It was early October 2020, amid her first season as a University of Virginia soccer player, when Lia Godfrey received a FaceTime call from her coach. Steve Swanson, though, wasn’t seeking any soccer-related thoughts from his freshman midfielder. No, Eddie Van Halen had just died, and all Swanson wanted was for Godfrey, an accomplished pianist, to play a song by one of his favorite bands.
To movie lovers around the world, David Lynch was an auteur with a singular vision and talent, the man behind films like “Mulholland Drive” and “Eraserhead.” To Kate Deming, he was just “Uncle David.” “For me, it was like, ‘Oh, that’s just Uncle David,’” Deming, a second-year student at the University of Virginia, said. “But I knew he was so special, not only for my dad, but for everyone in the creative industry.”
From side to side, they moved with rhythm in a nonstop swaying motion that set up kicks, blocks and dodges in the martial art dance known as capoeira. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines dance, acrobatic moves, music and spirituality. Practitioners use kicks, handstands, cartwheels and complex maneuvers in a series of flowing movements that are equal parts expressive dance and self-defense.
When it comes to setting records, Omonye Isi prefers classic vinyl. Isi first joined the University of Virginia’s staff as a clinical research coordinator in the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center in 2023. A year later, when she was admitted to a master’s degree program in public health, she stopped commuting from Richmond and moved to Charlottesville.
You’re listening to WTJU Charlottesville. For Arts This Week, we chatted with actor and writer, Kate Bennis, about her involvement with the play Queen Lear. Tell us a little bit about your involvement with Queen Lear.
2025 is the year of the zine at the University of Virginia, according to Erin Dickey, Librarian for the Arts at UVA Library. From the Library’s Makerspace to classrooms across Grounds, Dickey has observed an uptick in students and faculty experimenting with creating the self-published, do-it-yourself magazines thanks in part to a new Library initiative, Zines Now!
Jacquelyn Kim first joined the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library in 2022 as a student worker, where she helped build an exhibition that examined the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. The exhibition was curated by UVA alumni and community members and gave Kim a crash course in what she calls “the importance of co-creation.”
You’re listening to WTJU Charlottesville. For Arts This Week, we talked with the UVA Jazz Ensemble drummer, Raghav Vasudeva.
Dr. A.D. Carson, associate professor of hip-hop at the University of Virginia and the nation’s only tenured hip-hop professor, is entering his book-release month with major national visibility. His forthcoming memoir-theory hybrid Being Dope: Hip-Hop and Theory through Mixtape Memoir (Oxford University Press, Nov. 19, 2025) is already generating significant cultural attention following new features in Genius and HipHopSince1987, along with a recent live performance that continues his signature fusion of scholarship, sound, and storytelling.
Arts on the Hill will be held at Carr's Hill, home of Interim President Paul Mahoney and Julia Mahoney on Tuesday, November 18th from 5:30-6:30pm (Doors will open at 5pm). All UVA faculty, staff, and students are eligible to enter the lottery. The deadline to enter the lottery is 5pm on Sunday, November 16. Winners will be notified no later than 5pm on Monday, November 17.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, as the audience patiently waited in Old Cabell Hall for the second of the Department of Music’s Chamber Music Series. These concerts highlight faculty and guest musicians playing a wide variety of instruments. This edition starred Dr. Jiyeon Choi, the senior clarinet lecturer at the University and the principal clarinetist at the Charlottesville Symphony. Spanning five pieces and a little over an hour, and also including accompanying performances on piano and violin, Choi’s concert drew from a diverse range of genres and time periods, including both classical and contemporary works. This was intentional on Choi’s part, as she wanted to widen the audience’s perspective on music.
For the first time since 2019, Virginia Players performed “Play in a Day” this semester — a production written, directed, rehearsed and memorized in roughly 24 hours. This year, Maggie Polistina, Virginia Players Artistic Director and fourth-year College student, found it important for the organization to bring back “Play in a Day” after its hiatus, wanting to encourage new students to join the team for a low-commitment, fun experience.
