January 2021

  • Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ‘76)

    Jones was featured as Grandpa Prophater in the Irish Repertory Theatre’s streamed online production of “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

    • December 2020

  • Xiaowen Zhu (MFA ’12)

    Zhu has published a new artist book “Oriental Silk” with the renowned German art publisher Hatje Cantz. This English and Chinese bilingual book links the people, places, and stories that make up the phenomenon of Oriental Silk, the first Chinese American silk importing shop in Los Angeles. Having once risen within the Hollywood movie industry, the shop, established more than four decades ago, reflects a fascinating family legacy in which the past and present, home and diaspora, personal memories and cultural values, are closely interwoven. Xiaowen encountered her subject during a yearlong post-M.F.A. engagement fellowship in San Pedro, California, funded through a gift by VPA alumna Marylyn Turner ’56, G’57 and her husband, Charles Klaus G’05.

  • Kathryn Hoefler (BFA ’11)

    After a successful 10-year career in high-end hospitality interior design in Chicago and New York at reputable firms like Pierre Yves-Rochon, Roman and Williams, and most recently Related Companies, Hoefler has decided to launch her passion project and started her own business, Dear Assembly. Dear Assembly makes what was old new again by turning a carefully curated assembly of fabrics into beloved hair accessories. Dear Assembly’s first collection of hair accessories launched in October; they will be highlighting vintage accessories and objects as well as custom garments in 2021.

  • Colette M. Hebert (BM ’05, MS ‘07)

    Hebert is the Colette founder and president of the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization the DAR Project, which empowers and educates orphans in East Africa. Her non-profit is currently in its 10th year and has partnered with companies such as Swiss Air, Brooklyn Brewery, Google, and Ironman. She is a 14th-year teacher in New York City. This year, she also published her second book and presented her advocacy work at multiple national conferences for educators and U.S. senators.

  • Anthony Bollotta (BFA ’84)

    Anthony Bollotta recently produced the 3rd Annual L’ATTITUDE (Virtual) Conference featuring Pitbull, Eva Longoria, Chef José Andrés, Gloria Estefan, Gerard Butler, Kenny Ortega, and the cast of Netflix’s “Julie and the Phantoms.” The annual conference includes Emilio Estefan among its three equity partners. Additionally this year, Bollotta was invited to join the board of trustees at San Diego REP, as well as teach event design and Production for San Diego State University’s Global Campus. He has also released a new podcast, “Bollotta-Fide,” devoted to the discipline of event planning with an emphasis on virtual and live entertainment and engagement. It is currently available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Android.

  • Mickey Gentile (BM ’76)

    Pop, country artist, and SAMMY winner Lisa Gentile is paying tribute to her late father, Motown producer and songwriter Mickey Gentile with her new single “Just When I Thought the Rain Would End.” Lisa first recorded the song in 1988 with Mickey producing; it makes a comeback as the lead single of her fourth studio album “Start Flying” (winter 2021).

    • November 2020

  • Karen Guancione (BFA ’81)

    Guancione is the artistic director of the New Jersey Book Arts Symposium. She recently moderated this year’s virtual symposium, “Tumultuous Absence,” which featured speakers, panels, exhibits, and artists in residence.

  • Erin Toy (BFA ’20)

    Toy is an interior designer at Holland Basham Architects and was recently featured on the firm’s website.

  • Sijia Hong (MFA ’18)

    The School of Art’s illustration program shared that Hong received a Silver Book Award at Spectrum, the prestigious showcase for fantasy art.

  • Sammy Lopez (BFA ’13)

    Lopez was featured in an American Theatre article for being one of eight Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) producers who are launching the new company The Industry Standard Group (TISG), the first completely BIPOC commercial theater investment and producing organization in the country.

  • William H. Harris (BM ’65, MM ’78)

    Harris  recently became president of Local 78, the American Federation of Musicians (“The Professional Musicians of Central New York”), and celebrated 50 years of serving on the faculty of VPA’s Setnor School of Music.

  • Karen Kuracina Harris (BFA ’65)

    Harris  had work included in the following juried shows: the Philadelphia Water Color Society’s “120th Anniversary International Exhibition of Works on Paper;” “Essential Art: the 29th Annual Regional Juried Art Show” at the Cooperstown (N.Y.) Art Association Galleries; the “2020 CNY Watercolor Society Online Juried Members Only Show” (winner, Artistic  Merit Award); and the Onondaga Art Guild show.

  • Jane Dubin (BS ’57)

    Dubin is a producer of the film “Radium Girls,” which is now streaming. The Broadway musical “The Prom,” for which she serves as a producer, is coming to Netflix on December 11 as a new movie.

    • September 2020

  • Widline Cadet (MFA ’20)

    Cadet  is one of four artists who have been named 2020-21 artists-in-residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem. The artist-in-residence program advances the work of visual artists of African and Latino descent and has supported more than 100 graduates who have gone on to highly regarded careers.

  • Jordyn White (BS ’17)

    White has worked at the National Football League (NFL) as a public affairs coordinator (public relations for off-field/social responsibility) for the past year and a half.

  • Dani Pendergast (BFA ’17, MFA ’20)

    Pendergast is the featured artist in Communication Arts, one of the industry’s premiere publications.

  • Carlton Daniel (MFA ’17)

    Last summer, Daniel  wrote and directed a short film in Syracuse titled Homegoing. The film stars Malik Shakur (nephew of the late Tupac Shakur) and Khalil Kain (Juice). Homegoing touches upon themes of racialized policing, gun violence, the racial wealth gap, and toxic masculinity. The film has screened at Outfest Fusion, Palm Springs, and the Atlanta Film Festival. Earlier this month, Light Work’s Urban Video Project screened the film in Syracuse at the Everson Museum Plaza. Learn more and view the trailer.