2022-23 In Review
AN END-OF-YEAR MESSAGE FROM DEAN BRETT STEELE
If you can believe it, we are at the end of another academic year. 2023 marked a return to “normality,” a new normal for a world that’ll never be the same. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the many accomplishments of our students, faculty, and staff, in these ever-changing times.
From our year-end student showcases to the innovative research projects developed on campus to the extraordinary exhibitions, performances, and programs presented by our museums and performing arts program, it has been incredible to see the progress and impact we have made together this year. These successes have broadened our understanding of and engagement with the world and have inspired us to strive for change — reminding us that the arts have the power to make a lasting difference, and to envision a more inclusive, sustainable, and just future.
Above all else, this year has underscored the importance of being present together. The work of our community has opened our eyes to new perspectives, moved us to action — in sometimes unexpected and exciting ways — and helped those around us to understand not only the world all around them, but themselves.
GRATITUDE FOR OUR EXTRAORDINARY UCLA ARTS COMMUNITY
As we turn the page on this academic year, I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to every member of the UCLA Arts community.
To our faculty: your dedication to teaching, research, and service at UCLA has cultivated an environment where students can explore, create, and innovate. Your guidance is the foundation upon which our students can build a new and exciting future.
The directors and leadership of our two museums and performing arts program have stewarded their organizations through a time of extraordinary transformation while delivering a year of public programming that has enriched the cultural life of our campus and city.
Our indefatigable staff have supported our faculty, our students, and each other. You consistently exceed the bounds of your individual roles to take care of our community. I recognize and appreciate your commitment and service.
I am grateful to the Dean’s Student Council for their advocacy on behalf of our students and for their dedication to helping create the best student experience and strongest school community possible. The council’s members play an essential role as advisors and advocates who ensure that student issues, concerns, and perspectives are shared and discussed with me and other directors within the dean’s office on an ongoing basis.
To all our students: Your creativity, empathy, and optimism bring our mission to life, challenge us to do better, and it gives me hope to know that it is you who are shaping our future.
And finally, alongside our students, staff, and faculty, I’d like to extend thanks to the parents and caregivers, friends, supporters, and loved ones who have helped to make this school year a success.
We are, indeed, stronger together.
A SUNNY AND INSPIRING COMMENCEMENT
On Saturday, June 17, hundreds of students, faculty, staff, friends, and family gathered in Dickson Court to celebrate this year’s graduating class. Gifted with beautiful, sunny weather, commencement was a joyous occasion where the many accomplishments of the Class of 2023 were acknowledged and celebrated.
Our undergraduate and graduate student speakers, Fabian Rios and Shani Strand, respectively, shared the many challenges they overcame before arriving at UCLA, and how their time at UCLA has informed their art practice and prepared them for the next chapter in their lives and careers. Our keynote speaker, Kristina Wong, a UCLA Arts alumna, performance artist, and activist, spoke candidly about her struggles on the way to becoming the first Asian-American woman to be a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama. From her formative time at UCLA to sewing cloth masks for vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wong’s speech inspired equal parts tears and laughter.
Commencement concluded with a performance by Paravi Das, this year’s inaugural undergraduate Class Artist. Accompanied by fellow graduate and pianist Xander Ambrose, Das beautifully sang UCLA’s alma mater and concluded the ceremony with her stirring rendition of “Home,” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
It was a joyous culmination to the 2022-23 academic year.
TRANSITIONS
Every year we mark the departure of some honored members of our faculty. This year, we express our appreciation for:
- Jennifer Steinkamp, a professor in the Department of Design Media Arts, who is retiring after 24 years of service;
- and Patricia A. Turner, a professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, who is retiring after 26 years of service (which includes 15 years at UC Davis).
This year, we are also grateful to faculty who have served in leadership roles:
- Janet O’Shea, who assumed the role of chair of the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance in the fall;
- and Catherine Opie, Rebeca Méndez, and Mariana Ibañez who continued to serve as chairs of the Departments of Art; Design Media Arts; and Architecture and Urban Design, respectively.
As we begin the new academic year, we welcome Rodney McMillian and Eddo Stern, who will follow Catherine and Rebeca to serve as chairs of the Departments of Art and Design Media Arts, respectively.
We are also grateful for Lionel Popkin’s continued service as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and to Anya Booker for her exceptional service in her inaugural year as Associate Dean and Executive Director of Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (AEDI).
We would also like to pay tribute to two influential figures in UCLA Arts’ history who we’ve lost this past year:
- Silke Otto-Knapp, professor in the Department of Art, passed away in October;
- and Michael Powers, lecturer in the Department of Design Media Arts, passed away in April.
