Alumni News

Forging the Path Ahead

The ICIT Ph.D. program’s embrace of diverse forms of music hit the right notes for percussionist, sound artist and educator JoVia Armstrong By Greg Hardesty JoVia Armstrong, a 2022 graduate of the Department of Music's Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology (ICIT) Ph....

Alumna Chantrell Lewis Named 2023 Community Engagement Grantee

Chantrell M. Lewis, M.F.A. ’22, has been named a 2023 Community Engagement Grantee. Community Engagement is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Orange County, CA. The organization supports artists and art programs that reimagine shared spaces and stimulate social engagement, creative...

Arts Advocates: Joel Veenstra

INSPIRATIONAL IMPROVISOR Q&A with Joel Veenstra Professor Joel Veenstra, M.F.A. ’11, is a professional stage manager whose production credits span Los Angeles to London, and who co-leads the Department of Drama’s stage management program as a professor of teaching in the Claire Trevor...

UCI Music alumna Jennifer dos Santos joins School of Social Ecology

UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Music alumna Jennifer dos Santos recently joined the UCI School of Social Ecology’s administrative team as the senior assistant dean. She began her role on Jan. 9, 2023. dos Santos joined the campus staff in 2007, serving in positions at the...

Broadway Visions Come True

UCI Dance alumni Justin Keats and Amy Quanbeck share their skills during a masterclass homecoming By Isabella Granqvist and Mia Hammett At UCI, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) Department of Dance does one thing exceptionally well: turn talented, eager undergraduate dance majors...

UCI Dance alumna Sakina Ibrahim receives an outstanding arts educators award

The author and artist put arts education at the forefront to shift the culture of society   UCI Dance alumna Sakina Ibrahim, M.F.A. '14, was recognized for Arts Advocacy from Orange County Music and Arts Administrators Awards (Orange County Department of Education) for her work...

The Photographer Undoing the Myth of Appalachia

For Stacy Kranitz, replacing negative stereotypes with a triumphant counternarrative would be too easy. The Atlantic | Dec. 20, 2022 | By Andrew Aoyama Photographs by Stacy Kranitz Journalist Andrew Aoyama weaves a colorful story detailing historical perspectives and the latest work by...

Two UCI Drama alums win at the Emmys!

Darcy Prevost (M.F.A. ’09) and Jeanine Ringer (M.F.A. ’09), alumni from the scenic design program in the Department of Drama, each won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) inaugural Children’s...

ICIT Alumnus Omar Costa Hamido publishes groundbreaking dissertation work on quantum computing and music.

When considering music and technology, most people probably do not think of the intersection between creative expression through music and new directions in quantum computing. The work of Omar Costa Hamido–a recent recipient of a doctoral degree from the Claire Trevor School of the Arts (Ph.D. in...

Marlaina Owens Is An Operatic Force to Reckon With

The Fulbright scholar on privilege, Paris and the paired criticisms of being ‘too much’ By Mia Hammett A classical singer, actress and performer, Marlaina Owens has the pleasure of adding “2022-23 Fulbright Scholar” to an already extensive set of professional arts experiences. Owens...

Amplifying a classic Black music genre

UCI to host 25th anniversary African American Art Song Alliance conference By Nick Schou, UCI | October 9, 2022 If early African American classical music composers such as Scott Joplin, who went bankrupt trying to promote his 1911 opera “Treemonisha,” had been better received by white...

For Alex Dreschke, a role in Hamilton at Segerstrom seems like homecoming

Event-News Enterprise (excerpt) By David N. Young | September 15, 2022 (Read full feature)   When he graduated with a Fine Arts degree from UC Irvine years ago, Alex Dreschke could hardly have imagined he would return to SoCal with a role in HAMILTON, one of the most engaging...

UCI Dance alum receives Community Engagement grant

Sakina Ibrahim, M.F.A. ’14, author and artist, receives Community Engagement award to support Santa Ana youth Sakina Ibrahim, M.F.A. ’14, is the recipient of a 2022 Community Engagement grant to support her work in arts education. Community Engagement is a nonprofit in Orange...

UCI Drama alum scores critical praise for horror thriller

Ryan Imhoff, M.F.A. Acting ’11 and New Swan Shakespeare Festival alum,  has written and directed the award-winning horror film Fresh Hell, which has won Best Feature Film at four film festivals dedicated to the horror genre. “This film was created on a string and a prayer by a group of...

CTSA celebrates alumni during the month of August

At the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, August is Alumni Appreciation Month! We have dedicated our Instagram account to celebrating our alums' work and accomplishments in and beyond the arts all month long. Spend the month learning more about just a few of our outstanding alumni! CTSA alums from...

‘We Need More’ of Taylor Fagins

The UCI Drama alum shares more about his journey to become an American Idol It’s nearly 10 p.m. on the third straight day of filming, and Taylor Fagins, ’17 is the final contestant to audition for American Idol’s celebrity judges. He sits down at a grand piano — an instrument he plays but...

Local Choreographer Molly Lynch Brings her National Dance Initiative Back to Irvine Barclay Theatre July 30

By Christopher Trela | July 15, 2022   Ever since Ballet Pacifica closed its doors in 2007, Orange County has relied on a handful of local dance troupes and touring professional companies to provide the county with quality dance programs. And then there is National Choreographer’s...

Indeed It's Our Town

South Coast Repertory continues to foster a professional pipeline to retain local talent from UCI By Matt Coker When David Ivers, the artistic director of South Coast Repertory (SCR), approached Beth Lopes about directing a rival of Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town in December 2019,...