Author: Nick Rallo

AA-ARTS(Marketing)

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Communications MPrint

A Trip to Uganda Inspired Brittany Merrill Underwood to Change Hundreds of Women’s Lives–And Her Own

At her flagship Akola store near SMU, Brittany Merrill Underwood ’06 showcases jewelry created by women in Uganda through the Akola Project. The sustainable impact program has empowered the lives of hundreds of women.

Story by Leslie Barker

Brittany Merrill Underwood’s life changed – completely, thoroughly, astonishingly – the summer she was 19, an age that now seems head-shakingly young. “I was the most selfish, spoiled SMU sorority girl,” she says on a recent March afternoon, sitting outside Akola, the store in Snider Plaza that fulfills a dream she didn’t know she had. “I was going to parties and trying to show up in class. My heart was empty; now it’s full.”

A dozen years later, she’s long ago lost count of the times she’s crisscrossed the globe. And how could she possibly number the lives of women she’s touched and changed for the better? Yahoo named her “Person of the Year” in 2014; during those same 12 months, she was asked to join the elite mentoring class for the Laura Bush Women’s Initiative. Clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss  honored her as one of 50 women internationally who have changed the political, cultural and spiritual shape of the future. She’s made appearances on Katie Couric’s show as well as on CNN’s Young People Who Rock. She received SMU’s Emerging Leader Award, the Dallas Women’s Foundation Young Leader Award and was a finalist for the 2016 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award from the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation. Most recently, she received a $75,000 United Way award in Dallas. 

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Ignite Arts Dallas MPrint

Ignite/Arts Dallas is All Fired Up

The Mitotiliztli Yaoyollohtli Aztec Dancers joined six other community dance and music groups to perform in the 2017 inaugural Public Works Dallas production of The Tempest, a collaboration of Dallas Theater Center, SMU Meadows, ATTPAC and Ignite/Arts Dallas.

With Ignite/Arts Dallas, the word “non-traditional” comes up a lot. Launched in 2015, this innovative program at SMU Meadows covers a wide amount of territory.   

by Lauren Smart

The official mission of Ignite/Arts Dallas: A Center for People, Purpose + Place is to challenge the imagination of students and citizens to foster more just and vibrant communities through art and cultural experiences. If it sounds open-ended, that’s intentional.

“We’re an interdisciplinary initiative,” says Clyde Valentín, the program’s director. “We work with students and faculty in all the various units of Meadows – visual arts, performing arts and communication arts – emphasizing collaborations and focusing on community engagement. Every one of our projects involves partnerships with outside groups, some local, some national. We want to develop meaningful cultural programs that benefit Dallas and connect to other creative communities.”

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Dance

SMU Meadows Student’s Behind the Scenes Look at SMU Dance

20634263842_a0c0ba6f73_z(2)One of the top universities offering both conservatory dance instruction and liberal arts education, the SMU Meadows Division of Dance develops disciplined, versatile artists through professional training in ballet, modern and jazz. Undergraduates can earn a B.F.A. in Dance Performance or a minor in Dance Performance.

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Art History

Six Things Our Master’s Student in Art History Learned While Studying Abroad in Florence

Outside the Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, Italy

by Jillianne Laceste (M.A. Art History)

This summer, SMU Meadows’ Art History graduate program (MA and Ph.D.: Rhetorics of Art, Space and Culture) is letting students take over their social media while they’re studying abroad. Student Jillianne Laceste took the reigns first as part of her research trip to Florence, Italy. Follow future student social takeovers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Keep a running list of places you want to go. If I have no specific place I want to go to, I sometimes just wander. During my walks, I tend to find churches I want to visit or restaurants I want to try at a later time but there have been times where I can never find that place again (This was my experience when I went to Hong Kong a few years ago). If you see a place you want to go, take note of it. Write down a name or maybe the street. Don’t be like me and confidently think you’ll eventually find the place again without noting its name or location.

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Journalism Photos We Love

25 Photos from the 2017 SMU Meadows Commencement Ceremonies Guaranteed to Make You Smile

Scenes from the spring 2017 Meadows diploma presentation ceremony. (All photos by Kim Leeson)

As faculty and staff at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, one of the happiest days in our year is Commencement. It’s a feeling of unbridled accomplishment and joy, unmatched by events that have unfolded before it. On a balmy day, we sit in the grass of the Boulevard, and hear the inspiring words from our Dean Holland–like “arts and communication inform, uplift and challenge”–and our friends and family cheer as we walk the stage.

“You directed, wrote, choreographed, and practiced, practiced, practiced. You’ve earned this degree,” said Dean Sam Holland at the 2017 graduation ceremonies. In honor, we present our favorite photos–the ones that will make us smile forever–from photographer Kim Leeson below.

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