Grad gives gift of $1.2M to Fine Arts

By Beth Frank

A gift of more than $1.2 million to the Faculty of Fine Arts sets the stage for a new era of support for arts students, faculty and performance activity at the University of Calgary.

The donation, from former Students’ Union president John Lefebvre (LLB ’82), will be used to establish entrance awards for fine arts students, fund new faculty positions, refurbish studio space and take promising arts projects to a new level of national and international prominence.

“This is a watershed gift,” says Ann Calvert, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. “The donor is showing his faith in our faculty’s work while seeking to encourage other patrons in our community to provide continuing support. This gift recognizes the strength that is here, while helping us to move to new heights.”

The money will be directed to teaching, leadership in the arts, research and improved facilities across all disciplines of fine arts, says Calvert. Students will see results of this investment almost immediately with new and additional professors, significant support for projects and performances with potential for high community profile, and the elevation of the arts as an integral part of everyday campus life.

We know the arts are an important foundation of this institution,” says U of C President Harvey Weingarten. “This gift reinforces the importance of fine arts on campus on the eve of our 40th anniversary.”

The university intends to match the Lefebvre gift by establishing a new tenure track position in music.

Lefebvre has asked that many of the projects made possible by his donation be named not for him, but in honour of others who are revered on campus and in the arts community. “This shows an incredible willingness on his part to embrace our history as well as our future,” says Calvert.

“It’s an incredible gift,” says fourth–year drama education student Janet McCloy. “These scholarships will help make our faculty competitive when students are choosing which school to attend, and the new studio will give our departments even more opportunities to work collaboratively.

“This donation gives people something to be proud of: it proves that the fine arts are important to the university and that our efforts are being recognized.”

DONATION DETAILS

Fine Arts entrance awards
Four awards of $2,000 each will go to the top entering students in dance, drama and music, and the student with the top portfolio for admission to art. They will be named in honour of professor emeritus and founding member of the art department John Will (art); Calgary actor and professor emeritus of the drama department Grant Reddick (Drama); Decidedly Jazz Danceworks leader Vicki Adams Willis (dance); and in memory of Vondis Miller (music), an eminent music professor and leader in music education.

The John Peter Lee Roberts Distinguished Professorship in Fine Arts
Violinist and U of C music professor Edmond Agopian has been appointed to this professorship, which is named in honour of John Roberts, a former dean who has had a brilliant career in music leadership. Agopian will act as artistic director and principal performer of the University of Calgary String Quartet.

“ This professorship will enable the quartet to develop its repertoire, to establish a unique artistic identity and to perform concerts locally, nationally and internationally,” said Agopian. “Its repertoire will include a lecture/performance series of the complete Beethoven string quartets—a first in Calgary—as well as the development of repertoire based on Eastern European folk music. ”

The Joyce and Quentin Doolittle Fine Arts Studio
Named after Joyce and Quentin Doolittle, professors emeriti from drama and music (composition) respectively, this studio in Craigie Hall will act as a multi-disciplinary space for rehearsals and small performances, with amenities such as improved acoustics, sprung floors, digital media and state-of-the-art lighting.

Funds will be matched by the U of C ’s infrastructure fund.

The Lefebvre Fine Arts Project Fund
This fund will support special projects that bring the arts to the internal U of C community and wider community, seed innovative works, support international travel for students and faculty and strengthen teaching and research opportunities.

Q&A with Ann Calvert, Dean of Fine Arts

What exactly will this gift mean to the Faculty?

It will give us some excellent support for teaching and leadership. It will give us the opportunity to improve our facilities in a number of ways, to bring in some visiting scholars to boost the already excellent work that we have here, and bring new ideas and new projects into the faculty. It also gives us the chance to give admission support for high-performing students.

What is an example of improved facilities?

We’re going to take part of the funds that are being donated to create a new studio facility that will be a much more effective workspace for our faculty members and for our students.

You mentioned admissions support as well. Can you give an example of how the donation will support that?

Part of our admissions process involves having people demonstrate their ability in our art and performing areas. Up till now we haven’t had a way to acknowledge that specific aspect of our admission process with significant funding. So the top student in music auditions, in dance auditions, in art portfolio will get a $2,000 entrance award to help them with their studies.

How will this donation improve the student experience?

We have funds in this donation that will enable us to bring scholars from other areas and specialists in certain fields that we don’t attend to as much. They will expose the students to other ideas, new ways of looking at their work, comparing the work that they do here with the work of another institution, that kind of thing.

How will this gift help the faculty build greater support for the university and Calgary’s arts community?

The donor wants his gift to encourage others to recognize that the Fine Arts are an important part of the University and therefore an important place for them to put their support.

One of the goals of this gift was to help make the arts more integral to campus life. Why is that important?

It’s very important to the donor because one of the reasons he wants to support us is that our faculty was an integral part of his life when he was a student. He wants other people to have that same experience and to understand that when they’re part of the university community, they have access to amenities that other people in this city don’t always have.