Tisch Special Programs

Special Effects Makeup, a Tisch Open Arts course, is currently featured in NYU Local. The student blog reports that the "class leaves its participants fully equipped in the art of putting together the most badass Halloween costumes ever."

Check out the article for all of the gory details.

NYU students can take this course through the Open Arts curriculum. It is also available to just about everyone, NYU student or not, during our Summer in NYC program.

Rosanne Limoncelli, Director of Production for Film & New Media at Tisch School of the Arts, has released a new book titled "Teaching Filmmaking: Empowering Students Through Visual Storytelling." More information about the book can be found here.

Rosanne teaches Fundamentals of Filmmaking: A Digital Workshop in the Tisch Open Arts Curriculum and is involved in the summer Filmmaker's Workshop for high school students.

Robin Epstein, who teaches Writing the TV Sitcom in the Tisch Open Arts Curriculum, will release a new book titled "So Sue Me, Jackass!" on September 29. The book is co-authored with her sister Amy Epstein Feldman and is "a surprising and entertaining collection of factual and funny Q&As that combines engaging wit and sensible legal advice," according to the book description on amazon.com. Learn more about the book on her website.

Robin is also in the early stages of producing a radio call-in show based on the book and is taking suggested questions via email.

Robin has written for publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Real Simple, Glamour and Teen People magazines and is a contributor to NPR’s This American Life.

Shirin Aliabdai and Farhad Moshiri, "We Are All American Operation Supermarket Series," 2006. Photo: Shirin Aliabdai and Farhad Moshiri

Positive reviews of Open Arts instructor Sam Bardaouil's show "Iran Inside Out" at the Chelsea Art Museum have been pouring in from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Artinfo.com.

The show opened June 26 and coincides with major political and social events taking place in Iran, prompting The Times to point out that "life has intersected with art in ways it rarely does in the white-cube world of Chelsea."

Sam Bardaouil co-curated the show and intended to bring new perspective to what he feels is an often-stereotyped artistic culture. "People who think Iranian art is all veils and calligraphy are missing out on some really fresh work," he told The Wall Street Journal.

Artinfo.com writes that "'Iran Inside Out'" is a must-see, broad-ranging and consistently provocative in both medium and subject matter."

Sam Bardaouil teaches Middle Eastern Art & Culture this fall in the Open Arts Curriculum.

Shawn Rocco

Where some see limitations, others find opportunities. Shawn Rocco, a staff photographer for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., maintains a blog, Cellular Obscura, chronicling moments captured with his cell phone's camera. The result of compromising technical capabilities, according to The New York Times Lens blog, is "the happy prize of serendipity."

And it's not just a therapeutic hobby for the professional photographer--his cell phone pictures have been featured in festivals and now The New York Times, lending credibility to the notion that it's not the quality of the camera that counts, but the artist behind it.

New York University students interested in exploring cell phone art can take Cell Phone Cinema this fall through the Tisch Open Arts Curriculum.

Pooneh Maghazehe, Hell's Puerto Rico Performance Still, Digital C-print 2008 copyright artist and courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery and Chelsea Art Museum

Opening June 26, 2009 and showing until September 5, 2009, the Chelsea Art Museum will host Open Arts instructor Sam Bardaouil's exhibition titled Iran Inside Out. From the museum's website:

The groundbreaking exhibition features 35 artists living and working in Iran alongside 20 others living in the Diaspora. The result is a multifarious portrait of 55 contemporary Iranian artists challenging the conventional perceptions of Iran and Iranian art.

Detailed info about the exhibition can be found here.

Sam Bardaouil teaches Middle Eastern Art & Culture this fall in the Open Arts Curriculum.

The professional actor and director of the Open Arts Acting Studio discusses what she likes most about New York City, what it was like growing up in the West Village, and riding on the back of Steve McQueen's motorcycle.

View the video here.

Watch Angela tonight, Monday, June 8 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT in the series premiere of "Nurse Jackie" on Showtime.

Professional dancer and choreographer Aly Rose has been featured in iChina Magazine.

In the article, Aly discusses what it was like to move to China and study dance there, her experience performing on a Beijing Television competition, and the political and cultural differences between art in China and in America.

Aly teaches in the Tisch Open Arts Curriculum.

Click here for the entire article.

According to the The New York Times today, "Computer animation, once one of the most isolated corners of Hollywood, is rapidly becoming one of the most crowded."

This style of filmmaking and storyelling often influences video games. New York University Tisch School of the Arts has got animation and video games covered.

Animation by John Canemaker.

