Service Archives - BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications

BYU Magazine: Going Forth: Song of Service, the Art of Teaching, and Special Deliveries

Noelle Barrus — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 15:51:08 +0000

Meet alumni enriching their communities through service. Songs of Sustenance Music dance theatre grad Daniel B. Wallentine (BFA ’19) had been to New York City before to pursue performance opportunities, but when he returned this spring as an EMT to help with the response to COVID-19, he didn’t expect to do much singing. Wallentine soon found an opportunity to bring his talents together. “We had a patient who really didn’t have much desire to live,” Wallentine explains. A language barrier made communication with the hospital staff difficult, and, after spending a few weeks in a COVID-positive unit of the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, this patient had stopped eating. After Wallentine finished his lunch one day, he decided to pay this patient a visit to see if he could encourage him. “I just felt like I should try to connect with him musically, so I began singing the one song I knew in his language,” relates Wallentine. As soon as the patient heard the song, he pulled the covers off of his face, shocked. After Wallentine finished, he struck up a deal with the patient. “If he would eat his dinner, then I would come back the next day and sing another song for him,” Wallentine says. As the patient began eating, he was able to take his oral medication and things improved from there. For Wallentine, having the opportunity to return to New York to use his musical talents and his medical skills to help the community he has grown to love was a blessing. “I don’t know that I’ve ever felt more unified as humankind,” he says. “It’s a collective power, and I’m lucky to be a part of it.” Learning New Things It’s the same cycle every week for art teacher Sydney J. Snow (BA ’19). “On Monday when I introduce the weekly project, they . . . complain about how much they hate art, how it is a waste of time, and how they’ll never be good at it,” says Snow of her students at Telos Academy, a boarding school in Orem for high-school boys with depression, anxiety, learning differences, and executive-function deficits. “But by the end of the week, they always admit that it was way more fun than they thought it would be and that they’re better at art than they thought they were.” Read the full article written by Avery J. Dustin at magazine.byu.edu.

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BYU Music Professor Works with Alum to Give Centennial Middle School Band a Festival Experience

Martha Duzett — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 19:27:39 +0000

Centennial Middle School band director Peter Werner reached out to his former professor Don Peterson after the cancellation of the State Junior High Band Festival After preparing throughout the last year, the band students of Centennial Middle School in Provo were finally at the State Junior High Band Festival. But at the close of the first day — the night before the band was scheduled to perform — the festival was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. “As the students came to get their instruments from their band lockers to take home to practice in preparation for the next day, I broke the bad news to them,” said band director Peter Werner, a School of Music alum and assistant director of the BYU Cougar Marching Band. “They were devastated, some even leaving in tears. They had worked extremely hard all year to perform at the festival, and now the opportunity was being taken from them.” But Werner wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. As most schools in the state — including Centennial — were still open and functioning relatively normally at this point in time, Werner decided that he would give the band a mock-festival experience on their home turf. He reached out to his former professor Don Peterson — who was himself waiting on word regarding BYU’s response to the pandemic and the immediate future of the School of Music — for help. “I was in multiple bands with Dr. Peterson while in school and have had continued contact with him; I knew that he would love to help if he was available,” said Werner. “Amazingly, he answered back quite quickly and agreed to come. I was so excited. Performing at the festival is a great honor, but more importantly a great venue for the students and myself to learn how to become better musicians. I knew that Dr. Peterson could help us do just that.” Werner’s students came dressed up and ready to play. They would record their performance and receive feedback from Peterson, who would serve as adjudicator. “I went in and listened to them rehearse a little while before they even knew I was there,” said Peterson, who serves as director of bands at BYU. “It was just so rewarding to see them so focused and working so hard. You could tell they were disappointed, but they played so well. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing students reach their potential in music. You can see it and feel it in their performance.” Read the full story at the School of Music website.

