Student News

Coup de Comedy Festival brings a global community together

  By Lauren Knight When founding UCI’s student improv team, Improv Revolution (iRev), with his fellow students in 2011, Joel Veenstra had no idea that UCI’s student improv group would grow into what it is today. Now, Veenstra serves as the group’s faculty mentor, and produced an event...

UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Names Ten New Medici Scholars

UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) is pleased to announce the 2021 Medici Circle Scholars. Ten awards were given to both undergraduate and graduate students offering an opportunity to take their education beyond the classroom and collaborate with academics and artists in our community and...

A Natural Artist

By Christine Byrd Ivy Guild’s art studio evokes a dystopian greenhouse. Ribbon-like strips of redwood trees and a 9-foot-long aloe vera trunk hang from the walls, as fungi thrive on various other biological materials. Guild, who completes her M.F.A. in June 2021, envisions her thesis show in...

21C Supports Faculty and Graduate Student Creative Research in the Arts

  Since its founding in 2017, the Institute for 21st Century Creativity (21C) has sought to cultivate experimental and arts-based research to innovate and challenge creativity for this century and beyond. With support from the UCI Office of Research, Dean Stephen Barker founded the...

Letter From a Senior

I never knew my favorite college experiences would be rooted in performance By Lauren Knight As someone who joined the Department of Drama during their third year at UCI, my biggest fear was feeling like an outsider amongst a tight-knit group of drama majors who all knew and bonded with each...

Renaissance Man

Graduate student Jesús López Vargas reflects a new generation behind the scenes in theatre By Christine Byrd Director, stage manager, producer, poet, photographer, videographer, designer, and an advocate for underrepresented voices: Jesús López Vargas wears many hats. As an M.F.A. candidate...

2021 Dean's Scholarship Awardees

Congratulations to the 2021 Dean’s Scholarship awardees! A very special thank you to the Giving Day donors who made these scholarship funds possible. As the leading campus in the nation providing access to all qualified students, no matter what their background, our students rely...

Rising Spirits for Latinx Students

Creative Connections creates a platform for Santa Ana High School students to tell their stories By Jezebel Ramirez-Robles   The collaborative project, “Rising Spirits: First Draft,” brings together UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Creative Connections program with student-run...

Animals in My Classroom

By Marcy Froehlich, associate professor of costume design in the Department of Drama The little yellow bird was hopping across her head, which made my student’s presentation even more cheerful. The subject was hats, so was the bird itself becoming a moving, breathing hat, or perhaps instead...

ICIT Faculty and Students Produce a New Album

Release of Kooch-e Khamân, the Live Concert Recording of the Del Sol String Quartet with Young Iranian Composers Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture at UC Irvine is proud to announce the release of Kooch-e Khamân, the live concert recording of the Del Sol String Quartet...

Practice Makes Perfect

Miles Vinson created an app for musicians with help from the Medici Scholarship Program By Christine Byrd Violinist Miles Vinson wanted to replace his handwritten practice journal with an iPhone app to help him track his practice sessions, similar to a fitness app that might help a runner...

On Stage To On-Camera: How Two Drama Students Landed a Spot in “The Prom” Movie

By Lauren Knight On December 11, Netflix released the Ryan Murphy film adaptation of “The Prom,” which included UCI second-year drama students Jessica Spruiell and Hailey Mogul as extras on the production.  Filming just before the pandemic halted TV and film production in Hollywood, both...

Avery Evans chosen for The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program

The Broadway Advocacy Coalition (BAC) and veteran Broadway stage manager Cody Renard Richard (Variety’s 2020 Broadway Players to Watch, Hamilton, Freestyle Love Supreme) announced the 15 recipients of The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program, dedicated to honoring, uplifting, and supporting the...

Arielle Sidney's Upcycled Designs Go Viral on TikTok

Excerpt from Vouge Magazine January 17, 2021 By Christian Allaire One of the most interesting parts of the upcycling movement is seeing how brands can turn even the most unlikeliest of textiles into modern ready-to-wear—and Arielle Sidney, a college student in California, is a prime example of...

Is A Career In Dance Worth All The Sacrifices?

Sometimes, there’s a struggle between your passion and a longing for financial stability. At other times, your practical grandmother has the answer. By Sydney Leong, a feature from Dance Major Journal, Volume 8, 2020 “Are you impressed, Lola?” I always showed video clips of rehearsal to my...

Young artists reflect on their first semester of college during COVID-19

Excerpt from The Los Angeles Times, Dec. 23, 2020 By Makeda Easter Natalie Aronno is studying dance remotely at UC Irvine A first-generation college student, Natalie Aronno chose to study dance at UC Irvine, a school close to her home in South Gate, because her tuition would be fully...

CTSA Music Student Spotlights: Can Anybody Still Hear Me?

Get an in-depth view to the challenges students in UCI music have and are facing during the pandemic.  The cancellation of concerts and recitals, plus the challenges of performing though an online portal. Read more from the student reporters at the New University.

Behind-the-Scenes of SHE KILLS MONSTERS: VIRTUAL REALMS with Tolu Ekisola

By Lauren Knight Instead of prepping in the wings of a theater before the curtain rises, Tolu Ekisola adjusts her light sources and fixes the laptop that rests on two cardboard boxes in her home office in Minnesota. With her props laid out on the desk in front of her and a large green screen...