UNews - Mary Ingraham

Looking backwards, and forwards, at 20 years of supporting the fine arts

trevor.kenney — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 21:50:43 +0000

Conga lines and sing-alongs, chefs and serenades, performances, pottery, prints and more. Join the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge as it dances down memory lane, celebrating 20 years of Abbondànza!

More than a fundraiser, Abbondanza was always an event not to be missed. PHOTO BY Jaime Vedres Photography

Over the course of 20 years there have been: 19 memorable parties, supported by 87 sponsors; 463 unique artworks auctioned; over 400 student, alumni and faculty performers; and most proudly, $1,754,753 in Endowment funds creating 155 scholarships to date.

“Impact begins with an idea,” says Dr. Mary Ingraham, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. “Two local restauranteurs, Tony Rose and Rocco Suriano of Coco Pazzo Italian Café, saw how they could support fine arts students pursuing their education, bringing the idea of a fundraising dinner to then associate dean, Carl Granzow. Thanks to their passion and drive, the Abbondànza Endowment will continue to provide over 30 scholarships annually to students studying art, drama, music and new media.”

The Faculty of Fine Arts’ annual student scholarship fundraiser would have hosted the 20th event in 2021, a momentous milestone befitting a grand celebration. While pandemic regulations prevent the in-person celebration of this 20-year anniversary, the Faculty doesn’t want to miss the chance to highlight this momentous milestone. On Thursday, April 22, patrons are invited to participate online throughout the day as the U of L looks back at 20 phenomenal years of community support.

Chef's Trio was always one of the most popular Abbondanza performances. PHOTO BY Jaime Vedres Photography

“There are so many good memories – there were conga lines! And the cone-fetti that we scattered across the restaurant. I think they were still finding it years later,” laughs Douglas MacArthur, associate dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, and a 20-year committee member who has helped plan and host the event. “But most memorably, it’s the people. The students who are so excited to perform for these important community supporters, and the sponsors, many who join us year after year. It built this community of people who support the arts.”

So many memories also means so many people to thank.

“First of all, I’d like to thank Rocco, Tony and Carl for working together to create this event. I want to thank 87 sponsors and hundreds of attendees who are touching the lives of our students in a wonderful and profound way. And thank you to the more than 500 students, alumni and faculty who have supported the event by sharing their talents.”

Watch online and on social media for videos, memorable photos throughout the years, thank you messages from students impacted by the awards, and information about what comes next.

“We definitely miss hosting an event and seeing our friends and supporters in person, but the change to our routine has allowed us to look backwards as well as ahead to the future,” says Ingraham. “Over the past 20 years our community has helped create a self-sustaining, multi-million-dollar endowment to support student scholarships. Imagine what we can do next.”

Scholarships support students in accessing affordable education. The next step is helping them find their path to career success by supporting opportunities that help students apply and expand their skills, network with potential employers, and explore career options. To this end, the Faculty is launching the Fine Arts Experience Enrichment Fund to support student career advancement.

“We invite our supporters and the arts community to learn more about the Fine Arts Experience Enrichment Fund, a new fund created to support experiential learning; learning that will help our students enhance the professional skills they're already receiving in their programs and bring them out into the community to build new networks, try out career options and serve their community by adding their expertise to local and regional organizations,” says Ingraham.

“There are many ways our supporters can help us. One, of course, is through donations, to help us build this fund from the ground up. They can also share their passion for fine arts with their friends, encourage them to support the arts in their community, perhaps by creating opportunities for experiential learning. And we invite them to come, to show up and share in the joy and passion of making art in the fine arts.”

To join the anniversary celebration, and learn more about the Experience Enrichment Fund, visit go.uleth.ca/support-fine-arts or find the Faculty of Fine Arts on Facebook.

Abbondànza endowment provides record number of scholarships to Faculty of Fine Arts students

trevor.kenney — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:06:54 +0000

Thanks to 20 years of community support, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is excited to announce a record number of scholarships from the Abbondànza Fine Arts Scholarship Endowment for the 2020/2021 academic year. This fall, an astounding 30 scholarships were provided to Fine Arts students studying art, drama, music, new media and multidisciplinary programs.

In 2019, the growing endowment reached over $1.6 million, allowing the opportunity to rewrite terms of reference for award distribution and creating new award categories. The endowment, which originally supported financial awards for senior Fine Arts students only, now provides scholarships to entrance, continuing, senior and graduate-level students.

Graduate student Anna Nikolova

“As an international student from a low-income, single-parent family, an education in a prestigious Canadian university such as the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge would not have been possible without financial support,” says Anna Nikolova, a new media graduate student. “The Abbondànza scholarship made it possible for me to cover my housing expenses for the upcoming semester and afford additional technology to successfully continue my new media projects, the most important being my MFA thesis.”

