The College of the Arts kicks off its inaugural year with a sensational Year of the Arts! program that spotlights the arts at Georgia State University for all to enjoy. The program boasts a curated mix of over 24 arts events that include internationally acclaimed guest artists, exhibitions, concerts, dance performances, artist lectures, theatre productions, and conferences, as well as perennial holiday favorites.
The Year of the Arts! is a wonderful platform to showcase our diverse arts and cultural events to the university and our neighboring communities,” said founding College of the Arts Dean Wade Weast. “We think of the College of the Arts as the front door to Georgia State and home to Atlanta’s vibrant downtown arts scene.”
Year of the Arts! Program Highlights
- The School of Music features one of the world's foremost classical guitarists, Lily Afshar (Rescheduled to November 13 p.m. at 6:00 p.m. at Student East Ballroom). The Washington Post describes her on-stage performances as, "remarkable, impeccable." She blends her formal training in the U.S. and Europe with the rich cultural heritage of Persia.
- The School of Art & Design and the Center for Collaborative and International Arts (CENCIA) present the Socially Engaged exhibition (October 2 - November 11 / Reception on October 5 at 5 p.m. at the Welch Galleries) curated by Brenda Massie, featuring artists who use performance for photographs and videos that explore identities of gender, race, class, power, history, and place from the 1970s to today. Participating artists include Marilyn Minter, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Adrian Piper, Kerry Skarbakka, and Christina Price Washington, among others. The program includes a conversation between Marilyn Minter and High Museum Wieland Family Curator Michael Rooks (October 12 at 7:00 p.m. at Woodruff Arts Center, Rich Theatre), as well as an artist panel discussion (October 19 at 5:30 p.m. at Kopleff Recital Hall).
- The School of Music Faculty Jazztet features special guest artist, Ignacio Berroa (October 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Florence Kopleff Recital Hall). Berroa is a Grammy Award-winning artist who has performed with such jazz luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, and Chick Corea, among many others.
- The GSU Players – the oldest student-run theatre company in the Southeast – stages William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” (November 2-4 and 9-12/Thursday, Friday, and Saturday performances at 8 p.m. and Sunday performances at 3 p.m. at Dalberg Hall) one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies that retells the assassination of the Roman Emperor by members of his own Senate. The production adapts the original script for modern Washington, D.C., where bitter factions vie for power against a headstrong, popular leader.
- The GSU Jazz Band joins guest artist Ed Neumeister (November 9 at 8 p.m. at the Rialto Center for the Arts), who has developed a unique voice and has been at the forefront of jazz for more than 40 years. Neumeister has performed and recorded with Jerry Garcia, Gerry Mulligan, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. Unlimited stylistically, he has also performed with the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.
- BURNAWAY's bi-annual Studio Soiree will be held at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design studios (November 10 at 7 p.m. at the Welch School of Art & Design). The event offers an exclusive chance for the public to explore the talents of our student visual artists in their studio practice environments.
- neoPhonia New Music Ensemble: tête–à–tête | A Contemporary Music Premiere ft. Philippe Hurel (October 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Kopleff Recital Hall) features special guest composer Philippe Hurel and special guest musicians from Ensemble Fa & Chamber Cartel. The concert includes world premieres of commissioned works by composers Philippe Hurel and Nickitas Demos. The program is made possible in part with France-Atlanta 2017, the FACE Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.
- Celebrate the 20th Anniversary Gala Holiday Concert (December 2 at 8 p.m. and December 3 at 3 p.m. at Rialto Center for the Arts) with the School of Music. This festive event highlights more than 200 student and faculty musicians featured in the Georgia State University Symphony Orchestra, University Singers, Opera, and Jazz Band performing traditional holiday favorites.
- The School of Music and CENCIA present Roomful of Teeth (January 21 at 7 p.m. at Rialto Center for the Arts). The Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble, lauded for its innovative and imaginative performances, includes founding member and composer Caroline Shaw, the youngest composer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
- The School of Film, Media & Theatre and CENCIA present the Rendering (the) Visible III: Liquidity Conference (February 8-10 at the Creative Media Industries Institute), which explores the concept of liquidity as an innovative critical approach to the image’s relation to space, sensoriality and digitality, as well as an aesthetic sensibility attuned to the political ontology of motion, form, matter and noise. Highlights include a 3-D Video Screening by OpenEndedGroup (February 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Florence Kopleff Recital Hall), a performance at Five Points Marta Station (Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m.) in conjunction with Atlanta Mobile Music and in conversation with Thomas DeFrantz (Duke University), and a closing keynote address (February 10 at 5:45 p.m. at the Creative Media Industries Institute) with Dr. Grant Farred of the Africana Studies Research Center at Cornell University.
- The GSU Players stage “Psycho Beach Party,” (February 8-10 at 8 p.m. and February 11 at 3 p.m. at Dalberg Hall) Charles Busch's offbeat off-Broadway comedy directed by Dr. Thomas Fish. Part 1960s beach movie and part psychological thriller, "Psycho Beach Party" follows the story of Chicklet, who wants to be one of the cool Malibu kids, if only her split personalities would not get in the way.
- The Rialto Center for the Arts presents Compagnie Hervé KOUBI Astounding French Dance from the Streets of Algeria! (February 17 at 8 p.m. at Rialto Center for the Arts). The West African all-male dance troupe presents a jaw-dropping performance packed with emotional intensity. The inspired choreography combines urban and contemporary dance movement, capoeira, and martial arts.
- GSU Opera Theater (stage directed by Carroll Freeman and conducted by Logan Souther) presents Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,” (April 13-14 at 8 p.m. and April 15 at 3 p.m. at Rialto Center for the Arts) which delves into the rampant relationships of the questionably elite society of 1900 Sweden. Celebrating its 45th milestone anniversary, the play is based on Bergman’s movie “Smiles of a Summer Night” with many twists, turns and witty circumstances.
- The GSU Jazz Band performs with guest artist René Marie (April 20 at 8 p.m. at the Rialto Center for the Arts). Over a span of two decades, vocalist René Marie has cemented her reputation as a singer, composer, arranger, theatrical performer, and teacher. Her body of work is an exploration of the bright and dark corners of the human experience and an affirmation of the power of the human spirit.
The Year of the Arts! is a collaborative initiative led by the College of the Arts, comprised of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design, the School of Film, Media & Theatre, the School of Music and the Center for Collaborative & International Arts (CENCIA), and in partnership with the Rialto Center for the Arts and the Creative Media Industries Institute (CMII).