cvpa dean

ARTS by George! Returns, raising nearly $250,000 to support students in the arts at Mason

Emily Schneider — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 20:55:40 +0000

ARTS by George! Returns, raising nearly $250,000 to support students in the arts at Mason Emily Schneider Tue, 10/04/2022 - 16:55

In This Story

Rick Davis

Kristin Chenoweth (right) stands backstage with Dean Rick Davis of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at ��AV. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

“The full-scale return of ARTS by George! was a joyous experience from top to bottom,” exclaims Rick Davis, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

ARTS by George returned on Saturday, September 24, 2022, following a two-year hiatus, hosted by the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) at ��AV. The event gave students and faculty from each discipline an opportunity to pull back the curtain and present behind-the-scenes showcases, film screenings, performances, and interactive experiences. Stations of exquisite cuisine and beverages were available to guests while attending exhibits across ten open studios and rehearsal halls on Mason’s Fairfax Campus.

In a truly special start to the evening, students from the School of Theater were able to join the event’s headliner, Kristin Chenoweth, for her soundcheck in the Concert Hall of the Center for the Arts, prior to their own performances in the evening’s showcases. The Tony and Emmy Award winner welcomed them with open arms, remarking “These are my people! I’m your people and you're my people, and I'm so excited to have you here tonight!”

Students from the School of Theater perform selections from the upcoming production of Head Over Heels at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

During the evening’s showcases, guests flowed in and out of three buildings on the Fairfax Campus: the de Laski Performing Arts Building, Harris Theatre, and Horizon Hall. Inside de Laski, students from the School of Theater dazzled the crowd with their powerful voices and clever choreography as they previewed songs from their upcoming production of Head Over Heels. Just down the hall, the emerging professionals of Mason’s School of Dance performed to packed houses, and graciously responded to questions from the audience after each performance. The Dewberry School of Music didn’t stop the beat all night, with talented instrumental and vocal musicians presenting piano, jazz, and opera selections during the two and half hours of student showcases.

Students from the School of Dance perform during a showcase at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

As guests made their way out of deLaski across the Johnson Center Plaza, they were enticed into Harris Theater by the resonant sounds of Mason’s Symphony Orchestra. Alternating their time on the Harris stage, students from the Film and Video Studies program screened their films, offering guests a sneak peek into the revolutionary stories crafted at Mason. More music flowed from the amphitheater space between Harris and Horizon Hall, where the Spirit Drumline, the 8^th Green Machine Regiment Band, and the Green Machine Pep Band kept toes tapping as guests ambled along the walkway into Horizon Hall.

The Mason Symphony Orchestra performs on the stage of Harris Theatre during ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

Members of the Green Machine Pep Band perform outside Horizon Hall at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

Inside Horizon Hall, staff and students from Mason Community Arts Academy (MCAA) spoke about the impact of having such incredible arts programs available in our community from such a young age, and performed vocal and instrumental music for the assembled crowd. Offering a hands-on exploration of their disciplines, the Film and Video Studies program and the Computer Game Design program created mini studios inside the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX), where guests explored a change of scenery via the green screen demonstrations and virtual reality headsets. Also in the MIX, the School of Art gave guests a chance to play with printing, personalizing a postcard they could take with them as a memento of their experience, while elsewhere in the room, students chatted with guests while demonstrating the capabilities of the 3D printers.

Faculty from the School of Art walk guests through the interactive printing station in the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX) at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

A guest poses in front of the green screen during a demonstration by the Film and Video Studies program at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

A student from Mason Community Arts Academy performs a song on her violin at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

Guests test out the virtual reality demonstration with the Computer Game Design program at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

After the showcases, everyone flowed down the hill and into the Center for the Arts Concert Hall for the live auction, followed by the headlining concert. Guests were welcomed to the auction by Mason President Gregory Washington, who remarked, “Tonight, we celebrate the excellence of Mason’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and the vibrant cultural offerings it provides to our campuses and wider community. The arts are one of the front doors to the university and attract visitors of all ages and backgrounds. We’re pleased that so many of you have found your way through our door to become involved with CVPA and Mason. Your generosity supports student scholarships and helps ensure that talent meets opportunity, and that budding artists can develop their gifts and pursue their passions here at Mason.”

President Gregory Washington Addresses the Crowd at ARTS! By George 2022. (Photo by Cable Risdon Photography)

The auction items and the Fund-A-Student opportunities, which directly contribute to the scholarships available to CVPA students, raised more than $23,000. Taking the stage after the auction, Rick Davis expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the full house, saying “As I’m sitting here, knowing the students that these contributions support, many of them personally, many of them in my classes, knowing what it does for our College’s ability to grant the opportunity of a first-rate education, not just in the arts, but a first-rate university education, knowing what we have accomplished here tonight in just these 27 minutes or so, is personally very, very, very gratifying, so thank you all so very, very much. . . Some of you know me well and you’ll know that when I say I’m almost speechless, you’ll know that that is a significant accomplishment!”