A YEAR OF GROWTH AND EVOLUTION
The following are just a few highlights demonstrating how our collective efforts across the year provided our students, our campus, and our broader community with vital education and transformative experiences in the arts:
Community Impact
In alignment with the school’s Strategic Plan and to more deeply center and build upon our commitment to anti-racism, equity, diversity, inclusion, and all forms of social justice, faculty and staff spearheaded several community outreach events and initiatives.
In early May, on a sunny afternoon, the Broad Art Center plaza was abuzz with people attending the 2nd Annual Yummy Bowl Benefit. The fundraiser invited students, staff, and faculty to make ceramic bowls to raise money for UCLA’s Community Programs Office Food Closet. Yummy Bowl was created by Department of Art professors Candice Lin and Anna Sew Hoy. In 2022, the two artists launched the inaugural fundraiser after learning that over 40% of UC students reported being food insecure. This year’s benefit smashed expectations, selling a total of 480 bowls and raising $10,281.
On Thursday, May 25, UCLA Health and UCLA Arts joined forces for Unity and Kindness Day, an event coordinated by nurses for the entire UCLA Health system and founded to build community. Anya Booker, associate dean and executive director of AEDI for UCLA Arts, joined Rosalind McGary, professional artist and creative director of Sepia Collective, to develop a playful, meditative watercolor painting project designed to inspire and elevate the mental well-being of the approximately 1,300 health care professionals in attendance. For those who couldn’t attend in person, UCLA Arts curated a digital student exhibition, which showcases diverse student work from years past.
Fowler Museum at UCLA
In September, the Fowler Museum announced the appointment of Dr. Silvia Forni as the Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director. Forni came to the Fowler after an accomplished tenure at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, where she was senior curator of global Africa and deputy vice president of the museum’s Department of Art & Culture.
As the year comes to a close, the Fowler Museum bids a fond farewell to David Blair, deputy director, after more than 21 years of service at the Fowler and a total 23 years of service to UCLA; Maththew Robb, chief curator, after 7 years of service; and Kris Lewis, director of development, after 6 years of service.
The museum made history with the first museum solo show of a woman artist from Haiti, Myrlande Constant: The Work of Radiance, which is on display until August. Also on display until October, the exhibition Janyak: Armenian Arts of Knots and Loops features 12 stunning examples of Armenian janyak or needle lace.
Just around the corner, the Fowler Museum will open Gala Porras-Kim: The weight of a patina of time on Sunday, July 9. The exhibition will feature the work of UCLA alumna Gala Porras-Kim and focuses on art inspired by the collections at the Fowler Museum.
The Hammer Museum at UCLA
In March, the Hammer unveiled the two-decades-in-the-making renovation. The Hammer now stretches the length of Wilshire Boulevard between Westwood Boulevard and Glendon Avenue, with street-level exhibition space visible from the outside and anchored by the new Lynda and Stewart Resnick Cultural Center. Designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture, these spaces include an expansive lobby, which currently displays an installation by Chiharu Shiota; a new 5,600-square-foot gallery; and an outdoor sculpture terrace.
The Hammer’s transformation debut was attended by thousands of visitors and has increased UCLA and Westwood Village’s status as a global art destination.
The Hammer presented several acclaimed exhibitions including Joan Dideon: What She Means, which featured approximately 50 artists and showcased 200 works; the career expansive Picasso Cuts Paper; Machine Hallucinations: Nature Dreams, an ongoing research project by Department of Design Media Arts lecturer Refik Anadol; and Bob Thompson: This House is Mine. Currently on display in the renovated upstairs gallery is Together in Time: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, the largest-ever exhibition from the Hammer’s permanent collection.
On hold since the COVID-19 pandemic closures of 2020, Classroom-in-Residence at the Hammer (CRH) returned. CRH, a free, innovative program designed to strengthen student and teacher learning about art through a weeklong, immersive experience at the Hammer, is a unique collaboration between the Hammer Museum, the Visual and Performing Arts Education (VAPAE) Program in the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and selected Title I public school teachers.
In May, the Hammer announced the departure of Connie Butler, their chief curator of ten years, who is leaving to become the new director at MoMA PS1 in September. The Hammer also welcomed full-time curator Pablo José Ramírez, who is a co-curator of Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, alongside independent curator Diana Nawi.
I am also very much looking forward to this year’s Made in L.A.: Acts of Living when it debuts at the museum on Sunday, October 1.
UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance
UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) welcomed audiences back with a full season of incredible programming. Highlights included performances by dancer-choreographer Bill T. Jones, drummer Antonio Sánchez, cellist Seth Parker Woods, dancer Israel Galván, flamenco guitarist Niño de Elche, jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, and more.
After an extensive national search, Edgar Miramontes was named executive and artistic director of CAP UCLA, effective August 2023. Miramontes comes to CAP UCLA from REDCAT (Roy and Enda Disney/CalArts Theater), where he served as deputy executive director and curator. We all look forward to Miramontes joining the UCLA Arts community.
I want to recognize the excellent leadership of Meryl Friedman and Fred Frumberg, who have led CAP UCLA after Kristy Edmunds stepped down as executive and artistic director in the fall of 2021. I am grateful to Meryl and Fred, and the entire staff at CAP UCLA, for their steady stewardship through the year.
I also want to acknowledge the extraordinary work of our Theater Management Services team led by Heidi Snyder in supporting not only CAP UCLA’s programming in Royce Hall, but myriad other campus events and cultural offerings that allowed UCLA to come roaring back to life this year.
This fall, after many years of planning and preparation, the UCLA Nimoy Theater will debut. The public is invited to a free community celebration commemorating the opening of The Nimoy on Sunday, September 17. The Nimoy’s inaugural season includes 35 events, featuring Grammy Award winner J. Ivy (who opens the season on Saturday, September 23), Ethiopian music and dance ensemble Ethiocolor, Nordic music trio Dreamers’ Circus, renowned pipa player Wu Man, and many more.
Impact Through Arts Education (VAPAE)
This year, our Performing Arts Education (VAPAE) Program continued to provide innovative coursework about the rich history and theories of arts education for its 164 undergraduate students from UCLA Arts and beyond. More students declared a VAPAE minor this year than anytime in the past decade. VAPAE undergraduate student teachers provided 248 hours of instruction, reaching over 1,600 K-12 students across VAPAE’s 18 Los Angeles partner schools, and their community arts programs provided 218 hours of instruction, reaching 860 K-12 students, families, and seniors.
The VAPAE research team presented “Onto-epistemic Development of Culturally Sustaining Teaching Artists in a Multigenerational Learning Community” at the 2023 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting. They also hosted the first-ever Arts Education Research Colloquium on campus, featuring presentations from several VAPAE scholars.
Groundbreaking Research and Cultural Impact
As a public research university committed to the creation and application of knowledge for the betterment of our global society, this past year UCLA Arts’ innovative programs, labs, and faculty-led initiatives continued to deliver pioneering work while grappling with some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
The Counterforce Lab, led by Department of Design Media Arts professor Rebeca Méndez, completed its Biophilia Treehouse. A three-year project designed to grow a series of living sculptures using native trees and plants that together form a habitat for some of L.A.’s most threatened birds, Biophilia Treehouse positions Counterforce Lab front and center in demonstrating how the arts can play an active role in mitigating the ecological crisis.
Professor and former chair of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design Hitoshi Abe and his research center, xLab, mounted the exhibition Designing with Disaster at Japan House Los Angeles. Culminating three years of research at UCLA in collaboration with numerous institutions from across the Pacific Rim, the exhibit presented new paradigms for how cities can best manage risk and become more resilient in the face of climate change-fueled natural disasters.
Department of Architecture and Urban Design professor and director of cityLab Dr. Dana Cuff led a team who developed a new piece of affordable housing legislation that was signed into law on September 28 by Governor Gavin Newsom. The new law, Assembly Bill 2295, streamlines the development of affordable and mixed-income housing for teachers and support staff of California’s K-12 public schools on public land. Cuff also published her new book, Architectures of Spatial Justice, a field-defining work that demonstrates how architects are breaking with professional conventions to advance spatial justice and design more equitable buildings and cities.
Under the direction of Dr. David Gere, The UCLA Art & Global Health Center, (the Center), part of the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, moved forward with three big projects in 2022-23. Up to Us, in collaboration with the UCLA Prison Education Project and with funding from the US Office of Population Affairs, is a series of newly developed sex-ed film-and-workshop interventions designed for currently and formerly incarcerated young people. Through Positive Eyes, the Center’s ongoing photo-storytelling project for people living with HIV, has expanded to address the experiences of HIV-positive Ukrainian refugees. Finally, the Center’s Sex Squad (or Sex-Ed Squad) performed in 2023 for more than 1,000 high school students with major support from the David and Linda Shaheen Foundation and the LAUSD HIV/AIDS Prevention Unit.