Initiated by visionaries Tony Rose and Rocco Suriano, owners of Italian restaurant Coco Pazzo, and the then Faculty of Fine Arts dean, Carl Granzow, Abbondànza became one of the most anticipated social events on the calendar. The growth of the endowment is from two decades of continuing community support from sponsors, attendees and the dean’s office.

“I felt it was important scholarships would be available to the fine arts and I didn’t see a lot of dollars moving in that direction, so we approached Carl with the idea for a fine arts fundraiser,” says Rose, who still attends Abbondànza annually. An evening of abundance was created, with Italian food, exquisite entertainment and fine art highlighting student and faculty talents. It continues to bring together passionate arts supporters and philanthropists, many who have attended every event since 2002.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the 20th Abbondànza event in 2021, but the need for student scholarships continues to grow.

“During an extra difficult time, we are thrilled to see 30 students have their economic stress reduced this year thanks to generous donations to the Abbondànza endowment,” says Dr. Mary Ingraham, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. “While we’ll miss hosting our friends at an in-person event this year, we hope you will join us in celebrating 20 years of Abbondànza online and continue to give when and where you are able.”

Community arts supporters are invited to visit go.uleth.ca/abbondanza to learn more about this year’s award recipients and to make donations online. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Donations can also be accepted by cheque or credit card over the phone by contacting ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Advancement.

Dramatic arts student Jordyn Nixon

Watch the Faculty of Fine Arts website and social media in the new year for online celebrations looking back at 20 years of Abbondànza, community support and student gratitude.

“I cannot express how deeply thankful I am that we have such gracious donors giving young artists and students the means to continue to further their education and allow them to nurture their talents,” says dramatic arts student Jordyn Nixon. “This is the greatest gift a performer or artist can ask for in terms of the growth that it can help foster within the post-secondary world. Thank you so much for believing in me and what I have to give to the Fine Arts, and for your continuing support to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and its students.”

Crossing Boundaries Symposium now in its fourth year

trevor.kenney — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 20:49:41 +0000

The fourth annual Crossing Boundaries Symposium, presented by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Faculty of Fine Arts, brings together interdisciplinary members of the community, faculty, students and alumni to engage in a full day of presentations, discussions, displays and performances.

Brad Parker listens to the Aeolian Harp he built with music student Jess Tollestrup.

“Crossing Boundaries invites our community to experience the collaborations, creative activities and research across multiple disciplines,” says Dr. Mary Ingraham, Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts of the Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019 event. “It is about discovering and celebrating those cross-collaborative intersections and synergies and finding inspiration to explore new areas of thought and research in the fine arts and across the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.”

The theme for Crossing Boundaries 2019, Languages | Landscapes | Algorithms, is established with the keynote presentation by Leanne Elias (new media) entitled, Visualizing Agriculture, at 9 a.m. in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Recital Hall. Elias’s talk includes the premiere of the documentary of the same name, co-directed by Bryn Hewko (MFA '16) and his company Output Media, which revolves around the creative works and artist exhibition derived from agricultural data developed by Dr. Jaime Larson and Dr. Andre Laroche of the Lethbridge Research and Development Centre: Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. Visualizing Agriculture considers the counterpoints of art meeting science and investigates the effect of intensive collaboration. Discover how artists can use the scientific process to guide their art, and how scientists can use artistic ways of knowing to approach their data in new ways.

Jess Tollestrup works on the Aeolian Harp, on display at Crossing Boundaries.

Following Elias’s keynote presentation, MFA candidate Michelle Sylvestre will speak on her research, Physicalizing Control, Disruption and the Body, which examines the parallels and differences in contemporary pharma and contemporary technology in relation to control of the body. PhD candidate Migueltzinta Solis will then present on LandMarks: Site-Based Arts Pedagogy in Treaty 7 Territory. At 10:40 a.m., Department of Psychology faculty member, Dr. Javid Sadr, and Department of Drama faculty members, Dr. Aaron Taylor and Douglas MacArthur cap off the morning programme, discussing projects developing from the Screen Acting and Embodied Recognition Research Group.

Registrants are invited to observe and interact with student research displays and installations from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., located in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Atrium and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Hess Gallery.

This year’s Crossing Boundaries Symposium is scheduled during the U of L Open House, which welcomes prospective students and their families to campus.

“Coordinating the symposium during this event gives future students the opportunity to see a sampling of the fascinating research opportunities and collaborative activities on our campus,” says Ingraham. “It allows these students to experience the types of work and study they will engage in and provides great interaction with many of the faculty who will also be in attendance at the symposium.”

