[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Emerging Artist” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635105482{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]Areya Kugler is the Director of the Stage Buddies program at Theatrikos, which is an adaptive theatre project that includes disabled and able bodied children acting together on stage. By providing accommodations and modifications, and by using assistive technology when needed, she personally hand-crafted a first-of-its-kind show for the Theatrikos’ TheatriKIDS Youth Theater Company. Areya is a longtime participant in TheatriKIDS herself, first coming up with the idea for Stage Buddies when she was only in fourth grade. Areya is now a 16 year old sophomore at Coconino High School. With the help of her parents and Theatrikos staff, she was finally able to bring her concept to life. “This is something that I’ve been dreaming about for years and it’s actually happening,” Areya said. “It’s really time-consuming but really worth it.”

Areya’s concept was inclusive and impactful for the kids involved. Every special needs actor was paired with an actor buddy to share a role in the play. Having a buddy to share the role with allowed the special needs children a chance at the spotlight while having a supportive friend to guide them through. There were four lead roles filled by special needs children with their Stage Buddy, plus about a dozen other kids to fill out the cast.

Full Article Coming Soon![/ultimate_modal]

[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Excellence in Arts Education” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635369233{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]Mike Levin is an instructor at the Flagstaff Arts & Leadership Academy (FALA) and has taught numerous literature and theater classes throughout his career. He brings a great energy to the classroom and is always looking for ways to engage and inspire his students. Levin has taken students to theaters all over the U.S. to show them a wide range of productions beyond the boarders of Northern Arizona. He also encourages students to explore every aspect of the theater experience from acting, to writing, to building sets and promoting theater events. Each year during the Fringe Festival students get to write and direct their own short plays. Under the direction of Levin, students become fully invested in their performances, making it that much easier to connect with the material.

 

Levin does not shy away from giving his students challenging material to work with. He has been recognized for choosing productions with complex and socially relevant themes. For instance, in the 2014-2015 academic year, Levin and his students put on a production of “Origin of Seasons” a social commentary on domestic violence. To prepare for the play, students attended trainings and workshops on healthy relationships. In the same academic year, they also performed an original play called “Frontera” which deals with US/Mexico border relations. Students from Levin’s Advanced Creative Writing class helped write the piece and it was performed in May of 2015 by his Advanced Acting class. Through these projects, Levin demonstrates to his students that theater can be used as a tool for discussing important and complicated social issues.

Full Article Coming Soon![/ultimate_modal]

[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Excellence in Science Education” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635046216{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]Kaci Heins is a 6^th grade Science teacher at Northland Preparatory Academy. Kaci takes her students through the hands on exploration of measurements, scientific methods, energy, water cycle, weather, atmosphere, plants, and the human body.

An example of her outstanding approach to education occurred in 2013. Kaci was successful in her effort to place a student experiment aboard the International Space Station as part of the highly competitive Student Spaceflight Experiments Program( SSEP). This program replicates the entire process of a real scientific investigation from peer-reviewed proposals to execution of a sophisticated, launch-ready experiment. Almost the entire student body at NPA participated, culminating in the successful team’s experiment flying to ISS and the school having a large poster session where all the proposals were on display. It was an outstanding experience for every kid involved. A description and picture of the winning team can be found here.

[/ultimate_modal]

[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Excellence in Performing Arts” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635448024{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]Vicki Thompson played the lead role of Margaret in Theatrikos Theatre Company’s production of Good People at Doris Harper-White Playhouse that ran September 25 – October 11, 2015.

 

The play, tremendously moving and often hilarious, questions what really makes us good people. It centers around Margie Walsh, a single mother raising her adult developmentally disabled child who runs into her high school sweetheart from 30 years ago. This chance reunion reveals a lot of past secrets as well as their beliefs about the roles chance and choice played in their lives.

In the play, Margie, a tough middle-aged “Southie” from the wrong part of Boston, loses her job and is one Bingo game away from homelessness. In reaching out to an old flame from her youth—now a successful doctor—Margie risks all as she tries to find a fresh start. Will Margie’s luck finally change for the better? An insightful comedy of class and culture, the recent Broadway hit is darkly funny and surprisingly touching.

