and music education students teach music classes to children from birth through 8th grade. Administered since its beginning by Diane Bonnell, its instructors are certified music teachers who help students learn a wide range of musical skills including general music, piano, marimba, drums, guitar, Suzuki violin and choral music. Donor-sponsored tuition support has always been available for qualified students, ensuring a diverse student population and affordable rates.
Families participate with babies and toddlers, demonstrating the program’s emphasis on early music training aimed at creating a lifelong appreciation for music. In collaboration with the Department of Music, the program creates professional training opportunities for faculty, students and music teachers. More than 560 students are enrolled this semester.
College of Fine Arts Dean Christopher Mead received the President’s Award. Mead is a historian, teacher, administrator and community volunteer. Working with representatives from local nonprofits, educational institutions, businesses and government, he retained the UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research to produce a report in 2006 on the economic importance of the arts and cultural industries in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. As a result of this report, Mead joined a leadership team that is developing the basis for an Arts & Cultural Industries Action Plan for the Mid Rio Grande Region.
A professor at UNM since 1980, he is a presidential teaching fellow with a joint faculty appointment in the School of Architecture and Planning and the College of Fine Arts. A past president of the Society of Architectural Historians, he has written and lectured widely on European and American architecture and urbanism, including on New Mexican architects Bart Prince and Antoine Predock.
As Dean of the College of Fine Arts from 2004-09, Mead helped to establish a new Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program. He has served locally on the boards of the Arts Alliance, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, the Albuquerque Youth Symphony, the Robb Musical Trust and 516 Arts.
Winners will be honored at the Bravos Awards banquet on Saturday, April 18, at the Embassy Suites Hotel beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets are $85 each, or $850 for a table of 10. For reservations, call the Arts Alliance at (505) 268-1920. Proceeds from the event’s silent auction benefit the Arts Alliance, which provides programs, services, advocacy and recognition for Albuquerque’s arts.
Posted by scarr at April 2, 2009 02:58 PM