1. Jeff Beekman selected as new School of Art director

    Jeff Beekman will take over as director of the University of Arizona School of Art on July 1, bringing nationally recognized leadership and “energy” as the school nears its centennial. Coming from Florida State University, Beekman has chaired the Department of Art in Tallahassee since 2023 and held other leadership roles since 2013, including associate chair […]

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  2. Pete Froslie: New leadership at the intersection of Art and AI

    The University of Arizona College of Fine Arts has announced the appointment of Pete Froslie as the new associate dean for research and graduate studies. Froslie, a scholar and artist recognized for his work at the vanguard of technology and culture, will officially join the campus community July 1. “We are thrilled to welcome Pete […]

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  3. Kronos Quartet to premiere new commission in Tucson before Carnegie Hall

    Arizona Arts Live, at the University of Arizona, presents the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet and composer Laura Ortman for the world premiere of GROUND, on Wednesday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m. at La Rosa. The performance marks Arizona Arts Live’s fourth Kronos Quartet commission in six years. The Kronos Quartet – David Harrington (violin), Gabriela Díaz (violin), Ayane Kozasa […]

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  4. Four new AIR projects connect arts, community and resilience

    This year, four Arts Research + Resilience projects were awarded funding through a continuing partnership between the Arizona Institute for Resilience and the College of Fine Arts. Each project uses the tools of arts research to address pressing challenges in Tucson and beyond—from reimagining how we prepare future healthcare workers to listening for resilience in the city’s arid […]

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  5. Chris Zatarain takes an interdisciplinary approach to art 

    Photographer, musician and environmentalist, Chris Zatarain is interested in how art and music enter into dialogue with people and the planet. He is a first-year PhD student in Applied Intercultural Arts Research. He earned his master’s in the same discipline from the University of Arizona along with bachelor’s degrees in music and environmental studies.  When […]

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  6. Bringing people together with the art of upcycling

    Art fell into the picture by chance for Niko Sanchez, a member of the 2025-26 JustArts Fellows cohort. Biking through his old stomping grounds of San Diego, Sanchez stumbled across an array of murals in a Chicano park– and along with them, a muralist stood.  “There was this old man standing under three levels of scaffolding […]

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  7. Two art students selected as ‘AI Horizons 2.0 Fellows’

    Two graduate students from the College of Fine Arts were selected for the 2026 AI Horizons 2.0 – Fronteridades Fellows program, an interdisciplinary initiative led by the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry supporting creative, ethical and community-centered explorations of artificial intelligence in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. Alexis Joy Hagestad and Andrés Caballero, both School of Art graduate students, join eight other fellows […]

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  8. Ashley Martin-Casler’s research into community health with music

    For Ashley Martin-Casler, music is more than performance—it is a public health tool. A doctoral student in the Applied Intercultural Arts Research Graduate Interdisciplinary program, Martin-Casler’s research explores how music can function as a mental health intervention, particularly for communities that lack access to traditional therapeutic resources. Her work sits at the intersection of music, […]

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  9. Arts students join “Roots for Resilience,’ building data science skills

    Graduate art students Lori Hennessy and Andrés Cabellero joined the “Roots for Resilience” cohort to build capacity in data science and AI skills at the University of Arizona. The 13-person cohort will learn best practices in open science, computational infrastructure, and artificial intelligence for research and discovery. The initiative aims to increase the University of […]

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  10. Music faculty join global research effort with France-Arizona

    Three School of Music faculty are part of a new international research effort focused on the human dimensions of climate change. A first for College of Fine Arts faculty, this project is supported by the France–Arizona Institute for Global Grand Challenges, a partnership between the University of Arizona and France’s Centre National de la Recherche […]

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