Category: Ignite Arts Dallas

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Dance Ignite Arts Dallas Student Work

Alumni Spotlight: How Dance and Business Major Kelly Zitka Masters Her Fears

Kelly Zitka
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Kelly Zitka
Kelly Zitka’s gigs once included dance numbers, not acting or singing. These days, Zitka is focusing on all three to extend her reach in New York City.

By Diamond Victoria

Launching from the classroom to the Big Apple, Meadows alumna Kelly Zitka knows that perseverance and a little spontaneity can help to find footing in the world of performance art.

The dance and business major now calls New York home, and is learning more about the world of dance theater through rigorous training and auditioning. Staying in New York for good, however, was never part of her original plan. But with growing insight into her art, Zitka is betting that risking uncertainty can pay off. 

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Ignite Arts Dallas Student Work

SMU Meadows Scholar Angelica Reisch Knows The Importance of Community Involvement

Women Galore – Celebrating Women’s Words
Angie Reisch ’18 (sixth from right) plays a key role in planning the month-long feminist cultural festival Women Galore, founded by SMU Journalism Professor Lauren Smart (first from left)

by Diamond Victoria

For some busy students, finding time for meaningful community engagement is hard.

But for others, it’s second nature – par for the course in getting the best education possible before venturing into the professional world. And it’s just the beginning for Angie Reisch, who knows the importance of community involvement – it’s obvious in her work outside of the classroom. The studio art major and Dallas native graduates this spring, but not before turning her attention to some of the most important and timely cultural events taking place in the city. 

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Ignite Arts Dallas

The Year’s Most Anticipated Events for SMU’s Ignite/Arts Dallas

SMU Meadows ignite arts dallas
Rock and Tejano with a six-piece band: Pancho Villa from a Safe Distance includes one mezzo-soprano and one tenor and is fluidly bilingual. At the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff on May 4.

By Diamond Victoria

For the past two years, Ignite/Arts Dallas director Clyde Valentín has provided Meadows students of all disciplines with important experiences through collaborations with local and visiting artists and arts organizations in North Texas. His focus has been to serve the underrepresented and under-resourced and help students find full-time jobs after graduation. Now inching closer to its third anniversary, his initiative is slated to foster new relationships and build on existing ones, transition into year-round programs and host the bilingual rock and Tejano opera Pancho Villa from a Safe Distance at the Texas Theatre in Dallas in the spring. 

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Ignite Arts Dallas

The Public Works Dallas Movement: Watch a Retrospective with Dr. Shirley Brice Heath

Ignite Arts Dallas
Scene from 2017 inaugural Public Works Dallas production of The Tempest, a collaboration of Dallas Theater Center, SMU Meadows, ATTPAC and Ignite/Arts Dallas (photo by Kim Leeson)

By Victoria Whitcomb

In October, SMU Meadows School of the Arts and the Dallas Theater Center (DTC) held a review and panel discussion of research findings from the pilot year of Public Works Dallas with special guest Shirley Brice Heath. The event epitomized how Public Works Dallas works to connect Dallas’ arts and cultural movements to the SMU community.

Clyde Valentin, one of the panelists at the event and Director of Ignite Arts Dallas, shares his thoughts on hosting Dr. Shirley Brice Heath at SMU and major takeaways from the discussion. 

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Ignite Arts Dallas Meadows Prize

Public Works Dallas is on a Mission. Here’s How to Join the Conversation

Public Works Dallas Clyde Valentin
Dallas Theater Center and Ignite/Arts Dallas, in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center, presented a musical theatre production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Ignite/Arts Director Clyde Valentin pictured at right. (Photo by Kim Leeson)

On Thursday, October 26, SMU Meadows School of the Arts and the Dallas Theater Center (DTC) host a review and panel discussion of research findings from the pilot year of Public Works Dallas. Author and Stanford professor Shirley Brice Heath will compile the key points that offer thoughts for the coming year. Her talk will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Dean of the Simmons School of Education Stephanie Knight, featuring DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty and Director of Ignite/Arts Dallas Clyde Valentin.

It’s part of an arts and cultural movement underway in Dallas right now. 

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