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The Percussion Studio at Stephen F. Austin State University and its director, Dr. Brad Meyer, will host its 3rd annual interactive community performance of Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night” starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, at the Wright Music Building’s College Street entrance.

Participants will enjoy an approximate 45-minute walk through the Pecan and Raguet streets neighborhoods north of SFA campus while listening to a recording of “Unsilent Night” that has been downloaded to play over a smart device connected to portable speakers or to a CD played over a boom box.

Meyer encouraged community members to participate in the performance by following one of two steps:

• Download the app (https://itunes.apple.com/app/phil-klines-unsilent-night/id483509723?mt=8 or search “Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night” in your app store) and play it over a smart device by connecting it to a portable speaker.

• Download one of the four mp3 tracks from http://unsilentnight.com/participate and burn it to a CD that can be played over a boom box.

People can play the music from the app over their phone speaker, but this has a less-than-desirable sound quality and should only be used if the other options are not possible, Meyer said.

“If inclement weather occurs, the performance will be canceled,” he said. “To participate, simply be outside the music building before 6 p.m. and have a way to play the ‘Unsilent Night’ music. Music players are not supplied by the host, so please plan on bringing your own music player.”

Joe Woodard of The Los Angeles Times described the “Unsilent Night” event as, “A dreamy fruitcake of parts, tranquil even through its anarchy.” And K. Leander Williams in Time Out New York said, “Kline’s luminous, shimmering wash of bell tones is one of the loveliest communal new-music experiences you’ll ever encounter, and it’s never the same twice.”

Meyer further defined it as family friendly, with people often bringing their children with infants and toddlers in strollers.

“‘Unsilent Night’ has in fact become a holiday tradition for many families,” he said. “Some families have been doing it for 20 years, and their children have grown up walking ‘Unsilent Night.'”

For more information, go to http://unsilentnight.com, visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.

The estate of the late Nancy Delaney will fund two endowed scholarships for deserving students within Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Art and College of Fine Arts.

The scholarships will be funded in part through proceeds from a jewelry sale planned for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

An artist and musician, Delaney, whose husband, Creighton, was chairman of SFA’s art department in the 1960s, amassed an extensive jewelry collection during a lifetime of worldwide travel. It was her desire, as stipulated in her will, that her estate establish the Creighton H. Delaney Endowed Scholarship for a financially needy student in the Department of Art and the John N. Staley and Margaret Anderson Staley Endowed Scholarship for a financially needy female student in the College of Fine Arts. Her estate, along with proceeds from the sale of her jewelry, will fund the scholarships. The Staleys were Nancy Delaney’s parents.

The sale will accept only cash or check.

SFA’s historic art gallery, Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. Exhibitions showing through the end of this year include SFA’s Biennial Juried Art Metals and Jewelry exhibition, “Kymia Nawabi: Not For Long, My Forlorn” and a vintage Christmas decoration, ornament and toy display.

For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

Stephen F. Austin State University College of Liberal and Applied Arts Associate Dean Dr. Mark Sanders, professor of English, won the 2018 Nebraska Book Award in the nonfiction biography category for “The Weight of the Weather: Regarding the Poetry of Ted Kooser.”

Sanders’ book is a collection of interviews, literary memoirs and critical analyses of Kooser and his poetry. Sanders established himself as one of the first scholars on Kooser’s poetry when he began conducting studies and interviews in 1977.

“Kooser is a writer of the particular — things and specific places and people in those places, all of them special because they are unique and common,” Sanders said. “I’ve been working with Kooser’s poetry for 40 years, but I started writing ‘The Weight of the Weather’ about 10 years ago. No one had written anything of substance on Great Plains poetry, so I thought I might.”

Sanders, a Nebraska native, feels a deep kinship to the state, its people, and its artists and writers. Sanders said, “I was born, raised and educated in Nebraska, so this award holds a special place in my heart.

“The Nebraska Book Award proves that hard work, perseverance and a love for the particular can be rewarding. My book has been called a labor of love by such poets as Dana Gioia and David Baker; I think they’re right.”

This is the second Nebraska Book Award Sanders has received. In 2016, Sanders’ edited collection, “A Sandhills Reader: Thirty Years of Great Writing from the Great Plains,” won in the anthology category.

In addition to his recent honors, Sanders served as a primary consultant on a book that won the 2018 Nebraska Book Award in the anthology category. Edited by Daniel Simon, “Nebraska Poetry: A Sesquicentennial Anthology 1867-2017” assembled all significant poets associated with Nebraska and its literary legacy.

Simon was instructed by Kooser and other poets to contact Sanders, as he well understands the Nebraska literary topic. Sanders personally knows many of the state’s poets and helped Simon contact them.

“I am part of that writers’ community, and Daniel asked me to assist in his project because I could recommend poets and poems for the book,” Sanders said.

Sanders was able to witness the production of the anthology, from the setup of pages and copyediting alongside Simon to the selection of photographs.

“The experience was very fulfilling, as I saw the book grow and evolve, and I enjoyed the dialogues Daniel and I had about Nebraska poets,” Sanders said. “The whole experience was like going to a family reunion and actually having a tremendous time.”

Sanders has published poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and literary criticism in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work.

To learn more about Sanders’ work, contact him at sandersme1@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-2087.