Capping off the evening, Kristin Chenoweth performed a concert from her album For The Girls, a tribute to prominent female singers throughout history. After the show, Chenoweth and Davis ended the night with a champagne toast on stage.

The annual philanthropic event raised approximately $250,000 for student scholarships in dance, theater, game design, film, music, visual arts, and arts management, as well as for the Mason Community Arts Academy, Green Machine Ensembles, and the Great Performances at Mason season at the Center for the Arts.

See more images from the event by clicking here!

Topics

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Rick Davis

admin_alpha — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 23:24:01 +0000

Rick Davis admin_alpha Tue, 10/20/2015 - 19:24

Dean, College of Visual and Performing Arts, CVPA Executive Director, Hylton Performing Arts Center, CVPA Professor, School of Theater, Theater Dean, College of Visual and Performing Arts & Adjunct Faculty, Arts Management, Arts Management Executive Director, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Hylton Center

Contact Information

Phone: 703-993-8624
Campus: Fairfax
Building: College Hall
Room C200B
Mail Stop: 4C1

Personal Websites

Rick Davis Director

Biography

Dean, College of Visual and Performing Arts

Rick joined Mason in 1991 as Artistic Director of Theater of the First Amendment (TFA) and a member of the theater faculty. The company, which presented its final programs in 2012, was nominated for 38 Helen Hayes Awards, winning 12, and originated numerous works that went on to other regional theaters, television, radio, recordings, and publication.

Prior to coming to Mason, Rick was Resident Dramaturg and Associate Artistic Director of Baltimore's Center Stage (1986-91), Associate Director and co-founder of the American Ibsen Theater in Pittsburgh (1983-85), and taught drama at Washington College.

Rick has directed a broad range of professional theater and opera productions (more than 40 to date) in venues such as Center Stage, TFA, the Kennedy Center, American Ibsen Theater, Unseam'd Shakespeare Company, Players Theatre Columbus, Delaware Theatre Company, Lake George Opera (NY), Opera Idaho, Washington, D.C.'s IN Series, and other companies. He also has worked as dramaturg on more than 30 professional productions and has directed dozens of plays, musicals, and operas for college and university programs, including Mason Opera and the Mason Players.

From 2007 to 2011, Rick served as Mason's Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, working primarily on issues of general and liberal education, international programs, and student academic life. The assessment protocol that he co-developed with Mason’s Office of Institutional Research and Reporting was honored with the “Exemplary Program Award” in 2011 by the Association of General and Liberal Studies.

As Executive Director of the Hylton Performing Arts Center since August 2011, Rick Davis oversees a state-of-the-art venue presenting national and international touring artists and serving as home to several resident arts organizations, as well as providing a major resource for Mason students and faculty, community, educational, business, civic, and social events.

In May 2015, Rick was appointed Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. In this capacity, he oversees the college’s seven academic programs, its creative, research, and community arts education arms, and its many performance and exhibition venues. He continues to teach in the School of Theater and for Mason’s Honors College, as well as working on various directing and writing projects on and off campus.

Rick's four books include Calderón de la Barca: Four Great Plays of the Golden Age; his co-translations of Ibsen with Brian Johnston (Ibsen: Four Major Plays, vol. I), which have been performed at leading regional theaters across the country; Ibsen in an Hour (with Brian Johnston); and Writing About Theatre (with Christopher Thaiss). His translation of Calderón’s The Phantom Lady was awarded the Franklin Smith Prize for Comedia Translation in 2019 by the Association for Hispanic Classical Theatre.

With composer Kim D. Sherman, he is the librettist for an opera, Love's Comedy, and an oratorio, The Songbird and the Eagle, commissioned and premiered by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. He wrote the libretto for a song cycle based on the life of Father Mychal Judge, “Stations of Mychal,” with composer Kevin Salfen. The work premiered in New York City on September 10 and 11, 2021, as part of the commemorations of the 20^th anniversary of 9/11, and is now available through Centaur Records.

Rick has won the George Mason Teaching Excellence Award (1997) and was named an Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year (2006). In 2024 he received the Gertrude Breithaupt Jupp Award for Distinguished Service from his undergraduate alma mater, Lawrence University. He went on to the Yale School of Drama for his MFA and DFA.

Degrees:

DFA, Yale School of Drama, CT
MFA, Yale School of Drama, CT