Defining Moments

The concept for DEFINING MOMENTS was pitched in a voice area meeting during the time of forced isolation in 2020. The UTSA leadership put a call out to faculty and students for ideas to connect one another while removed from campus. Jourdan Laine  spoke to her voice colleagues about her vision of multi-dimensional storytelling with music composition at the center. She hoped that one student's written experience would be delivered to a composition student who would then write a new piece, and that this musical piece would find its way to an art student who would use the music as a catalyst for a new artwork, and that these storytelling mediums would be experienced together. Thus, the DEFINING MOMENTS project was born.

This project was recognized as a meaningful and innovative way to connect the UTSA community and the DEFINING MOMENTS team was nominated for a University Excellence award for their work.

Defining Moments in the news

UTSA students illustrate devastating effects of COVID-19 through art, creativity

San Antonio Express News: "In a moving art showcase, students at the University of Texas at San Antonio articulated the inconceivable toll the pandemic has taken on their experience of young adulthood..."

UTSA Debuts Defining Moments - a live performance to explore COVID's impact

"As the world isolated amid COVID-19, a group of UTSA faculty members launched a project to create connections that would have typically happened in-person on campus. The resulting program, called Defining Moments, captures how students experienced 2020 through their respective studies in art, history, English, music, dance and architecture..."

ARTS ALIVE San Antonio

"Last year was hard for everyone and that included the students and faculty at UTSA. Classes were put on hold, meeting cancelled, and individuals found themselves isolated and uncertain about the course of their studies. To help students and themselves, a group of faculty members launched a new project to create connections between people and help them cope with the strange and challenging time..."

TPR: UTSAstudents create largest inerdisciplinary project to date

"College students across the country faced unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those at the University of Texas- San Antonio turned their experiences into performance art in a project called "Defining Moments." The college of Liberal and Fine Arts students showcased their stories to an audience of several hundred at the Buena Vista theater last month..."

UTSA Runner Research Press

The permanent collection of all student pieces for the Defining Moments Project.

A Network rooted in Quality and Innovation

"Welcome to our continued celebration of 2021 WOW awardees! We’re joined today by Melissa Vito and Claudia Arcolin, both from The University of Texas at San Antonio who shared the following post about UTSA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their “non-negotiable objective” was to “continue to innovate and deliver a high-quality education despite the unprecedented circumstances.” Read on to learn how the UTSA teams met that objective..."