Camilo Rojas, NWSA visual arts college alumnus with a BFA in Graphic Design and multidisciplinary designer currently based in Miami, will present his solo show titled CAMILO ROJAS: Power of unkNOWn at New World School of the Arts this month. Bringing typography to the foreground of his craft, Camilo often experiments with this art form by using words and letters as a visual medium to represent text in an innovative way and as an essential mean of expression. The show, which opens with a reception where Camilo will be present, consists of a series of text-based mirrors and light sculptures that will confront the viewers with the duality of words, spelling out simple but intriguing phrases/questions drawing each person that encounters them to attend the act of looking inward.

“My intention with this spatial installation is to give a new form to letters in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner,” explained Camilo. “By linking reflective materials, hidden messages, repetition, and the double meaning of words, an environment of thoughtfulness and playful encounter will be created in the gallery setting.”

CAMILO ROJAS: Power of unkNOWn opens with a Reception on November 14; 6 PM - 9 PM at the New World Gallery. 25 NE 2 Street, Miami. The show is free and open to the public.
The exhibition will be on view November 14 November 14 - December 20. Information at 305-237-3620.

The New World School of the Arts High School music theater students will present the award-winning musical Side Show just in time to welcome the holiday season. With book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger with additional book material by Bill Condon, the musical is directed by NWSA theater faculty member Matthew Buffalo. “I have always been drawn to the music of Side Show,” explained Buffalo. However, as I started my directorial research, the message of the show drew me in even further. On the surface, Side Show can be seen as a heartwarming musical about the love of two sisters and the fascinating world of the freak shows of the past. After taking a closer look at the core of the musical, you will find a beautiful story of acceptance.”

Opening performance – Side Show: Friday, November 22, 7:30 PM. Additional presentations: November 23, December 6, & 7 at 7:30 PM and at 2 PM on Sunday, November 24 & December 8. Louise O. Gerrits Theater. 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th floor, Miami. General admission is $12; Students and seniors $5. Tickets available at http://nwsa.mdc.edu/ For more information please call 305-237-3541.

Inspired by the remarkable lives of entertainers and conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, Side Show delves into the exploitative world of the freak shows and its effects. The Hilton twins were popular stage performers between the 1920s and the 1950s. They were born in 1908 in Brighton, England and were raised by the midwife at their birth, Mary Hilton, who treated the girls as though they were her property and forced them to perform as early as age three. For years, they sang, danced and played instruments at circuses, carnivals and fairs. They were popular in England, as well as Australia, where they toured, but it was not until they arrived in the United States in 1916 that they became stars.

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New World School of the Arts has selected exhibiting professional artist and educator John Slepian as Dean of Visual Arts to lead the high school and college visual arts programs. "We are excited to welcome our new colleague, John Slepian, to the New World School of the Arts family where his artistic and administrative talents will support the important work of our talented young visual arts students and their faculty," said Dr. Jeffrey Hodgson, Provost of New World School of the Arts. "I encourage the arts community and our alumni to get to know John and welcome him to South Florida and NWSA."
 
"I'm thrilled to be joining NWSA. I have met fantastic NWSA students, staff and faculty, and seen some really amazing student artwork. I'm looking forward to working with everyone and becoming part of the community at NWSA and the art scene in Miami. I'm passionate about art and art education, and I'm excited to be bringing my experience as a multimedia artist, educator and administrator to the position of Dean of Visual Arts!"
 
Slepian's artwork has been shown nationally and internationally at venues including P.S.1/MoMA and Hunter College Art Galleries in New York, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Axiom Gallery, Boston Cyberarts Gallery, and the Boston Center for the Arts in Boston, and the Re-New Digital Art Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark and 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art in Vancouver, Canada. Slepian exhibits with the Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco and exhibited with COLLISIONCollective in Boston. He was a resident in the P.S.1 National Studio Program in 2002-2003, and in 2005-2006 was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts grant in Computer Arts. In 2014, he was awarded a Connecticut State Artist Fellowship for his work with Adele Myers and Dancers. Slepian graduated from New York University with a BFA in Film and Television and the San Francisco Art Institute with an MFA in New Genres. He was an Associate Professor of Art and Technology at Hampshire and Smith Colleges in Western Massachusetts and served as the Dean of the School for Interdisciplinary Arts and Dean of Academic Support and Advising at Hampshire College.  

Miami – New World School of the Arts, together with the NWSA founding classes, will present a round-table discussion featuring seven panelists to launch this year’s Make Art Work (MAW) series. The panelists, all NWSA alumni, will recount how they embarked on careers that create platforms for stars to shine.

“While so many arts programs focus on future successes individually – theatre students as actors, dance students as dancers, etc. – we recognized the numerous incredible careers our alumni have enjoyed where they were not in the spotlight, but helped others thrive there,” mentioned Jonathan Tavss, class of 1988. “Our hope is to convey that there are so many forms of successful creative careers in supporting roles – many of which are yet to be defined, especially in this ever-changing world with ever-increasing opportunities.”

Titled “Out of the Spotlight – Creatively Impactful Careers From Just Beyond The Frame” – MAW will be presented on Friday, October 11; 1:15 PM – 2:25 PM. Louise O. Gerrits Theater. 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th Floor, downtown Miami. Free and open to the public. Information at 305-742-6932.

Launching the theater season at New World School of the Arts, 32 college students, under the direction of NWSA faculty member and Artistic Director of Zoetic Stage, Stuart Meltzer, will present the world premiere WOKE / SPRING, an adaptation by Meltzer of the of Frank Wedekind's expressionist play Spring Awakening. “I have loved Frank Wedekind's play Spring Awakening for years, explained director Meltzer, “I believe the play needed to be told again with an American backdrop in the Bible Belt where modernity moves at a slower pace. I also wanted to explore the magic and ghosts that live in the Appalachian Mountains.” Woke/Spring is a play with music co-composed by New World School of the Arts theater alumnus, Nate Promkul and Stuart Meltzer.
 
Opening performance – WOKE / SPRING opens on Friday, October 11 at 7:30 PM. Additional presentations on October 12, 18, and 19; 7:30 PM and Sunday, October 13 and 20; 2:00 PM. Louise O. Gerrits Theater. 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th floor, Miami. General admission is $12; Students and seniors $5. Tickets available at http://nwsa.mdc.edu. Information at 305-237-3541.
 
“Our cast is very diverse, and that fabric is a beautiful springboard into bringing new perspectives into these staple characters. Also, by New World School of the Arts doing a world premiere production, the students and I have the opportunity to have on-hand collaboration in the rehearsal room. We work together in creating the moments that will come alive in front of an audience. The students take ownership of these characters and connect to their stories on a much more personal and poignant level,” noted Stuart who received the Carbonell Award for Best New Work in 2018 for The Goldberg Variations

Under the guidance of NWSA graphic design professor Rosario Martinez-Cañas, 13 New World School of the Arts college students and alumni open to the season's scheduled exhibitions with Six Words - Stories, a story-telling exploration through typography exhibition. The show borrows its concept from legendary American writer Ernest Hemingway's lore that claims the prolific writer challenged himself to write a story in just six words. The result: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Hemingway's six-word story and self-critique have never been verified but what is irrefutable is that great stories can be told in 60,000 words or just six. The students were tasked with each developing 14 story executions in just 14 days, utilizing the typography of their choice.