The Living Legends' two week stay in Nauvoo came to an end much too quickly! The students fell in love with the people, the historical sites, and the spirit of this remarkable city.

With more than 1,000 entries from 20 different countries, five BYU design students have defied the odds and have reached the semifinals in the 14th annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards.“The Adobe Design Achievement Awards feature work from some of the most innovative and talented students around the world. We are privileged to honor such incredible talents and to help launch their careers,” said Tacy Trowbridge, worldwide manager of Education Programs, Adobe. “Congratulations to all the students for their creative accomplishments!”

Conlan Miller, an alumnus of the BYU School of Music, will compete in the Bachauer Piano Competition this month with 36 other participants from 14 nations.

This week the BYU School of Music will perform The Elixir of Love (L’eliisr d’amore),a comedic Italian opera portraying and exploring the light-hearted side of love and romance. Lawrence Vincent, professor of voice, along with the cast of students, have been preparing for months to make the opera as powerful as possible.

Following a long day of travel, the Living Legends arrived in Nauvoo at 9 PM on Monday June 2nd and ended their day with an ice cream social at the Nauvoo mission home with President and Sister Gibbons. On Tuesday, after a morning rehearsing their show and spacing dances on both the indoor and outdoor stages, the group visited the historic Nauvoo Temple. Due to violent Midwestern thunderstorms and even threats of tornadoes, the first show moved to the indoor theater in the Visitors Center where the group received a warm reception in spite of the storms outside.

LOS ANGELES – Fifteen student filmmakers from around the world were honored with Academy Awards on Saturday night in a preview of the showbiz excitement that likely awaits them in the years ahead. Previous winners have gone on to receive 46 Oscar nominations and have won eight statuettes.

Amanda Jane Jones, a 2009 graduate from the BYU Department of Visual Arts (DVA), is the lead designer for Kinfolk, a quarterly publication that recently received national attention from a review in the New York Times.

Interview by Nicole Vance of the Department of Visual Arts This month, Andrew Zundel, an Illustrator student and Wheatly scholarship recipient, answered questions about his experiences in New York City. How did you find your your work with Peter de Seve and your weekend work helping at Brooklyn galleries? Honestly it is all about putting yourself out there. Bethanne Andersen asked me in an internship meeting last December who I would like to work with, and when I told her Peter de Seve. We called him right up and asked. As for my work with the gallery, I contacted everyone I knew in New York asking for advice about city living and work experience, and gallery director and non-profit founder Jason Andrew generously offered to mentor me through several projects and events in his art circles. What is it like working for one of your favorite illustrators? Typical days working with Peter are very exciting, enriching and inspiring. There are some simple chores I perform, like organizing artwork and filing it, but that has been very enriching and inspiring on its own. Peter also has me scan in current drawings and characters he is working on, cleaning up the images in photoshop and tweaking some of the levels to punch out the color and contrast, and then get them ready to send to the different studios he is working for. And then I would get to sit down and have lunch with him, picking his brain about obstacles and triumphs that have shaped his career, ideas he has for me to strengthen my work, and just hilarious occurrences that he has come across as a professional. What is it like working in NYC galleries? As for working with Jason Andrew, I have been plunged headlong into the fine art world. On a typical day I sit in one of his galleries, helping people who come in learn about the shows going on, and occasionally selling artwork and catalogs. I was also put in charge of running all of their social media accounts; updating Twitter feeds, Facebook accounts, and their websites; adding new subscribers to their mailing list, and keeping orders and requests organized. I also have been helping in collaboration books between artists and authors. They give me their respective work, images, poetry, or literary works, and I work with them to create layouts for their books. What is your favorite part of living in NYC? Honestly it’s the food. Any delectable flavor, style, ethnicity, or quantity of food you like can be found. And it’s everywhere! Also I love the museums! There are so many, and they are all stuffed full of outrageously awesome stuff. If there is ever a time you feel uninspired, or are in a creative rut, a couple hours in any of the museums here can spark the imagination and fill you with great ideas.

