Johsian Martinez, a BFA/EdM Dance Education student, says his experiences at a performing-arts charter school, with teachers who accepted him as he was made all the difference and informed his own choice to become an educator.
Meet filmmaking student Kirsten Pasewaldt who felt pressure to pursue a more-practical path, and inched her way from a major in communications, to a major in cinema studies, and, eventually, to the BFA in Filmmaking program at Mason Gross.
Dancer Ariana Speight and flute performance major Sana Colter met as Douglass Residential College students. That rich friendship eventually yielded C.R.E.A.T.E., Cultural Rhythm Expressing Art To Empower.
Theater faculty member Lee Savage serves as head of scenic design at Mason Gross. Savage says he believes scenic designers should be committed to their ideas but also flexible enough to collaborate and leave a concept behind.
Rutgers art students and alumni are among those exhibiting work in window displays in New Brunswick and Highland Park, championing social justice issues, including food insecurity; immigration; LGBTQA+ issues; mass incarceration and human trafficking; mental health; and violence.
Undergraduate sax player Vaughn Stavropoulos is an old soul who grew up in Somerset, New Jersey, playing classical piano. He hails from a family of musicians and is concentrating in jazz performance here at Mason Gross.
Art & Design students and athletes Olympia Martin and Francesca Stoppa were named Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for the 2018-19 school year.
Clarinet Performance and Music Education undergrad Elizabeth Monkemeier began playing the clarinet at age 12. She is a member of the Kirkpatrick Choir, Marching Scarlet Knights, Pep Band, and Symphonic Winds.
Filmmaking faculty member Danielle Lessovitz is a San Francisco-born writer/director in film and advertising. In 2019, Lessovitz premiered her film Port Authority at the Cannes Film Festival.
Film alum Andrea Pfaff and current student Sam Spencer were involved in the creation of the collaborative “Dance | Parkinson’s” video from the Documentary Film Lab at Rutgers Filmmaking Center.