Afternoon sessions include Dr. Amandine Pras’s (music) presentation focussing on compositional and improvisational tools used by studio technicians as part of her research in the recording studios in war-torn Bamako, Mali. Continuing on the theme of sound, language and landscape, a talk by MA candidate Tyler Stewart examines the role sound has played as a political instrument to silence dissenting groups and individuals, and in turn, how language and sound is used to resist and rise against such powers.

A panel discussion, Objects Dream comprised of Fine Arts faculty members, Dr. Dana Cooley (new media), Denton Fredrickson (art), Mia van Leeuwen (drama), and Dr. D. Andrew Stewart (music), rounds out the afternoon’s sessions. This discussion explores the relationships and interactions of material objects, and their associations as a link across artistic disciplines.

This year’s Crossing Boundaries Symposium showcases an evening finale of works by Dr. Arlan Schultz (music), Dr. Daniela Sirbu (new media) and a collaborative presentation by Bryn Hewko (new media), Dr. D. Andrew Stewart (music) and Jordan Berg. Schultz’s live demonstration highlights how new algorithms for real-time immersive audio can be used to enhance and augment real-time acoustic performances. Sirbu’s presentation incorporates algorithmic animation demonstrated through samples of live animation developed in interaction with an artificial life system. Hewko, Stewart and Berg’s collaborative performance, Crawlspace, combines film with live digital coding. Audience members are invited to use their own personal tablets to create their own viewing experience, with one lucky audience member outfitted with the Oculus Rift for a full virtual reality experience. This showcase begins at 5 p.m. in W420 (Centre for the Arts), preceded by a reception and cash bar at 4:30 p.m.

Registration for Crossing Boundaries is open to all, with early bird pricing active until October 20, 2019.

Visit the Crossing Boundaries webpage for the schedule of events and updated information as it arises.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ welcomes Dr. Mary Ingraham as new dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts

trevor.kenney — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 21:40:59 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge welcomes a new member to its leadership team for fall 2019 through the appointment of Dr. Mary Ingraham as the new dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Ingraham is currently the director of the Sound Studies Institute and a professor of musicology in the Department of Music at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta. She sees the transition to the role of dean as an opportunity to engage in post-secondary studies from a new perspective.

“I’m really excited about the chance to participate in different types of conversations about post-secondary learning. I’m very keen on the bigger picture conversations and possibilities that are available at the dean level. It’s the next big challenge in my career,” she says.

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Ingraham gravitated to music as a child, emulating her sister by beginning to play piano at the age of three. By five she was allowed to take lessons and, as the daughter of an Anglican minister, continued to hone her skills by playing for and singing in church choirs. She played clarinet and bassoon in high school and completed a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at Mount Allison ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for her undergraduate studies.

Her greater interest, however, was on the language and history of music and she focused her graduate studies on musicology, earning a master’s at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria and her doctorate at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Nottingham in the UK. Her research work is interdisciplinary, focusing on cultural studies and considering issues of ethnicity, race, gender and spirituality in identity studies.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the centre of my philosophy,” she says. “Indigenization and internationalization are also part of that and have a place in pretty much everything we do — from teaching to research to public engagement. These concepts have always been integral to what I do and looking at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, there is certainly experience within the Faculty of Fine Arts to move forward with that.”

Dr. Andy Hakin, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s provost and vice-president (academic), says Ingraham is an ideal fit for the Faculty and its breadth of activity.

“The appointment committee was very impressed with Professor Ingraham’s presentation in the interview process and, in particular, her focus on the cultural power and influences of music and art in general. She has long explored issues from an interdisciplinary perspective and as such, recognizes the opportunities available at the U of L with a strong, diverse group of faculty members,” says Hakin.

Ingraham was struck by the wide variety of research work taking place within the Faculty and how the people she has met are open to collaborative work.

“The uniqueness of this combination of fine arts disciplines and how they fit with my own research focus is exciting,” she says. “The new media aspect of it is exceptional. Already, most of the fine arts, such as music, drama and the visual arts, do interdisciplinary work, but when you top it off with new media, you suddenly have a very exciting, forward-thinking opportunity. And from my experience so far, the Faculty has the feel of an incredibly collegial, personable community and you just can’t replace that.”

Her experience in the community also gave her a glimpse of the vibrant arts scene in Lethbridge.

“There’s a lot going on in Lethbridge. It is great to see such a high level of community engagement in the arts. The depth of integration of fine arts in the community is very refreshing and encouraging.”

Ingraham and her husband David Owen, a professional oboist, will make the move to Lethbridge in the fall and she will assume her new role as dean at the outset of the 2019 Fall Semester.

UNews - Mary Ingraham

Looking backwards, and forwards, at 20 years of supporting the fine arts

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