NYU and visiting students can register for the 3-D Computer Animation Workshop or the Game Design Workshop offered this summer.

In the fall NYU students can take Introduction to Game Design and Introduction to Video Games through the Open Arts curriculum.

Graduate study in animation and digital arts is also available at Tisch School of the Arts Asia.

Want more ways to tell a story? Visit Tisch Special Programs.

Photo courtesy of Adem Ayten, student at the University of Istanbul

Click here for more great photos from our Topics in Turkish Culture class trip to Istanbul and Izmir.

Photo courtesy of Adem Ayten, student at the University of Istanbul

22 students from our Topics in Turkish Culture class recently returned from a 2 week study trip to Istanbul and Izmir. Pictured here is Will Haraldson, a student in the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing, during an outing in Istanbul.

More photos from their trip to come.

This fall, Tisch Special Programs offers Topics in Brazilian Culture, giving N.Y.U. students the opportunity to travel to Rio De Janeiro and Salvador.

Open Arts Instructor Aly Rose was recently featured in Chinese Dance Magazine. Here's a brief translated synopsis courtesy of Aly, and link to the complete article in Chinese:

After almost 12 years of dancing and choreographing in China, Luo Hong Mei (Aly Rose) suddenly was nowhere to be found. Having graced the programs of CCTV, the stages of the Poly Plaza & the Great Hall of the People, even setting up a studio in Beijing's art district 798, we wondered where did she go?

We discovered she migrated westward in 2007 to the unfamiliar world of American education, to Tisch School of the Arts no less. Although she is no longer here, she certainly did not leave China behind. We think she carried it with her as NYU now offers the History of Stage Performance after the Founding of the PRC and Steps, Rhythm, and Movement of Chinese Dance.

Dance Magazine's Karen Chen interviewed Rose about her new life in New York and teaching at NYU. Chen spent over one month evaluating her courses, visiting with her students, and sitting in on rehearsals of her most recent mass aerial work, "One," set to open the Walkway Over the Hudson for New York State's Quadricentennial Celebrations.

Aly teaches History of Performance and Dance in China, and Steps, Rhythm, and Movement of Chinese Dance in the Open Arts Curriculum.

Who is Donna Cameron?

She is a filmmaker, photographer, Brooklynite, and New York University Tisch School of the Arts Open Arts faculty member. Donna Cameron teaches Politics of Portraiture every spring and fall semester.

Check out her new Web site.

View student work from her course Politics of Portraiture.

Donna Cameron seen here filming the upcoming film, "PJ Titus, Generation 3", on location In Venice, Italy.

Brazil is the "topic" of choice for fall 2009! Study in New York and then travel to Rio de Janeiro and San Salvador de Bahia. All NYU undergraduate students are eligibile to apply for this Tisch Open Arts course, regardless of major. For more information, visit Topics in Brazilian Culture.

NYU Tisch School of the Arts Vice Dean Pari Shirazi will be part of the panel discussion on the role of art in cross-cultural exchange at the ItaliaArabia Forum at the Chelsea Art Museum on Friday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m. The panel discussion will be moderated by Tisch Open Arts instructor and Curator of ItaliaArabia, Sam Bardaouil.

ItaliaArabia brings together 80 works by mid-twentieth century Italian and Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian, and Iranian artists, revealing the cross-influences of European and Middle Easter art.

For more information and a full schedule of events, visit ItaliaArabia Forum.

Some of our staff and students recently returned from trips to South Africa and Cuba. These photo albums from their trips are worth a thousand words.

We will be adding more and more photos and videos to our Facebook page, so keep checking in with us!

Aly Rose, Open Arts instructor at Tisch School of the Arts, will speak at the symposium Rediscovering China's Cultural Revolution: Art and Politics, Lived Experience, Legacies of Liberation at 12 Noon on Saturday, December 13 at New York University Silver Center. Ms. Rose is part of the panel discussion "The International Impact and Historical Significance of the Cultural Revolution." The symposium is sponsored by Revolution Books, Set the Record Straight Project, and the Institute for Public Knowledge, New York University. For more information, visit http://www.revolutionbooksnyc.org/.

Aly Rose is teaching Steps, Rhythm, and Movement of Chinese Dance at Tisch in spring 2009.

It's that time of year again.

→ Sharpen your pencils.
→ Load up on supplies.
→ Start breaking in that new backpack.
→ Check out Tisch Special Programs, where we've got everything you need from Study Abroad, to Open Arts, to Spring at Tisch.

Like to stay informed? Be the first to know.

