FAU Honors Art2Music Awards Recipients

Florida Atlantic University recently announced the winners of its Art2Music Competition. In this collaboration, undergraduate artists in the Department of Visual Arts and Art History were invited to submit a piece of art in any medium. Art faculty chose the winning piece, and students in the Department of Music's Commercial Music Program were then invited to compose music inspired by the winning piece. The winning artist is Sarah Rabinowitz and her piece is a sculpture titled, "How it Begins." The winning composer is Luis Castillo.

"Visual images have always inspired composers," said Michael Zager, FAU Dorothy F. Schmidt eminent scholar and director of the Commercial Music Program at FAU. "Film music, video game music and artworks trigger notes, harmonies and inspiration, which eventually morph into compositions. We hope to continue with a Music2Art Competition next fall."

The Commercial Music Faculty Committee and the winning artist judged the music compositions. The Commercial Music Faculty Committee consisted of Michael Zager; Alejandro Sanchez-Samper (assistant director of commercial music); Tim Walters; Kevin Wilt; and Rob Rimmington. Fookoy Ford is the Coordinator of Administrative Services for commercial music.

Rebecca Lautar, chair of the Department of Music, presented scholarships to the winners and Eric Landes, chair of the Department of Visual Arts and Art History, represented the art faculty.  Art professor Brian McConnell presented a talk about the synergy between art and music.

Hoot/Wisdom Recordings is part of the Commercial Music Program in the Department of Music in FAU's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. It is a student-run record label where students are involved in all aspects of the label, including songwriting, choreography, production, engineering, recording services, video services, promotion and marketing, talent scouting, website management, newsletter production, finance, legal issues, and accounting.  Hoot/Wisdom Recordings was established in 2002 and has produced 26 recordings to date.