DAVID STEFFENS:
Welcome to Great Arts at Eastern this is David Steffens, Dean of the College of Fine Arts at ENMU. Today I'm joined by ENMU alum Mike Dawson. And we preview an upcoming festival of Arts events, which will run from September 10th through 12th. Welcome Mike.
MIKE DAWSON:
Thank you. It's my honor to be here today. Thank you very much.
DAVID STEFFENS:
Tell us a little bit of the background of this festival of arts artists and upcoming master classes, and concerts. What? What's the idea behind these events?
MIKE DAWSON:
It's an opportunity to invite ENMU alumni to come back to Portales, New Mexico and talk about their careers since leaving the university, and we're bringing back Individuals that are from the music world, from the film world and also not only alumni are coming to participate in this festival, but our friends as well that are professionals. Individuals like Kim Meltemi of the LA Philharmonic, Mike Killian who is a filmmaker who does things with NASA and SpaceX, and we're real excited to be a part of this festival and. Eastern New Mexico is where I got my start as a professional musician.
DAVID STEFFENS:
Great. There are three evening concerts starting the Tuesday, September 10th, the second one on the evening of Wednesday, September 11th, and the final concert the evening of Wednesday, sorry, Thursday, September 12th. the 1st evening on Tuesday is a voice recital featuring alumnus Valerie Trujillo, tell us a little about that Concert.
MIKE DAWSON:
Yeah. Valerie and her Co performer, Emily Howls Hillman, they are doing a duet performance of classical music, which is a voice and piano. Valerie Trujillo being a an ENMU alumni, and Emily, who is a a guest performer. The second community concert, if you will, is. Another ENMU alumni, his name is Delbert Anderson. He is a world class trumpet player based in New Mexico and somehow he is created a jazz scene on the Navajo Reservation. It's an unbelievable feat that he has done. He's played over the world. And we're so lucky to have him come back and perform at Eastern and the the- the final performance is Robert Mirabal, and the Rare Tribal Mob. Robert is one of those guys that he's kind of. Like a A. A renaissance man, he's from the Taos Pueblo and he's performing at the Theater here on campus, and he's going to blow everybody's mind with how well he performs in his- his storytelling. He's really an extraordinary concert event. We're really fortunate to have him come back.
DAVID STEFFENS:
That's great. And the Thursday evening concert with Robert Mirabal while being free, does require tickets and tickets are available at enmu.edu/mirabal. And again, they're free, but we encourage you all to get tickets in advance.
MIKE DAWSON:
Yes, please, everybody, come and support this rare opportunity to see Robert and his group perform it, think of it as a rock'n'roll show, but with, you know, thousands of years of his tribal history coming to life. It's a rare event. I encourage everybody to come.
DAVID STEFFENS:
Other than those evening concerts, there are some other events of artists. Tuesday night will also feature a visual artist who will present her visual artworks with students, and Jade Leyva, can you tell us a little about Jade.
MIKE DAWSON:
Yeah. Jade is an award-winning magical realism artist. She's done other seminars I guess is best way to describe it in places like Mexico, and she's an extraordinary visual artist. She's- her worker will also be displayed here at the campus during her presentation that's going to happen on our first day of the festival.
DAVID STEFFENS:
Very good. A full list and schedule of events is available for you at enmu.edu/master class and again tickets, although free are available to you at enmu.edu/mirabal for the Thursday evening Finale concert. Thanks very much, Mike Dawson, for joining us today and we hope to see you all there.
MIKE DAWSON:
Yes. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present this festival and master class mentorship. We should mention that there's mentoring going on during this festival event for the graduates and the undergraduates for the university. It's a rare opportunity to really meet Professionals in the field that they find of interest as undergraduates and graduate students. So, it's a really rare opportunity.
DAVID STEFFENS:
Great, all events are free and open to the public. We hope you'll join us.