Brigham Young University’s nine-man a cappella group, BYU Vocal Point, will be releasing an album dedicated to Christmas songs on Friday, Oct. 9 during the BYU homecoming festivities. Members of Vocal Point will be at the BYU Store for CD signings from 2-3 p.m. that day.

Brigham Young University’s Department of Theatre and Media Arts is presenting an adaptation of the poetry of Kate Coombs from her award-winning children’s book, Water Sings Blue. The production started last week and continues Oct. 7-9 at 7 p.m., in the Margetts Theatre of the Harris Fine Arts Center. Matinees will be on Oct. 10 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The ASL performance will be this Thursday, Oct. 8. Tickets are $6-7, with discounts available for alumni, seniors, employees and students. Tickets can be purchased in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or online at byuarts.com. This charming play celebrates the ocean through pantomime and poetry. Teresa Dayley Love directs this play her imaginative adaptation using in-the-round staging that promises to be playfully interactive for the audiences of all ages. “I often think that the artist's job is to make people pay attention to the world around us,” said Love. “Through their work they shout, ‘Look! Do you see that? What do you think about that?’” The cast includes Haley Flanders, Danny Brown, Sierra Docken, Logan Ruesch, Michael Comp, Arianna Krenk, Oksana Poliakova and Britney Miles. The design and technical crew includes Teresa Dayley Love as director, Jennifer Reed as production manager/scenic designer, Britney Miles as stage manager, Jake Fullmer as assistant stage manager, Scott Jackson as props designer, Travis Coyne as technical director, Michael Kraczek as faculty design advisor, Michael Handley as lighting designer, Donnette Perkins as costume/makeup shot manager, Sarah Stewart as costume designer, Celia Rivera as makeup designer, Eric Kopp as house audio engineer, Jacey Gardiner as sound designer, Janine Sobeck as dramaturge advisor, Spencer Duncan as dramaturge, Mary Jane Wadley as cutter/draper, and Becky Wallin as outreach coordinator.

BYU students often have problems during the wintertime, but soon, for a lucky few, the cold will not be one of them. Next winter semester, during the summer months of the southern hemisphere, about 20 students will travel throughout New Zealand in a new study abroad program that focuses on media and culture, entitled “New Zealand: Global Mass Communication.” In addition to shadowing professionals from several New Zealand media outlets, students will create and publish content that investigates the issues surrounding the Maori, Pasifika and other minority communities in New Zealand. Dr. Clark Callahan, co-faculty director of the program, hopes that students will seize not only the opportunity to grow their portfolios but also to develop an empathetic worldview as they explore different cultures. “My area of interest is how social media affects cultures, so we’ll have a couple of research projects going on. We’ll be interviewing minority populations about how they use social media and what they get out of it. We’ll ask, ‘Does it strengthen or weaken their culture and their cultural perspectives?’” Dr. Callahan said. As part of their research, students will be paired with and embedded in Samoan families for a week. Students will record their experiences in video diaries that will be used to produce a documentary film highlighting the efforts of different organizations to preserve the Maori, Pasifika, and Samoan languages and culture. Steve Thomsen, co-faculty director, believes that New Zealand offers a diverse setting for students to study and create media. “We wanted to create an experience that would be as diverse as possible for students,” said Thomsen. “The objective of the study abroad will be to focus a lot of our efforts on the Pacifica and Maori peoples through the lens of media and the perspective that it if offers,” said Thomsen. The media that students create will be used as programming for the Pacific Media Network and will be published on the student-run website, fightforthefew.org. The latter outlet is currently being developed by the Media Advocacy and Social Change class, which is taught by Dr. Callahan. Hannah Lunt, a senior public relations student in the class, hopes that all these efforts–the class, the website, the study abroad–will help others increase their awareness about minority issues. “I have already seen a difference in how much more aware I am,” said Lunt. “I hope the blog will grow and be a voice to change.” Applications are available through the Kennedy Center’s International Study Programs website, kennedy.byu.edu, and are due Oct. 9 at 5 p.m.

Mary Lou Fulton, educator and philanthropist, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 1. She and her husband, Ira, were extremely generous donors to BYU and to TMA in particular. In 2004, the Fultons established the five million dollar Mary Lou Fulton Chair in Theatre and Media Arts. The chair has funded hundreds of student projects and scholarships, provided support for outside artists and guests, and supported faculty in numerous ways.

Shaun Parry will be presented with a BYU Alumni Achievement Award on Thursday, Oct. 8. Prior to the award reception, Parry will give a lecture entitled “Impossible Dreams I Didn’t Know Enough To Dream.” The lecture will be held in the Madsen Recital Hall at 11 a.m. Admission is free and the lecture is open to the public.

