Everything Nac

    An expert on rural societal issues and a Pulitzer-prize finalist will be among the speakers featured at the second annual Heritage Development Summit on Thursday, March 8, at Stephen F. Austin State University. The event will provide information intended to foster collaboration among individuals and organizations interested in historic preservation, heritage tourism, cultural resources and community economic development.

    Dee Davis, founder and president of the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, Ky., will deliver the plenary address. Davis works with a variety of partners to educate the public about problems and opportunities facing contemporary rural communities.

    Davis has served as executive producer of Appalshop Films and Headwaters Television, part of an arts and cultural center devoted to exploring Appalachian life and social issues. During his tenure, the organization created more than 50 public TV documentaries, established a media training program for Appalachian youth, and launched initiatives that use media as a strategic tool in organization and development. Davis has designed national public information campaigns on topics as diverse as commercial television programming and federal banking policy.

    Also participating in the event is Bill Bishop, a 2008 Pulitzer-prize finalist for his book “The Big Sort,” which explores the cultural dynamics of political self-segregation in America. Bishop has worked on the special projects staff of the Austin American-Statesman. He and his wife, Julie Ardery, owned and operated The Bastrop County Times, a weekly newspaper in Smithville, and now co-edit The Daily Yonder, a Web-based publication covering rural America.

    Dr. Jerry Williams, chair of SFA’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis and board chairman of the Center for Regional Heritage Research, will deliver the luncheon keynote address and will discuss the importance of individual and collective identities in building strong communities.

    Other speakers and panelists include Dr. Kathleen Belanger, an associate professor in SFA’s School of Social Work and a nationally recognized authority on the challenges facing small communities, and Walter Diggles, executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments. The event is funded in part by grants from Humanities Texas and the East Texas Historical Association.

    Registration begins at 8 a.m. in President’s Suite B of the Baker Pattillo Student Center. The summit is free and open to the public, but space for the luncheon and keynote address is limited. For reservations, call (936) 468-3953 or e-mail the Center for Regional Heritage Research at crhr@sfasu.edu.

    The Choral Union and Women’s Choir at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a joint concert, “Expressions: An Eclectic Program of Choral Songs from the Heart,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

    David Howard, SFA associate director of choral activities, directs both ensembles.

    The Choral Union, an auditioned 70-voice mixed choir, will open the concert with three works that serve as a “sampling for the energetic musical expressions, both sacred and secular, of 20th-century Argentina,” said Howard.

    The selections are representative of the country’s indigenous people, African slaves and Europeans following the Spanish conquest.

    The 25-member Women’s Choir will then perform “Anne Frank: A Living Voice,” a seven-movement piece by Linda Tutas Haugen based on the famed diary by a young Jewish girl forced into hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

    “Haugen beautifully captures the progression of Frank’s emotions from fear to longing to hope she is never allowed to realize,” Howard said.

    Performing with the Women’s Choir will be violinists Jennifer Dalmas, SFA associate professor, and Pasadena sophomore Paval Baez; violist Richard Leppert, Kilgore graduate student; and cellist Evgeni Raychev, SFA adjunct faculty.

    The Choral Union will return to the stage to close the concert with a collection of folksongs arranged by famed American composer Alice Parker.

    The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Cole Concert Hall is located in the Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive.

    Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. For tickets or more information, please go to www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6047 or (888) 240-ARTS.

    Jazz music will fill W.M. Turner Auditorium as the Swingin’ Axes and Swingin’ Aces of Stephen F. Austin State University present a joint concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 8.

    Under the direction of SFA Associate Professor Deb Scott, the Aces will begin the concert with a program that includes Gordon Goodwin’s arrangement of Cole Porter’s “It’s All Right with Me” and Oliver Nelson’s “Black, Brown, and Beautiful,” featuring Nacogdoches sophomore Jacob Barnhill on alto saxophone.

    The Aces will also present Tommy Newsom’s arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues,” as performed by Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Band.

    The Swingin’ Axes will also pay homage to Duke Ellington with “Perdido” and one of his early compositions, “Echoes of Harlem,” featuring Ben Wheeler graduate student Nick Moore on trumpet, explained SFA Associate Professor Gary Wurtz, the ensemble’s director.

    “The Axes will continue with Dave Metzger’s classic arrangement of ‘On a Clear Day,’ a modern interpretation of the jazz standard ‘Invitation,’ and, as a tribute to one of the all-time great band leaders, Count Basie’s ‘Muttnik,’” Wurtz continued.

    The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music. W.M. Turner Auditorium is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

    Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. For tickets or more information, please visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.