Full Article Coming Soon![/ultimate_modal]

[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Excellence in Storytelling” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635223794{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]Aphasia: Neurological Disorder in Text and Image is Jane Armstrong and Christopher Taylor’s multi-media exhibition on display from Oct. 23, 2015 – April 29, 2016, on the 2nd floor of the Riles Bldg., on the NAU campus.

The exhibition features Armstrong’s short essays about her experience suffering from the neurological disorder aphasia (the inability to express and comprehend language) with Taylor’s paintings in response to Armstrong’s words. Armstrong says “Since aphasia is a condition in which words fail, I propose that visual expression is required to complete the picture of what it feels like to live with neurological disease.”

Full Article Coming Soon![/ultimate_modal]

[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Excellence in Visual Arts” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635304826{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]The Fires of Change exhibition at the Coconino Center for the Arts, open from September 4 – October 31, 2015, featured 11 artists from the southwestern United States. At the center of the exhibition, on its title wall, and at its heart, the art of Flagstaff’s Bryan David Griffith stood out as exemplary and exceptional.

Griffith was invited to join the project as an accomplished photographer with work in major museum collections (his solo exhibition and community-based installation at the Flagstaff Photography Center earned a Viola Award nomination in 2013), but surprised everyone by tackling new media, on a massive scale, for the Fires of Change project. “The power of art lies in the unexpected, in its ability to reveal a fresh perspective. A powerful exhibition isn’t about illustrating what we already know, but rather challenging ourselves to think more deeply. At least that’s my goal with Fires of Change,” Griffith explains on the LCI Ideas blog. “In order to achieve that, I had to challenge my own complacency. It was time to dive head first into the black unknown, time to leave the familiar camera behind and embrace something more primal.”

Full Article Coming Soon![/ultimate_modal]

[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Business for the Arts” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635566531{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]

The Framing Department at Hidden Light started in 2001 by owners Stephen Saunders and Corey Allen. The business focuses on hand-made photographic prints made in a wet darkroom, a rarity in today’s digital world. They also provide framing and installation work, serving many of Flagstaff’s best known artists.

Hidden Light specializes in traditional black and white photography developed in a wet darkroom, and palladium/platinum prints, dry mounting, matte cutting, a full retail frame business, custom framing, mounting to metal, glass, retail picture framing, commercial installations, and coordinating photographers for exhibitions.

Full Article Coming Soon![/ultimate_modal]

[ultimate_modal modal_title=”Excellence in Leadership” btn_bg_color=”#ffffff” btn_bg_hover_color=”#212322″ modal_on_align=”left” btn_text=”Read More” modal_size=”medium” modal_style=”overlay-fade” overlay_bg_color=”rgba(240,233,222,0.9)” overlay_bg_opacity=”” content_bg_color=”#ffffff” header_bg_color=”#212322″ modal_border_style=”solid” modal_border_width=”3″ modal_border_color=”#212322″ modal_border_radius=”0″ init_extra_class=”violamodalbutton” img_size=”40″ close_icon_position=”popup-top-right” header_text_color=”#ffffff” content_text_color=”#212322″ btn_txt_color=”#212322″ header_font_size=”desktop:22px;” content_font_size=”desktop:17px;” button_text_font_size=”desktop:17px;” css_modal_box=”.vc_custom_1623635175611{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]Jeff Hall is the Director of the world-renowned Lowell Observatory since 2010, but has been a part of the staff there since 1992. He has a BA in Physics from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics from Pennsylvania State University. His research at Lowell has focused on solar and stellar activity cycles, with the goal of lending an astronomical perspective to solar influences on terrestrial climate. From 2008-2010 Jeff served as the project scientist for the Discovery Channel Telescope. Under his leadership, Lowell has completed its Discovery Channel Telescope, a $53 million project that is the 5th largest telescope in the United States.

 

In 2012, Jeff’s leadership was on display when the Arizona legislature passed a bill on to Governor Jan Brewer for approval that would have allowed illuminated electronic billboards to be placed around the state. The billboards would have had a major impact on Flagstaff’s world-renowned dark skies. Hall and a group of astronomy leaders around the state worked hard to get the message to Governor Brewer about the potentially damaging impact the signs would have. The Governor eventually vetoed the bill. Jeff continues his work in dark-sky advocacy today.

Full Article Coming Soon![/ultimate_modal]