Every year, Contemporary Music Program students participate in classes that teach music from all over the world. These ensembles vary from African Drum to Balkan/Middle East to Rock and Funk and so many more. These classes offer students the chance to learn music from around the world and the opportunity to play with other musicians. At the end of each semester, the CMP hold concerts as a way for the students in these ensembles to show what they’ve learned over the course of the semester. “Being in ensembles is training for being a working musician later,” says Leticia Gonzales. “Musicians have to learn to work with other musicians in a way that reflects the work of career musicians. Being in ensembles with our peers helps us learn to navigate that.” The end-of-the-year concert series kicked off May 7 with performances from students in Tom Adler’s Acoustic Americana Ensemble and Fred Simpson’s African Drum Ensemble, followed by a performance by Steve Paxton’s University Chorus in the O’Shaughnessy Performance Space in Benildus Hall. “I chose Acoustic Americana because I play banjo and it just feels right. The most important thing I have learned is just the importance of being humble when it is needed and a lot about playing with others,” says Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose about his experience with the ensemble. The CMP ensemble concert series continues through May 12 with the next performance by the Balkan/Middle East Ensemble on May 10 at 8 p.m. in the O’Shaughnessy Performance Space in Benildus Hall.   The other concerts are:  Sunday, May 11 5 p.m. Gamelan Ensemble The Bandshell on the quad 8 p.m. Jazz & Afro-Cuban Ensembles & University Chorus O’Shaughnessy Performance Space Benildus Hall   Monday, May 12 8 p.m. Rock & Funk/ R&B Ensembles O’Shaughnessy Performance...

Rumelia is a contemporary Balkan folk band made up of four women based in Santa Fe, NM, a couple of whom have a history with the previous College of Santa Fe. Band member and SFUAD Contemporary Music Program instructor Deborah Ungar spoke with Jackalope about Rumelia.

Brian Hardgroove, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hip hop group Public Enemy and SFUAD artist in residence, is the new director of Artists for Positive Social Change at SFUAD. This year marks the third annual Artists for Positive Social Change concert and Hardgroove has chosen the band Living Colour to perform April 19. He spoke to Jackalope about the program and this year’s event.

Creative Writing Department Co-Chair Dana Levin, discusses the Muse Times Two writing contest winners.

Originally from India, Graphic Design majors Shruti Sharma (Bombay) and Sanjana Bhatnagar (New Delhi)—who go to school together back home—have spent the last few months studying abroad at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Sharma and Bhatnagar share their experiences in America with Jackalope Magazine.

In honor of Pride Week, the SFUAD student group Colors put some pep into the students through a pep rally that was held on the quad on March 27. Colors is a group consisting of SFUAD students who support the LGBTQIA community.

Jackalope Magazine’s series of interviews with student musicians continues with an interview with Conor Handolson, the drummer of the student band Skinflints and Scoundrels. Handolson is a drummer, guitarist and vocalist in the Contemporary Music Program.

Jackalope continues its Q & A series with SFUAD student musicians, with solo electronic musician Dylan Tenorio.

The SFUAD cafeteria was transformed into a sea of blue on Feb. 22 as students gathered to support each other in honor of National Suicide Awareness Day.

The student band that calls themselves The Laser Cats is made up of four SFUAD Contemporary Music majors. Daniel Mench-Thurlow plays the upright bass, Kyle Driscoll plays the guitar, Matt Ruder also plays guitar, Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose plays the banjo and Konor Hunter-Crump plays the violin. Jackalope Magazine had the opportunity to talk to the band members about their music.   Jackalope Magazine: How did you get into music? Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose: My family is in a bluegrass band, all of my uncles and most of my cousins, which is 20 or 30 musicians total. We’ve always been playing bluegrass and my uncle plays banjo, so I picked one up.   JM: How did your band get together? Matt Ruder: Well, when we were freshman Sam got asked to provide music for a creative writing thing so he asked me and Kyle to help him out. It was just going to be for that one time. We needed a name, and Kyle was wearing a shirt with a cat shooting lasers from its eyes, so we said we’d call ourselves the Acoustic Laser Cat Jazz Trio. But then we added Konor and changed it to just The Laser Cats and about a year later added Dan.   JM: What are the best and worst things about being in a band? MR: The best part is that it feels like family. You can be friends with someone but it just becomes deeper when you’re in a band with them. Kyle Driscoll: The only bad thing I would say is that sometimes it’s time consuming and that we all want to do The Laser Cats plus so many other things.   JM: What type of band are you? MR: Gypsy Jazz, which all started back with the gypsies...

In the first of a series of interviews with student bands at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Jackalope Magazine talked with the musicians from Venus and the Lion.

Nerf gun shooting; plastic ducks; memory challenges. The 2013 Hunger Games at SFUAD tested the tributes. Photographers Sam Podio, Amanda Tyler and Sandra Schoenenstein captured the day.