by Erin Turner | Jun 17, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
The sounds of Bison Square ranged from children bowing their first note on a violin to professional musicians playing overtures and dances from composers all around the world Tuesday night. The Nashville Symphony visited Lipscomb for “Symphony Under the Stars” as a part of the free community concert series. John Lowry, executive director of Spark: Lipscomb’s Idea Center, said the last time the Nashville Symphony performed at Lipscomb was in 2010 with Martina McBride in Allen Arena. “If you remember back in 2010, Lipscomb was honored to serve as a host of the Nashville Symphony for many of their concerts as they were reacting and responding to the flood — they made their home,” Lowry said. “We’re excited to have them back.” Although he’s relatively new to Music City, Nashville Symphony conductor Vinay Parameswaran said that the Nashville Symphony has collaborated with Lipscomb many times before he joined, and that all of the community concerts are important to the symphony. “I really love doing these concerts,” Parameswaran said. “It’s fun for me and I know it’s fun for the orchestra. As someone who’s kind of new to Nashville, it’s cool — I get to see new people and different places.” Parameswaran said that many of the program attendees may be symphony subscribers, but the unique thing about the summer community concerts is that they reach a new audience. “For us, we’re able to reach thousands of people through community concerts like this,” Parameswaran said. Symphony Under the Stars even brought along some little musicians who visited the instrument petting zoo, a symphony education program that allows children to get their hands on instruments...
by Erin Turner | May 28, 2015 | News Slider
Stars from “The Secret Handshake” walked down the red carpet in Lipscomb’s Allen Arena for the world premiere of the the movie Wednesday night, but they were joined by many Lipscomb professors, and students, too. Nashville’s Town Square Pictures and Lipscomb University’s College of Entertainment & the Arts partnered to produce the movie which was filmed entirely in Middle Tennessee. “When I came here seven years ago I never would’ve imagined that we would be launching a movie, a feature film, with another production company, but here we are,” said Mike Fernandez, founding dean of the College of Entertainment & the Arts. The film stars Kevin Sorbo, best known as Hercules, and singer-songwriter Amy Grant, and is directed by Nashville native Howie Klausner. Klausner said his family film that transports movie audiences through a journey of what it takes to be a man brings adventure, laughter and even some tears. He said it’s important to make films that are uplifting and have powerful storytelling. This is something Fernandez said has been the mission of the Lipscomb’s newest college. “We have started a brand new college, a College of Entertainment & the Arts, with a mission, and that mission is: Train independent, entrepreneurial artists to go out and create uplifting content in whatever their artistic talent might be, and to do that with a spirit filled with Christ,” Fernandez said. “I believe in storytelling — I believe storytelling shapes culture, and for us to train young minds who want to go out and tell really powerful stories in the way that Christ would have is an ultimate calling.” During the filming of “The Secret Handshake,” Lipscomb film students had...
by Erin Turner | May 1, 2015 | News Slider
Gathered around a table in Pat Boone’s house recently, Lipscomb University President Randy Lowry and the Lipscomb-educated ’50s pop icon drafted a new version of the university’s alma mater. “My wife and I went out to Los Angeles to Beverly Hills about six to eight weeks ago, and we actually sat around a table in Pat Boone’s house and looked at the old music and then started playing with new words for the new music,” Lowry said. Lipscomb eliminated “David” from its title 10 or 15 years ago, and that was one of the major changes made to the song. In the lyrics “David Lipscomb” has been replaced with “Lipscomb University.” In addition to that change, Lowry said there were two places in the lyrics that were not inclusive for this time period. “[‘Brotherhood’] was a word that a church community would use and they would talk about all the churches ‘in the brotherhood,’ but it’s not particularly inclusive of women,” he said. With the help of Boone an updated alma mater was crafted using alternatives words. “An alma mater really tries to articulate some sense of relationship with this institution, and I think that one [the updated version] has a lot of really good stuff in it. “My sense is we always want to be alert to those moments where we can be a little more relevant, a little bit more sensitive, a little bit more inclusive, and after singing the alma mater for 10 years it just dawned on me: this is one of them,” he said. Keeping the original tune, Boone and Lowry gave the new lyrics an...
by Danielle Kinnen | Apr 26, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb University held its Don Meyer Evening of Excellence Saturday night to recognize the journey of coach Jim White, who is the subject of the Disney movie McFarland USA. The Don Meyer Evening of Excellence is named after the legendary former Lipscomb basketball coach who passed away in May of 2014 after a battle to cancer. Meyer coached at Hamline University for three years, Lipscomb for 24 years and Northern State for 11 years and finished with a career record of 923-324 in 38 seasons. Over the last six years, Lipscomb has had speakers that include Coach Meyer, former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, Duke head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens, Phil, Si and Kay Robertson from Duck Dynasty and “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks. The evening in Allen Arena was filled with Lipscomb donors, athletes and family of the soon-to-be graduated seniors. White coached McFarland High School to nine cross country state championships in 14 years. Most of White’s runners were the children of immigrant field workers, as McFarland is one of the poorest cities in California. White shared some advice of his well-rounded programs with Lipscomb’s athletes. “No one can tell you that you won’t achieve something, because I just turned around and did it anyway,” White said. “You must continue to do right the things that you know how, and be patient. It’s a process — it cannot be built over night. “You have to have that drive in all aspects of life and especially for the student athletes who continue to work hard on and off the field.” Lipscomb alum Keith Hayes was impressed by the work put...
by Carly Bergthold | Apr 23, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
Student athletes traded their uniforms for formal wear for the second annual Lippy Awards Wednesday evening in Allen Arena. The Lippys honor athletes, coaches and others who contribute in various ways to Lipscomb sports teams. Before the show, guests enjoyed live music from Marquee Mayfield and showed off their formal wear at photo booths. The show was hosted by soccer coach Chris Klotz and cross county coach Marcus Evans. To begin, the James R. Byers Award was presented to senior field thrower April Terry and senior baseball player Josh Lee. It is the highest award given to student-athletes. Terry quoted the Mary Mary song “God in Me” in her acceptance speech, saying, “I hope that you see that I’m really not that outstanding, but all of the accolades, the records, the titles – it’s all God working.” Lee, who made his way from Vandy to Central Arizona College and finally landed at Lipscomb, said that he’s blessed for the opportunities at Lipscomb. “This is a great accomplishment, but the one thing I’ll remember is all the relationships I’ve built with my teammates,” Lee said. Golfer Dawson Armstrong and cross country runner Paige Stoner took home the male and female Freshman of the Year awards. Senior soccer player Luke Gearin won International Player of the Year. Women’s soccer coach Kevin O’Brien received the Don Meyer Head Coach of the Year for his inspiration to the athletic program. “I think I have the best job in the world,” O’Brien said. “I’m so thankful to get to work with the girls I work with every day.” Luke Syverson, who coaches track and field, was...