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BYU Alums Bring Design Talents to Australia Wildfire Relief Effort

Martha Duzett — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 18:13:46 +0000

2017 BFA graduates Hannah Decker and Adam Rallison share their experiences with fundraising project Australi-Aid In times of crisis, grief and fear, a quote by Fred Rogers tends to make the rounds on social media: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” As news of the devastating fires in Australia continued to roll in, this message resonated with BYU graphic design alum Hannah Decker — but in her apartment on the other side of the world, she wasn’t sure how to be a helper. “I remember sitting there reading the news and feeling an overwhelming sense of loss and sadness and just wishing there was something I could do,” said Decker. “I didn’t have tons of money I could donate, and it’s not like I could just jump on a plane and go take care of all the animals like I wanted to. I remember praying, saying ‘Heavenly Father, if there’s something that I can do that would help, please guide me to that.’” It didn’t take long for Decker to realize she had two powerful resources available to her — her own professional skills and those of her fellow designers, including a network of talented peers from her time in the BYU Department of Design. She began to reach out to designers who she knew either personally or by work she admired, planting the seeds for Australi-Aid, a fundraising project that would soon expand beyond anything Decker had planned or imagined. “I had this idea to get a bunch of different artists to design postcards, and we could make money that way,” said Decker. “I started messaging people on Instagram, asking if they would be interested in contributing a postcard. I wasn’t expecting many people to respond, but I had to at least try. A surprising amount of people reached out — I think a lot of people had been feeling just as helpless as I did, and this was a platform for us to share how we were feeling through our artwork.” This was certainly the case for Adam Rallison, who had kept in touch with Decker since their 2017 BYU graduation. “I have a lot of friends in Australia, and I was heartbroken over the things they were posting online,” he said. “The pictures were just so visceral too. The fires weren’t affecting me personally in my day-to-day life, but they were really affecting me emotionally and mentally. When Hannah sent out this message to our design BFA group, I dove in with both feet. I was so taken with the idea.” In addition to designing three postcards, Rallison stepped up to help Decker create a promotional video — along with Founder Music scriptwriter and composer Christian Pulfer and motion graphics artist Cameron Pinegar — and continue to contact artists, some of whom they had studied and aspired to emulate for many years. “In a way, it kind of felt like sending a message to LeBron James, saying ‘hey, do you want to come play basketball with us?’” said Rallison. “These people are celebrities and legends in our field, but they were all so supportive — a lot of them even contributed a postcard. It was astounding to see the library of work that came out of this.” As Decker’s Australi-Aid branding and website launched and postcards started to come in from designers around the country — including nearly two dozen BYU alums — she was struck by the variety in artistic approaches to the crisis. “I used bright, happy colors on my postcards,” said Decker. “A lot of our artists put a positive spin on their designs, but others gave us more literal depictions of what’s been happening. One of them I can hardly look at, because it makes me want to cry every time I see it. It’s very moving.” In addition to the proceeds from postcard sales, the website also allowed visitors to donate without purchasing a postcard. “With everything else going on in the world, we don’t want people to forget about Australia,” said Rallison. “There’s still so much left to do and a lot of rebuilding that needs to happen there — the fires only recently went out.” While a nonprofit project — especially one of this scope — was well outside of Decker’s comfort zone, she has felt continually strengthened by the efforts of those around her and their willingness to support and build upon her vision. “The most rewarding aspect of this project has been knowing that I’ve done something as well as enabled other people to do something,” she said. “It’s really easy to feel helpless with all the troublesome things happening in our world, but every time I get a notification that someone has ordered a silly little postcard, I know that I’m helping.” Both Decker and Rallison credit their former professors in the Department of Design with helping them develop not only the technical skills that allowed them to take on a project like this, but also the mindset that prompted them to want to help in the first place. “All of our professors were unified in their approach to design, but the significance of what they were saying didn’t click into place until my senior year,” said Rallison. “Yes, it’s important for us to learn and master design, but at the end of the day, it’s just your living. What’s more important is how you’re living. I remember having so many talks with Adrian Pulfer about the good that people are doing in the world and how we can use our skills to contribute to that.” Pulfer — who is from Australia — was one of the first people Decker thought of when she initially heard about the fires. “Adrian always talked about nature and the beauty of the planet that God created for us, so I knew he must be devastated,” said Decker. “I also remembered him saying that you can go on and be some famous designer, but the things that are going to be most meaningful for you are when you can take your talents for design and use them for good. He challenged me to use design to do something that was [...]

