Check out the October 2008 edition of the Creative Arts E-Lert, the official e-mail newsletter of the SF State College of Creative Arts. This issue highlights upcoming events including the Morrison Artists Series concert with American Chamber Players, the World Cultures Dance and Music Celebration and the Theatre Arts main-stage production of "Chess" featuring music by former members of ABBA. The issue also includes news on the SF State-sponsored de Young Museum exhibition on Asian American contemporary art, a lecturer whose documentary was featured on NBC's 'Today' show, an alumnus whose candid interviews with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin have attracted widespread media attention, and more.

The Afiara String Quartet, Quartet‐in‐Residence at the International Center for the Arts, San Francisco State University, added another impressive achievement to their glowing resume when they were named winners of the prestigious 2008 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The Afiara Quartet shared winners’ honors with Brooklyn‐based flutist Claire Chase.

Several faculty members from the School of Music and Dance are taking part in SF State's 40th-anniversary commemoration of the student-led strike that established the nation's only College of Ethnic Studies and the first Educational Opportunity Program. The commemoration takes place Oct. 29 – Nov. 1 on campus.

Kurt Daw, dean of the College of Creative Arts at SF State, is the subject of a Three-Minute Interview published in the San Francisco Examiner on Oct. 27.

This year, recent alumni have revived a longtime tradition of launching their own theatre companies. At least four new groups produced new shows in San Francisco, bursting with a creative and entrepreneurial spirit.

Alumnus Robbie Conal's politically charged posters plastered across the construction site walls, traffic light switching boxes, freeway underpasses and bus shelters of America are now the subject of a retrospective exhibition. "No Spitting No Kidding" recently opened at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica.

Mark Jackson, one of the hottest names in Bay Area theatre, returns again to his alma mater to direct "Machinal." The Theatre Arts Department's first main-stage production of the school year plays Oct. 16 – 19 in the Little Theatre.

Michael Namkung makes his art with his back against the wall. The M.F.A. candidate invites the public to watch him conduct kinesthetic drawing experiments that employ the physicality his body as a medium. His next wall-sit performance takes place at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 16 at the old racquetball courts on campus.

"The Influence of Japanese Art on Design," a book by Art faculty member Hannah Sigur, was published recently.

The maestro lives on in “CACHAO: Uno Mas,” as the SF State documentary on the great Afro-Cuban bassist Israel “Cachao” López screens at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 in the August Coppola Theatre, Fine Arts building. Admission is free.

Feminism, diversity and disabilities dominate three documentaries by Cinema Department alumni screening at the 31st Mill Valley Film Festival, through Oct. 12.

An alumna's documentary about a blind man whose ingenious use of technology has enabled him to sail, shop and ride a bicycle will be featured on NBC's Today" show on Oct. 6.

Music Professor Dee Spencer appeared on the KQED-FM program "Forum" on Oct. 2 for an in-depth discussion of the history of jazz piano.

Irene Andersen, a longtime staff member in the Art Department and an alumna, is a noted practitioner and historian in Asian American art. Her photographs of Asian American artists appear in several new books and two exhibitions.