{"id":76915,"date":"2017-04-03T07:46:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T11:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=76915"},"modified":"2025-10-24T09:29:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:29:38","slug":"ucf-celebrates-arts-begins-8-day-run-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-celebrates-arts-begins-8-day-run-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Celebrates the Arts Begins 8-Day Run Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the wind-swept plains of Oklahoma!<\/em>, to the \u201cKAPOW!\u201d of Batman, to some classic paintings recreated in 3-D, the annual UCF Celebrates the Arts festival April 7-14 will present a collage of the many talents of the university\u2019s students and faculty.<\/p>\n

The free eight-day event based at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando features more than 1,000 students and 100 faculty members showcasing their involvement in theatre, dance, orchestra, choir, big band, chamber music, cabaret, concert bands, opera, visual arts, studio art, gaming, animation, photography and film. Although the event is free, tickets are required for admission to specific events and hall passes are needed to experience the ongoing displays at the center.<\/p>\n

(Ticketing and full schedule details are<\/em> here<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

The third-annual festival kicks off with Oklahoma!<\/em><\/a>, the award-winning musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein that won three Academy Awards. The UCF presentation will be a collaboration with more than 200 faculty, staff, and students from the theatre and music departments, including an orchestra. Evening showings of the play are scheduled April 7-8.<\/p>\n

The festival concludes April 14 with The Bat Swings!, music from the 1960s Batman movie and TV show, as played by the university\u2019s Flying Horse Big Band, which is made of students in the jazz studies program.<\/p>\n

In between these bookend events, other presentations will honor last year\u2019s Pulse nightclub victims, raise awareness about hunger in the community, showcase music, fine art, film and other fields.<\/p>\n

Phoenix Song,<\/em> a composition remembering the victims of last summer\u2019s Pulse tragedy in Orlando, will have two performances. The first April 9 will be with 124 voices from UCF combined choirs, and then April 11 several hundred singers from invited middle and high school choirs and the UCF Alumni Choir will perform. The middle and high school choirs are all part of a day of workshops presented by music alumni. The composition is by David Brunner, interim associate director of the School of Performing Arts and a professor of music.<\/p>\n

Events focusing on hunger are a big part of this year\u2019s festival:<\/p>\n