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Nauvoo Performing Missions Uplift BYU Students and Help Them Prepare for Future Careers

Mason Graham — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:03:16 +0000

Brendon French, Megan Holbrook, Dayne Joyner and Sarah Broyles share their experiences serving and performing in historic Nauvoo. BYU students use the summer months in a variety of ways. Some leave campus for study abroad programs and internships. Some return home to work. Others stay at BYU to take spring and summer classes. A small percentage, however, depart for Nauvoo , Illinois to serve a few months as a Nauvoo Young Performing Missionary, or YPM. YPMs live in Nauvoo for the course of the summer. Since YPMs are full-time church service missionaries, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints provides them with the same housing and resources as they do full-time proselytizing missionaries. The defining difference between YPMs and proselytizing missionaries is that YPMs are called to spend nearly all of their time preaching through the performing arts for the people visiting Nauvoo. “It gets pretty hectic,” said Brendon French, who served as a stage YPM during the summer of 2018. “There are three phases of a YPM mission. There’s the rehearsal phase, where we have rehearsals from morning until night with short breaks to eat and rest. Then we go into the regular pre-pageant summer swing. Once the pageants start, we stick the pageant performances onto the end of our day and do rehearsals in the morning before the day’s performances start.” “It’s pretty draining,” said Dayne Joyner, a BYU student who has served as a YPM twice. “It’s really important to take care of yourself physically and emotionally so you can withstand the trials and the long days.” The constant workload isn’t exclusive to the stage missionaries, who are called to act, sing and dance onstage during the shows. The tech missionaries, who help prepare and maintain the sets, run sound and lights during shows and assist with programming. Band missionaries play in daily concerts, perform on a traveling bandwagon and accompany the stage and tech missionaries in other shows. “It’s pretty rigorous, just for different reasons,” said Megan Holbrook, who has served as a band missionary twice. “When you’re playing instruments, your mouth can only do so much. We would practice and perform all day long.” Tech missionaries have to deal with their own unique struggles as well, performing in a number of shows in addition to routine technical duties. Sarah Broyles, who served as a tech missionary this last year, said: “It can be really demanding running around from show to show. I struggled at thebeginning with finding my purpose as a missionary. I never had time to talk to people, I never really had time with the missionaries and that was so hard for me. How am I supposed to serve the Lord if I can’t serve the people?” Though the YPMs are honest about the specific struggles and strains the mission put them through, they’re also emphatic about thedservice they provide to others and the blessings they received while volunteering. “While the rehearsals and the performances were intense and rigorous, the experience really helped me prepare for my career,” said Joyner. “A lot of performances and theatre companies give you short rehearsal times and expect you to be on your game, on your mark, with little time to spare. I attribute a lot to Nauvoo. It helped improve my talents and helped me in a different way than I expected.” “One of the unique things about the relationships you develop is that they actually last,” added French. “There hasn’t been a day that we haven’t talked and chatted and just caught up. We see each other on campus and we call each other and we text.” Broyles said, “I learned to love those I served with. I love every single one of the missionaries because we spend all of our time together. It creates this family unit,and it’s amazing.” “If anyone’s ever thinking about auditioning, just do it,” said French. “The Lord will use you where he wants to, but you have to make yourself available. The worst that will happen is the Lord has a different plan for you, and that’s not even a bad thing. That’s a good thing.” The call process begins with auditions, which open each year from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, for the following summer. More information about the program itself and applications can be found online on the Historic Nauvoo website.

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‘Unto Me’ The Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief Project

admin — Fri, 22 Dec 2017 06:47:25 +0000

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