What started as a CFAC student’s writing assignment for a playwriting class is becoming a publication of Samuel French, Inc., one of the most distinguished play-publishing companies in the U.S. Ariel Mitchell, a recent TMA graduate, received the 2013 Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award at the National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. While a 10-minute selection of her play was being read by equity actors in a Millennium Stage reading, representatives of Samuel French liked what they heard and decided to publish her play, A Second Birth, on June 18. “It is unreal. I still don’t believe it’s happening,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been incredibly blessed to have this opportunity so early in my life.” A Second Birth shares the struggles of a poor Afghani girl named Nasima, who is raised a boy to improve the family’s social and economic standing in their community. Nasima wrestles with past relationships and future traditions on her way to self-discovery. Through her strife the play tackles important contemporary issues. “I hope that through publication the play will be able to go on and reach many other people and encourage conversations about gender, love, family and friendship in their communities,” Mitchell said. Mitchell recently finished her first year at the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program in the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. For the second and final year of her program Mitchell will work with a partner to write a 90-minute musical, her master’s thesis. She and her collaborator are writing a musical comedy about a girl raised by a Mormon father and a Jewish mother who has to choose what she believes without alienating her parents or relatives. As a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mitchell finds inspiration for her plays wherever she can. “I’ve always been happier to listen than talk and be heard,” Mitchell shared. “I joke with my friends and family and say they should sign a waiver before getting too close to me, because somehow their lives are going to end up on stage.” Mitchell noted that the success of A Second Birth would not be possible without the training and education she received while in the TMA program. “I am most grateful for the professors who work so hard to pull the best out of their students, work with the Spirit and teach and encourage each individual’s process, goals and stories,” Mitchell said. “It gave me assurance that I am a talented theatrical artist and that I can create good work while still keeping and bearing testimony.” The success of A Second Birth may have come as a surprise to Mitchell, but the experience has strengthened her personal faith. “I never expected it to be published. All I can say is if you work hard, God opens doors,” Mitchell said.

Send us your stories about experiences you've had while at the HFAC. We will use these stories in our social media, commemorative magazine, and/or website to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the HFAC.

Whether it is creating a virtual tour of the entire Brigham Young University campus, creating an interactive guide to accompany visitors to the Sacred Gifts exhibit at the Museum of Art, or through making a children’s reading app for the Library of Congress, special projects produced by the BYU Laycock Center of Creative Collaboration are making headlines and “wowing” those who get to experience them. Read more in the LDS Church News>>>

You've heard of the Golden Globes, but what about the Golden Hashtags? The BYU University Communications team hosted the second annual BYU Social Media Awards, an event to recognize BYU departments and affiliated organizations for their savvy online efforts. To compete for a Golden Hashtag, social media managers from across BYU submitted entries in a variety of categories, judged by Todd Hollingshead, Joe Hadfield and Jon McBride. Winners were officially bestowed with a lump of fudge, a frame-worthy certificate and bragging rights. Congratulations to this year's winners. See all the winning entries on the BYU Social Media Awards Tumblr - the collection includes humorous, inspiring and fascinating posts from a range of social media platforms and provides an insider's look at the best of BYU. 2014 Golden Hashtag Winners #MrPopular: most liked content BYUtv - Studio C Poster Giveaway College of Nursing - Nursing Ranking #HunterGatherer: best use of content curation BYU Store - Timely sharing of TODAY Show’s Happiest City and Business Insider’s Hottest and Smartest #NewSpice: best use of humor Harold B. Lee Library - 3D food printing April Fools #ComebackKid: best response Harold B. Lee Library - Volleyball interactions with BYURoc on Twitter #Spork: best social integration College of Fine Arts and Communications - Seamless utilization of social channels into new Young Ambassadors site #RoyalBlue: best throwback Continuing Education - Variety of TBTs including old shots of counselors driving to EFY and David Archuleta performing a few years back #5Loaves2Fishes: most shared content BYUtv - First day of spring #seethegood post #Politician: best campaign Continuing Education - Offseason EFY memes #Instagrammies: excellence on Instagram BYUtv - Studio C Poster Contest #Instagrammies: best regramming International Study Programs - Regramming Study Abroad Students’ Photos #CarillonBelltower: best timed post BYU One Stop - Final “Whoosh Cecil” post #Zoobie: best reference to BYU culture College of Nursing - Single cheerleader photo #DiamondRing: best engagement Harold B. Lee Library - Impromptu haiku contest #ActualGoldenHashtag: best use of an original hashtag BYU Speeches - Live tweeting devotionals with the #BYUDevo hastag Honorable Mention BYU Magazine - Behind the Braids Video Honorable Mention Law Career Services - Lawyer Growth Rates.