The Tisch Open Arts curriculum is offering two exciting new classes in gaming for Fall 2008. Introduction to Game Production I and Recapturing Life do not require any prerequisites and students need no prior experience to enroll. They can be taken for undergrad or graduate credit.

For a complete list of all courses offered through the Open Arts curriculum at Tisch School of the Arts, click here.

Jessica Muse, now a senior at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, began her journey to Africa in Steps, Rhythm & Movement of South African Dance, a course in the Open Arts Curriculum at Tisch School of the Arts. Next she learned about Topics in South African Culture, another course in the Open Arts Curriculum. Immediately, she thought, “I should do this. I am going to apply.” She was accepted to the class for the fall 2005 semester, and traveled to South Africa in January 2006. Jessica chose to stay in South Africa with a study abroad program at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She just returned to the United States in December 2007.

Jessica, in her own words

“The Topics in South African Culture is hands down the most influential and life-changing class I have taken at New York University. The program incorporated varied methods of learning (reading, discussion, lecture, seminar, performance, films, television, music, art galleries, food, you name it!) and was taught largely from a South African perspective. Each week we had someone passionate and experienced in their field engaging us as students and as people. These presentations were paired with weekly discussion sessions facilitated by Tisch staff who created a safe learning space where we were able speak our minds. They offered incredible support to us throughout the whole course and on the field trip. And the field trip...amazing!

SOUTH AFRICA – Jan. 2008: Traci Thomas, a senior drama major at Tisch School of the Arts, just returned from the Topics in South African Culture trip to Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. While meeting South Africans, going on a safari, visiting museums, hiking at Table Mountain, and of course, sampling the local nightlife, Traci picked up a few Afrikaans words. Here’s a sampling of what Traci learned.

Hondjie: Puppy or Doggy
Katjie: Kitten or Kittie
Visie: Little Fish or Fishie
Seekoei: Hippo (direct translation would be See Horse)
Kief: Rad or Tubular Kief
Lekker: Awesome or Nice.
Chunder: Vomit
Robots: Stoplights
Unguz: What’s up? Lets go.
Ek lief jou: I love you
Lieflik: Lovely Lieflik
Lelik: Ugly Lelik
My Ma maak aarbei konfyt: My Mom makes strawberry jam (borrowed from Nathaniel Kent!)
Maaitjie: Friend
Beste Maaitjie: Best Friend
Room Maaitjie: Roommate
My Guy: Buddy
Sis!: No good or ikky
Loadshedding: Random Jo'burg blackouts
Now: Right Now
Now Now: in about 5-30 minutes
Just Now: in a while or whenever I get around to it
Howzit?: Hi how are you. What’s up?
Cheers: general salutation; can mean hello, goodbye, thanks, or a toast, etc.

Topics is South African Culture will be offered in the Fall 2008. Apply today!

Ryan: This is the fourth film I have worked on with the director James Marsh. We started working together in 1997 when I produced his documentary “Wisconsin Death Trip” so we have been collaborators for over 10 years. “Man on Wire” was a very special project from the beginning. It's a miracle story of how Philippe Petit walked on a wire between the World Trade Center towers on August 7, 1974. I knew I wanted to be a part of telling that story. We began production in October 2006 and the film was completed a year later. It was very fast.

2.) As co-producer, what role did you play in “Man On Wire”?

Ryan: I produced 95% of the original material for the film. We did all the interviews in HD on the Varicam and then this summer shot in NYC for a week and produced all the historical recreations in Super 16mm film. It was a full up feature crew and cast and it was a period piece. Very challenging on a tight budget.

3.) Tell us about getting the film to Sundance. What was the process and how does it feel to earn the awards?

We were excited to get into the Sundance Film Festival. We felt it would be the best festival for the premiere of this film. The film will be shown on television on Discovery in the US and BBC in the UK but we all knew we wanted a theatrical release for the film. A good premiere at Sundance makes it possible. Our sales agent is negotiating that deal now.
We had a good first and second screenings at the festival but when the film got a standing ovation at the press and industry screening (rather unprecedented) we knew the film had connected with people in the way we had always hoped it would.

4.) What’s next for “Man On Wire?” And what new projects are you working on?

The plan is to have a theatrical run this year in the U.S. and abroad for “Man on Wire.” I'm keeping busy and am prepping for a low budget narrative feature that I'll produce in May and June in the U.K. and Germany. The film is titled “Bomber” and the director is another Brit - Paul Cotter. He and I met a few years ago when I produced a short film he wrote and directed titled “Last Hand Standing.” We were finalists in the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival. We've stayed in touch and are going to make a feature now. Small cast and crew - it should be fun.