Welcome back to the revived Division of the Arts newsletter! Six times a year, we’ll be bringing you news of the thriving arts community at UW–Madison. Look for a round-up of original articles, curated events and featured highlights from us and all of our talented campus partners — music, theatre, communication arts, studio and visual art, creative writing, arts administration, design studies, landscape architecture, art history and more.
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This newsletter is intended to keep you informed, and it will always open with a personalized behind-the-scenes message from a different member of our team.
There is no shortage of compelling stories on campus. Read on for a few of our recent articles about a music and neuroscience double major, a prizewinning poet professor, an effort to get dance instruction back in public schools, a recent arts administration graduate who’s now embedded in Madison’s arts community, and more.
At the Division of the Arts, we are committed to spotlighting and championing the prolific, thriving arts community on campus, and to amplifying the work of UW–Madison’s talented communicators and their teams. If you are a student, staff, faculty, alumni, or arts unit leader with a story to share, please reach out.
Your partner in arts,
Dr. Amy Gilman
Senior Director of the Arts and Media at UW–Madison
Director of the Chazen Museum of the Arts
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Free dance in public schools, a prizewinning poet professor, and a rising senior double majoring in jazz studies and neuroscience.
Plus musings from our formerly theatre-shy social media maven about “Dance Nation,” design students addressing our collective anxieties about climate change, and an oil on canvas piece that’s keeping spring’s promise.
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Taking Dance Education Back to School: Now in its third summer, UW Dance Exchange is bringing dance instruction into public schools. Dance Department Teaching Faculty Chell Parkins hopes to keep it there for good. Read More
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The Exquisite Poetry of Place: Creative Arts Award winner Erika Meitner talks about going analog, changing minds by breaking hearts, and the power of telling our own stories. Read More
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From Microscope Slides to Sliding Scales: Six beats with keyboardist Isaiah Dobbins, the double neurobiology and jazz studies major who is improvising life as he goes. Read More
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Read: Six takeaways from a newly mastered Bolz Center Arts Admin grad
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Read: Iconic Drag Queen’s Life is On Display For the First Time
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Hello good people of the campus arts community! My name is Rainer, and I work at the Division of the Arts handling all things social media. On a typical day, I might be designing graphics, editing an Instagram reel, or gallery hopping around campus.
That said, the best part of this job by far is finding interesting events or classes and inviting myself to join. In Social Butterfly, you’ll hear about the people, places, and events that have stuck out to me as I cover the arts on campus.
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I’ll admit it. I am a formerly theatre-averse individual. A dangerous combination of teenage acne and communal pan of Ben Nye powder scared me away from even entering a black box for years. Recently, my experiences with UW Theatre’s latest productions have opened my eyes to the delight I was missing out on.
The incredible pool of talent here in UW’s Theatre and Drama program is evident in all aspects of production, from acting to lighting and sound design. So when the word got out that the University Theatre would be staging Clare Barron’s “Dance Nation” this summer and fall, I immediately reached out to Rob Wagner in the Scenic Studio to get a look at what it takes to build an entire set in just three weeks. Spoiler alert: It involves pool noodles.
My short review: “Dance Nation” alternates between riotously funny satire and angsty insights on coming of age. A reminder that being in relation to others will always be painful and beautiful in turns.
For fans of: Competition reality TV, 2011 french braid tutorials, Buttons by the Pussycat Dolls feat. Snoop Dogg, self optimization.
Check out our Instagram exclusive behind-the-scenes content below⬇️
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The Striped Chair of Vilas Hall wants to connect… Being relatively new to the Division, I hadn’t heard of this alumni/mentoring group for UW filmmakers until earlier this summer. Check them out on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn!
Looking for an art gig? We’d humbly suggest starting with the Division of the Arts Instagram, where we’ve compiled promising opportunities into a stories highlight.
Check out the newest Madison area artists’ residency! ConneXart is a month-long residency at COPA in Fitchburg that pairs one Madison-area student or recent grad with an established working artist. Recent BFA grad Jessie Burton is the first student in residence! Congrats, Jessie!
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Want to reach our audience of 7,500+ followers? Message the Division at @uwmadisonarts on Instagram and tell us what arts activities we should feature!
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Watch: Tandem Press Director Dr. Katie Geha talks about UW Art professor Leslie Smith III’s oil on canvas piece, “Spring Kept its Promise Once Again,” exhibited as part of the 2025 Wisconsin Triennial.
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Listen: Can design reframe our collective anxieties about climate, conflict and the future? School of Human Ecology Professor Coe Douglas and two Master of Science in Design + Innovation (MD+I) program graduate students recently discussed the question on WORT.
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Read: Curious why Department of Communication Arts Professor Jeremy Morris’ “Music Industries and Popular Culture” class has such a long waitlist? Read this feature by Aaron Conklin for the spring issue of Letters & Science magazine:
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© UW–Madison Division of the Arts • 1050 University Avenue • Madison, 53706 United States
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