Students From the College of Fine Arts and Communications Travel Internationally to Gain Real-World Experience and Share Their Talents While Studying Abroad
Each summer, students in BYU’s College of Fine Arts and Communications take the knowledge and skills they have learned in the classroom and make their mark on communities across the globe. Many students were able to travel and enjoy learning experiences and mentorships unlike those in Provo. From Nepal to New York City, students are learning across the country and around the world.
Read more about how students from the College of Fine Arts and Communications answered President Kevin J Worthen’s call for inspiring learning during June 2022.
London Theatre | Department of Theatre and Media Arts
This summer, students continued BYU’s long tradition of education in England’s biggest metropolis with the London Theatre Study Abroad. London was recently cited by National Geographic as the most influential city in the world for “cultural experiences.” Not only does it provide visitors with the most varied and sophisticated theatre experience available, it also offers museums, cathedrals, symphonies, palaces, gardens and unique neighborhoods with hundreds of years of history.
Led by faculty members Wade Hollingshaus and Brett McInelly, students in the program lived in the heart of the city for six weeks, studying and attending productions at the famed National Theatre, Globe Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Theatre and mainstream West End theatres as well as many smaller “fringe” theatres throughout the city.
Nepal: Art in the Himalayas | Department of Art
Led by Mark Graham, students traveled to Nepal and Tibet, home to Buddhist traditions rich in iconography and deep religious meaning. There they gained an understanding of the relationship between Buddhist and Hindu traditions, schools and culture in the Kathmandu Valley’s seven World Heritage sites that weave traditions of the two religions together.
Students helped develop a STEAM education program with faculty at Kathmandu University. The Kathmandu-based program included a 14-day trek to Everest Base Camp, with stops at several Buddhist monasteries along the route.
“Walking became a sort of meditation and a walk towards enlightenment. I was able to walk with mentors, guides and students,” said Priscilla Stewart, who attended the program as an artist and co-researcher. While walking through small villages in the Himalayas, the group encountered many Buddhist Tibetan art forms such as Mani Stones, Stupas and prayer wheels, which are more than just art; they are often part of rites of religious devotion.
When photography or cell phones were not allowed, students took to illustrating their experiences. Stewart said, “When we draw, we memorize a moment in time. It is different from a photograph.”
New York City Experience | School of Communications
This summer, the School of Communications offered the New York City Experience, led by Dale Cressman and Rebecca Cressman. This trip gave students the opportunity to live and study in the heart of the nation’s media capital. Students selected for this program focused on diversity and media literacy. Students researched historical figures and important facts and taught their peers as temporary tour guides about what they learned.
Students learned through reading and writing as well as visiting significant places within and beyond the city such as the Sacred Grove.
Pipe Organ Study Tour of Germany | School of Music
Led by BYU organ faculty members Don Cook and Neil Harmon, the Pipe Organ Study Tour of Germany offered the opportunity to get to know the instruments that the students have been studying for years. Their travels took them across northern Germany where they heard and played organs built by some of history's greatest organ builders, including Arp Schnitger, Gottfried Silbermann, Friedrich Ladegast, Wilhelm Sauer, Tobias Trost and others. These instruments, their mechanical features and their tonal designs directly affected composers and performers whose music students now study at BYU. Listening to pieces played on the instruments for which they were written brought the participants entirely new insights about how to interpret and perform this music, all while experiencing the beautiful Lutheran churches that house the organs.
David Kime, a participant in the study abroad, shared his favorite experience from the trip: “My own most treasured experience was being able to spend time in Eisenach, Arnstadt and Leipzig, all cities connected to the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. To be in the churches where many of his works — works known among the greatest masterworks of Western classical music — were premiered and performed was an indescribable privilege and blessing. We are so grateful for the experiential learning resources and the support of Marjorie Volkel that made participation in this study abroad program possible.”