The Brigham Young University BRAVO! series presents the National Dance Company of Siberia, in the de Jong Concert Hall, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 - $30, with discounts available for alumni, students, employees and senior citizens. Tickets can be purchased in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981, or online at byuarts.com. Hailing from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, the National Dance Company of Siberia has enthralled audiences worldwide since 1960. Coordinating more than fifty dancers in striking costumes, the artistic director, Vladmir Moisevev, leads the company as they exhibit the rich traditions and folklore of Siberia. Their performances captures the heart of the Siberian soul with original melodies from Vladimir Kornev, the company’s music director, and choreography by the company’s founder, Mikhail Godenko. 'Our community stands uniquely prepared to appreciate the talents of this company of dancers because we value cultural exploration and discovery,' said Jeffrey Martin, producer of performing arts for the College of Fine Arts and Communications and presenter of the BRAVO! series. 'Many of us learn foreign languages, participate in international study abroad programs, and, of course, spend time overseas in missionary service.' This performance is sponsored by BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts at BYU, the university’s concert series that hosts world-renowned guest artists from across the globe. Performance Date: Thurs, Oct. 1, 2015 Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: de Jong Concert Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center, BYU Price: $20 (with discounts for senior citizens, BYU students, employees and alumni) Tickets: Available in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or online at byuarts.com

'Peace Officer,' a new documentary directed and produced by BYU faculty Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson, received a 3.5/4 star review by Sean P. Means of the Salt Lake Tribune this weekend. Read the review here. According to TMA's The Sound and the Fury: TMA faculty Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson's documentary, Peace Officer premiered in Utah on Friday at the Tower Theatre. Christopherson reported that the theatre was sold out for the premiere, with about 300 people attending. Because the story takes place in Utah, Christopherson felt like this was one of the most responsive crowd he’s experienced. On Saturday, the Provo police chief came to see the film. After the premiere, media arts alums Julian Acosta, Cole Webley, and Jared Harris (St. Cloud’s) threw an after-party. The film will screen at the Tower Theatre, 876 E 900 S, Salt Lake City, this week at 4:15 pm and 7 pm. The film will also show in Salt Lake’s Megaplex this weekend.

A carillon recital featuring all three of BYU’s faculty carillonneurs—Don Cook, Brian Mathias, and Neil Thornock—joined by BYU choreographer Kate Monson and company, and featuring a specially commissioned work by BYU alumnus composer Curtis Smith for carillon and Gamelan Bintang Wahyu. This performance takes place rain or shine. Find a spot of grass at the north end of campus and enjoy! DETAILS Date: September 30 Time: 6:00 PM Event Categories: Free Event, Instrumental, Music Event Tags: BYU School of Music Cost: Free

Brigham Young University’s Men’s Chorus, Concert Choir, Women’s Chorus and BYU Singers will present their Fall Choral Showcase in the de Jong Concert Hall on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $6 with discounts available for alumni, seniors, employees and students. Tickets can be purchased in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or by visiting byuarts.com. These newly auditioned choirs perform together for the first time this season as they sing classical and contemporary choral works both sacred and secular. “As this is a showcase, the program is enormously varied from everything such as a Dolly Parton song to solidly, classical, choral pieces,” said Rosalind Hall, director of Men’s Chorus and Concert Choir. The BYU choirs offer all students on campus an opportunity for training, experience and personal growth in choral singing. Conductors include Rosalind Hall, Men’s Chorus and Concert Choir; Jean Applonie, Women’s Chorus; and Andrew Crane, the new director of the BYU Singers. Tickets and Show Details Performance Date: Friday, Sept. 25, 2015 Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: de Jong Concert Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center, BYU Price: $6 (with discounts for seniors, BYU students, employees and alumni) Tickets: Available in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or online at byuarts.com

The Classical Greek Theater Festival of Westminster College will perform Sophocles’ tragic masterpiece, Electra as part of their 2015 tour in the de Jong Concert Hall on Sep. 21 at 5:00pm.Tickets are $11, with discounts available for alumni, seniors and students.

Each fall semester, the School of Communications presents the Raymond E. and Ida Lee Beckham Lecture in Communication series. There is no charge or registration required for admission. All lectures in the series, will be held in the HBLL auditorium at 11 a.m. and are open to the public. The series includes three lectures that explore the interactions between media and society, including media culture, political economy, media effects and the use of new media. Lecturers are selected from BYU faculty who submit their proposals to the School of Communications. Lecturers Ryan Elder, assistant professor of marketing, researches how sensory experiences affect consumer perceptions and behaviors, as well as how visual cues affect persuasion. His lecture, “Creating Viral Content: The Science Behind Social Sharing,” will be held Sept. 24, 2015. Jeffrey Hardy, assistant professor of history, specializes in the Soviet penal system. His lecture, “Transforming the Soviet Soul: Labor, Science, and Religion in Gulag Newspapers,” will be held Oct. 1. Kristin Matthews is an associate professor of English and Director of the American Studies Program at BYU. Her research focuses on twentieth-century literature and culture with an emphasis on the Cold War. Her lecture, “New Media for an Old Message: Print Culture, Democracy, and New Left Politics in 1960’s America,” will be held Oct. 29. The annual series began in 1995 by Ray Beckham in honor of his late wife Ida Beckham. Ray Beckham is a major contributor to the School of Communications and is a driving force behind the BYU Evening school program, the BYU Travel Studies program and Aspen Grove. Beckham also and founded the New York Internship program for Communications majors. Information Dates: September 24, October 1 & 29, 2015 Times: 11:00 a.m. Location: HBLL auditorium Admission: Free, no registration required

BYU’s Museum of Art is continuing with its fall and winter tradition of “Art After Dark,” and this month guests enjoy an evening of food, music and what will be the MOA’s newest exhibit, “No Place Like Home.”