Under the direction of Dr. Victoria Vesna, UCLA Art|Sci Center’s project [Alien] Star Dust: Signal to Noise, which explores the dust from meteorites through sound, augmented reality, online meditation, and installation, was the recipient of the Nanyang Technological University Global Digital Art Prize. The project was also exhibited at the Fosun Foundation in Shanghai and is now traveling to the Today Art Museum (TAM) in Beijing. Art|Sci’s Noise Aquarium, an immersive installation featuring 3D enlarged plankton, opened on Wednesday, June 14, at the Museé de la civilisation in Quebec.
Professor Eddo Stern’s UCLA Game Lab, which fosters the production of games and game-related research within an experimental art and design context, received an instruction improvement grant to support the diversification and improvement of access to games and games studies resources at UCLA. They also hosted a number of exciting events including Netrunner tournament, a presentation from UC Irvine professor Bo Ruberg on recent works from queer and transgender independent game designers, and an artist talk with award-winning experimental animator and filmmaker Christopher Bishop.
Department of Architecture and Urban Design faculty members Güvenç Özel and Julia Koerner also made headlines this year. Özel was among the designers on view at this year’s Coachella, bringing large-scale installation Holoflux to the famed music festival. Koerner collaborated again with famed costume designer Ruth E. Carter on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which took home the Oscar for Best Costume Design at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12.
Fifteen faculty projects were awarded Chancellor's Arts Initiative grants to support UCLA faculty’s arts-based research, recognizing and supporting the value of creative activities in the arts for the university, Los Angeles communities, and beyond including two UCLA Arts professors. Department of Design Media Arts Assistant Professor Chandler McWilliam’s project Weaving as Physical and Digital Materiality and Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Lionel Popkin’s Reorient the Orient were both awarded grants.
The reach and significance of the UCLA Arts community’s research and work was also reflected in our inclusion in several important cultural initiatives taking place across Los Angeles. This year’s Frieze Los Angeles featured a record number of UCLA Arts faculty and alumni. At least 94 of our alumni and 22 of our faculty were represented at one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs. This is a remarkable number and a testament to the impact and influence of our programs and community.
Last — but certainly not least — when the Getty announced the next iteration of their influential PST initiative this past spring, the UCLA Arts community was well represented. The third iteration of Getty PST, Art & Science Collide, will include a major exhibition at the Hammer, at least two faculty driven research projects, and many other touch points throughout our alumni network. Be on the lookout for Getty PST: Art & Science Collide when it launches in September 2024.
Updated infrastructure and expanded support
Philanthropic support makes a world of difference at UCLA. Recent gifts have helped equip a state of the art lab space in the Department of Design Media Arts, as well as the upcoming replacement of aging kilns in our Ceramics Area. Generous support, in the form of scholarships and fellowships, have allowed students to reach new heights of creative expression and broaden their horizons. This year, your generosity allowed us to significantly expand a scholarship designed to attract and retain an increasingly diverse student body in the Department of Design Media Arts, as well as graduate fellowships for ceramics students at the People’s Pottery Project, an anti-recidivism collective.
Student financial support continues to be a priority at UCLA. This is evident in the UCLA Affordability Initiative, which is designed to provide a debt-free undergraduate education to in-state students by 2030. Beginning in the fall of 2022, UCLA implemented a housing guarantee for all undergraduate students intended to guarantee up to four years of housing in university-owned residences for incoming freshmen and two years for transfer students.
Philanthropic support is absolutely critical to equipping the next generation of Bruins, and we are grateful to our many supporters for their generosity throughout this past year!
LOOKING AHEAD
In September, we will welcome a new cohort of extraordinary students to campus. UCLA Arts consistently attracts an exceptional pool of applicants and is one of the most applied to schools in the nation. With more applicants than ever, for Fall 2023, 73% of freshmen and 75% of transfer students accepted their UCLA Arts’ admission offer. Additionally, 100% of students accepted UCLA’s admission offer to our M.F.A. programs for Choreographic Inquiry and Art, the latter of which is the #1 M.F.A. program in the nation.
The 2023-24 year will also bring an exciting calendar of public events to the arts at UCLA. From the Hammer to the Fowler Museum and to the much anticipated opening of The Nimoy in September, there will be many opportunities for our broader community to engage with the arts at UCLA in the year ahead. We look forward to seeing you on campus next year.
As we close the books on the 2022-23 academic year, wherever you may be in the world, I hope you all have a restful and restorative summer.
With best wishes,
Brett Steele
Dean
Stay engaged. Use #UCLAarts to stay connected.
