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Volume 2, Issue 3
July 2006
Table of Contents:
A Message from the President
From the Editor
ANNOUNCING: The VASTA Fellows Program
ATHE Updates
VASTA Conference 2006
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Fellow Vastans,
Time has gone very quickly over the last two years as President. I am so grateful to the very capable board, officers and VASTA members who have made the work exciting and successful. With their help we continue to overcome our challenges and envision new dreams.
VASTA will celebrate her 20 th birthday at this year’s conference. We hope you will be there for the party. We’re beginning to record VASTA’s wonderful history with a videography project, which is being headed up by our archivist Amanda Durst. Please seize the opportunity to contribute your face, voice and VASTA stories at the conference.
If you are interested in VASTA's ongoing work with diversity, in our organization and the challenges in our profession, the board has a newly drafted Diversity Document, which will be available for review, discussion and input at two sessions on Thursday during the conference. Board member Beth McGee will moderate the discussion; Beth is a diversity officer at her home institution and has graciously been instrumental in crafting this document with the board.
Chicago is one of my personal favorites. I look forward to our featured presenters, special guests and the exciting member presentations during BABBLE.
Leadership transitions occur in VASTA at the end of the August conference. Phil Thompson will enter his presidency and end his board tenure, as will board members Marya Lowry and Rocco Dal Vera. With the end of her term Past-President Kate Ufema will be leaving the board table after over 15 years of service. The combination of wisdom, persistence, kindness, vision and grace each has contributed is staggering. VASTA is built on the unselfish gifts of time and talents from many of you, we stand on the shoulders of those who have come before as teachers and trainers, and as an organization. The Voice and Speech Review, the VASTA Fellows, our online e-letter the VOICE, the Glasgow conference abroad, the second Vision Planning Conference, and a new International VASTA discussion Listserv, are but a few of the initiatives we have accomplished with their leadership and support in the last few years. My sincere gratitude to each of the amazing people I have had the privilege of working with.
Three newly-elected board members will join us. Welcome and congratulations to Craig Ferre, Patty Raun, and Chris Morris. Craig Ferre will begin transition out of his faithful service as treasurer and we welcome Krista Scott who will officially become treasurer in January 2007 year.
I hope that you will take a moment to review the link to the VASTA Fellows announcement and documents on the web page. The VASTA Fellows program is both outreach and inreach, per our Mission Plan 2014. We hope that sharing voice-training expertise in this limited way will build the awareness of our wonderful organization, our specialty, and assist programs that are in need of such services.
As you probably know, VASTA has no "home office". We are housed in the good will of our board, officers and volunteers for every initiative we accomplish. If you are interested in volunteering please contact myself or Judylee Vivier, board member in charge of human resources.
I am in the process of mounting my one-person show about my mid-life transitions, The Crone Chronicles part I. So, with many more silver, white and gray hairs - my ‘crone hair’, I leave office. I also have untold warm memories of each VASTA face. Thank you for this organization.
Keeping on breathing,
Lisa
FROM THE EDITOR
Dear VASTA Colleagues,
Hello from your new Editor. I have spent the last year working with Erica Tobolski as the Associate Editor, and the two years prior working with her as the Southern Regional Editor. Her helpful and collaborative guidance has prepared me for this upcoming year as the new VASTA Voice Newsletter Editor. I would like to introduce my new Associate Editor, Mark Ingram, who has assisted greatly with this newsletter. He will step into the editor position next year, and I look forward to working with him.
I hope your summer months have been restful and rewarding. If you have been teaching, training or traveling this summer, and you would like to write an article about your experiences for the VASTA Voice, then please contact me < ahetzel25@aol.com> or Mark at < voicefightguy@yahoo.ca> with your ideas. The newsletter is also a great way to get the word out about VASTA related events happening in your region.
In this issue we will find an announcement about the new and exciting VASTA Fellows program, as well as information about ATHE 2006 and the upcoming VASTA 2006 Conference in Chicago. I hope to see you there!
I look forward to this next year working with the VASTA Voice.
- Allison
ANNOUNCING: The VASTA Fellows Program
The VASTA Fellows program is a new program within VASTA created in partial fulfillment of the VASTA Vision 2014 outreach advocacy goals. VASTA seeks to raise the profile of what we do as an organization, raise standards for practice within the profession and increase public awareness of effective, healthy and creative vocal usage.
To that end, the VASTA Fellows Program seeks to connect qualified VASTA representatives with institutions in need of workshops, master class and symposia. The purpose is to provide expertise in specific areas that may not be available in a given institution.
Simply, any qualified VASTA member submits an application to the VASTA Fellows Committee The committee then selects the Fellows, twelve for the first year. The deadline for these applications is currently suggested as January 1, 2007. Institutions desiring a workshop, master class or symposium submit an application to the VASTA Fellows Committee and the committee matches the appropriate VASTA Fellow with the institutions. The VASTA Fellow and the Institution continue the detailed planning, with the host institution paying all transportation, board and housing and any other costs. The VASTA Fellow provides services free of other charge.
The present committee members are Linda de Vries (Chair), Claudia Anderson, Debra Hale, Thomas Keating, and Kristin Loree.
This program will be presented at the VASTA Conference 2006 in Chicago, where members will have a chance to question the Fellows Committee more closely. Brochures and applications to become a VASTA Fellow will be distributed at the Conference and are available on the VASTA web site. We hope there will a strong response from the membership for this new and exciting outreach program.
Association of Theatre in Higher Education
Conference Updates
We still need Peer Reviewers (at Associate or Full Professor level) for VASTA panels at ATHE. Please contact me at pdc@mail.utexas.edu if you are interested and I will send details.
Our reception at ATHE will now be shared with all the Performance Focus Groups: VASTA/Acting/ATME/Directing and MT/D. Mark your calendars for Friday, August 4th from 2:15-3:45 in Salon 8 at Palmer Hilton and come join us!
Many thanks, Pamela Christian – Conference Planner 2006-2007
See you there
Pamela Christian
Conference Planner 2006
VASTA Conference 2006
The Voice and Speech Trainers Association invites you to VASTA Conference 2006, BABBLE: Encountering Sound and Speech, August 6-10 at Roosevelt University in Chicago. We’ll be celebrating VASTA’s 20 th birthday!
O ur presenters are at the forefront of speech training for actors in the United States. LOUIS 
COLAIANNI will explore a visceral approach to phonetics and its application to both classical text and stage accents. CHARLOTTE FLECK will utilize exercises developed for teaching expressive speech (using her training with Edith Skinner and Deborah Hecht), such as vibration and manner of articulation, rhythm and phonetics. DUDLEY KNIGHT (assisted by Phil Thompson) will explore the physical actions of all language sounds and then explore both detailed and informal articulation strategies.
We will also bring our presenters together for a lively discussion on the topic of speech “standards.”
GUEST PRESENTERS
- Dr. Teresa Reed is a Gospel singer and scholar. Dr. Reed will lead us in singing our way through the history of Gospel music.
- Dr. Salikoko S. Mufwene is the Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago.
MEMBER PRESENTATIONS
Thursday, August 10 th is VASTA DAY! Over 25 papers and presentations from our membership.
LOCATION
The conference venue is Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. Right in the heart of downtown!
See the brochure at www.vasta.org for full details on registration and housing.
Please join us in Chicago August 6-10 for BABBLE: Encountering Sound and Speech!
Phil Timberlake
VASTA Director of Conferences
phil@amytimberlake.com
©2005, Voice and Speech Trainers Association
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