Everything Nac

Jennifer Sommers, director of education and community engagement with the Houston Ballet, recently led an arts-in-education workshop for students in Stephen F. Austin State University’s James I. Perkins College of Education. Sommers’ visit was the first in a series of experiential learning events made possible by the Margaret Hoover Perkins Research award, administered by Dr. Lauren Burrow, SFA associate professor in elementary education. The ongoing partnership with the Houston Ballet is set to serve as a model for the types of school and community engagements teacher candidates can adopt when they enter kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “Icepick to the Moon,” written, edited and directed by Skizz Cyzyk. The screening is at 7 p.m. Friday, March 3, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.

“Icepick to the Moon” is a documentary about musician Fred Lane and the Raudelunas arts collective of Alabama, according to information at IMDb. It is the first film featured in the newly revived Friday Night Film Series made possible in part by a grant from the Center for Applied Research and Rural Innovation at SFA.

“The First Friday Film series was very popular in the community, and we’re excited to bring it back,” said Amanda Breitbach, assistant professor of art at SFA and principal investigator for the CARRI grant proposal. “Film professors Bill Arscott and Brad Maule and film historian Ron King have all been very supportive in this effort. We plan to share a variety of films, from classic movies to art house films, documentaries and student work.”

The same CARRI grant will also support the creation of a student docent program at the Cole Art Center, which is SFA’s historic downtown art gallery. It is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.