The UNLV College of Fine Arts and Dean Nancy J. Uscher are excited to announce the 18th Annual College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame gala celebration for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5.
Honorees include legendary songstress Dionne Warwick, iconic musician and performer Paul Anka, prima ballerina Cynthia Gregory, and actor and educator Michael Tylo (posthumously). Also being recognized with the Koep Dean's Medal are artist and activist Fawn Douglas, musical artist and educator Dave Loeb, and trumpeter and jazz musician Kenny Rampton. Founder of Artists for Africa Cooper Rust will be recognized as Alumnus of the Year.
The Hall of Fame was founded in 2003 to honor past and present residents of Southern Nevada who have made a significant impact in the areas of visual arts, performing arts, and/or architecture. Past inductees include Ann-Margret; Tony Curtis; Phyllis McGuire; Robert Goulet; The Killers; Wayne Newton; Liberace; Clint Holmes; architects Tony Marnell, John Klai, Tom Schoeman, and William Snyder; Penn & Teller; Lance Burton; and Siegfried & Roy, among others.
Tickets are available by emailing Suzette Dacuag.
About the Honorees
- Dionne Warwick is a six-time Grammy Award-winning music legend who has earned more than 75 charted hit songs and sold over 100 million records. Discovered by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1961, she went on to record 18 consecutive Top 100 singles. She continues to share her incomparable singing talents with her adoring fans.
- At an early age, Paul Anka knew he was born to entertain. He was the youngest to ever perform at the Copacabana. In addition, he is the most prolific and versatile songwriter of any generation. He is the only artist to have a CD on the Billboard Top 100 chart for seven consecutive decades, and he continues to wow audiences with his artistry.
- Cynthia Gregory is recognized as one of the world’s greatest ballerinas and one whom Rudolf Nureyev described as, “America’s prima ballerina assoluta.” Trained on the West Coast, she moved to New York City in 1965 to join the American Ballet Theater where she quickly established herself as a major ballerina. After dancing for 26 years, she now focuses on sharing her experience, expertise, inspiration, and love for the art of dance.
- Michael Tylo had a long and distinguished stage and screen career. Best known for his starring role on Guiding Light as Quinton Chamberlain, he also starred in All My Children, The Young & Restless, and other made-for-television series. In 2003, he devoted his time to teaching as a visiting professor in theatre and film at UNLV, serving as assistant dean for the College of Fine Arts, and most recently taught acting for UNLV’s film department.
- Fawn Douglas is an Indigenous American “artivist” and an enrolled member of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe. Within her art-making and activism, she tells stories to remember her past and to ensure that the stories of Indigenous peoples are heard in the present. She is currently working on her MFA degree with the department of art at UNLV.
- David Loeb is director of the Division of Jazz and Commercial Music and a professor of music at UNLV’s College of Fine Arts School of Music. A pianist, musical director, conductor, composer, and arranger, he has performed with many headliners on the Las Vegas Strip. Under his direction, UNLV Jazz students have won 33 DownBeat Student Music Awards since 2010, and have been invited to perform at the acclaimed Monterey Jazz Festival.
- Kenny Rampton, NYC-based trumpet player, arranger, and composer, is a full-time member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and is the man behind the iconic sound of the trumpet on the television show Sesame Street.
- Cooper Rust earned her BFA in Dance and BA in History from UNLV in 2013 while dancing for Nevada Ballet Theatre. After graduating, a working trip to Kenya in 2012 inspired her to create a non-profit organization to support arts education in East Africa. Today, Artists for Africa serves more than 1,200 Kenyan children. There, she inspires students through her love of the arts.
About the UNLV College of Fine Arts
The UNLV College of Fine Arts, one of the nation's largest CFA, boldly launches visionaries who transform the global community through collaboration, scholarship, and innovation. Established in 1992, the UNLV CFA encompasses the departments of art, dance, film, theatre, the School of Music, School of Architecture, Entertainment Engineering & Design, and is home to the Performing Arts Center, Nevada Conservatory Theatre, and Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. We illuminate the power of the arts amidst breathtaking advancements in science and technology. In doing so, we are creating a global destination at the forefront of transforming arts and design. To accomplish this we encourage agency, inventiveness, problem-solving, and big-idea thinking in our students, faculty, and staff. We make education relevant through evolving curriculum and effective learning outcomes.
