Media Arts Council announces new board members
'Escape to Margaritaville' comes to Walnut Street Theatre in April
Media Arts Council recently announced the appointment of four new board members including Tracy E. Price, Nancy Hesford, Ashley Tipping and H. Scot Weirich.
Price serves as the director of marketing and public relations for the Delaware County Bar Association, where she has supported the association’s mission for over 25 years. In 2023, Tracy joins the council board with a history of building programs of community value, driving advocacy initiatives that work, and developing messages that inspire.
Hesford retired from a career in public relations and marketing with positions at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Penn State University, and the Florida Power and Light Company. She currently splits her time between Media and Brigantine, New Jersey.
Tipping is the assistant manager for the Media branch of the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union. In her spare time, Tipping assists the Brandywine Valley SPCA in the TNR program and is scheduling time to assist with other volunteer opportunities in Media.
Weirich is vice president of the Hospitality Division of Morris Brothers investments in Media.
Responsibilities include managing the company’s event planning with longrange goals of opening the
restaurant Betsy’s and establishing other culinary venues. Weirich began his career as a chef at the Hotel Dupont in Wilmington.
The new board members will existing members Brian Kors, co-president; Stacy Olkowski, copresident; Adam Thurstlic, treasurer; Brad Sukala, secretary; and Stephanie Sher.
The council is a nonprofit with a mission to advance the importance of arts and actively support local artists and integrate a wide range of arts into the life of the community.
MAC achieves this mission by providing professional artists with opportunities to exhibit, sell and perform, infusing Media with public art installations, providing arts education classes, and offering community arts events. MAC’s new gallery is located at 11 E. State St. in Media.
For more information, call 484-445-4161 or visit http://www.mediaartscouncil.org.
Set clocks to island time with Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Escape to Margaritaville’
Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia will finish its 214th season by transforming into a tropical paradise with Jimmy Buffett’s “Escape
to Margaritaville.”
This heartwarming musical comedy features Buffett’s unmistakable music to delight both new and longtime fans. “Escape to Margaritaville” begins previews on March 28, opens April 5, and will run through April 30. The production is directed and choreographed by Lisa Stevens.
Leading the audience’s visit to Margaritaville is Tully, a part-time bartender, part-time singer, and full-time charmer who thinks he’s got life all figured out — until a beautiful tourist steals his heart and makes him question everything. “Escape To Margaritaville” features original songs and the most-loved Jimmy Buffett classics, including “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Fins,” “Volcano,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” and many more.
The Walnut’s production will feature a cast of 22 and an orchestra. Using the ever popular and infectious music of Jimmy Buffett to weave together the book is Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley.
Open captioning will be available for the performance on Sunday, April 16 at 7 p.m. The production is sponsored by Herman Goldner Co. and Parx Casino.
For tickets and information, call 215-574-3550.
Tickets are also available online 24/7 by visiting http://WalnutStreetTheatre.org or http://Ticketmaster.com.
Widener enters partnership with national leader on young adult mental health
Widener University recently announced it is partnering with The Jed Foundation to become a JED Campus institution in support of student well-being and mental health. The JED program is a nationwide initiative designed to help schools evaluate and strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems to ensure that they have the strongest possible mental health safety nets.
As a JED campus, Widener is embarking on a multiyear strategic collaboration that not only assesses and enhances the work that is already being done at the university, but also helps create positive, lasting, systemic change in the campus community. The program provides schools like Widener with a framework for supporting student mental health, as well as assessment tools, feedback reports, a strategic plan, and ongoing support from the JED higher
education team.
The four-year partnership began this spring semester with a Healthy Minds Survey taken by university students and employees. For students, the survey measured mental health and related needs, student familiarity with Widener mental health resources, and how to access and use those resources.
For employees, it sought to understand faculty and staff well-being, attitudes, knowledge and experiences.
Next, JED will help Widener analyze the survey data. Partners from the foundation will visit the university over multiple days this month for a thorough evaluation of Widener’s strengths and student mental health needs. All of the data assessed together will help JED and Widener collaborate on an action plan that enhances what’s working and addresses unmet needs. As a national leader, JED will help Widener make informed decisions and enhance policies, programs and resources with insight to best practices.
For more information about JED Campus, visit https://jedfoundation.org/ our-work/higher-ed. For more information about Widener University, visit http://widener.edu.
Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize committee members to visit WCU campus
West Chester University will host members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which selects the annual Nobel Peace Prize laureate, on Friday and Saturday, March 24 and 25. These esteemed guests will share conversations about issues related to global peace and conflict, fraternity, civil conversation in the face of conflict, and behind-the-scenes stories of how the Peace Prize laureates are selected.
The highlight will be the free public forum at 7 p.m. Friday, March 24.
Addressing issues related to global peace and conflict are Asle Toje, deputy leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; Jørgen Frydnes, the youngest member ever to be appointed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee and a prior deputy leader; and Henrik Syse, a former member and deputy leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who is now a research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, a professor at Oslo New University College, and currently a visiting professor at West Chester University.
The forum takes place in the Sciences and Engineering Center and The Commons Auditorium (Room 108), 155 University Ave., West Chester. While the event is free, donations are requested for the Mukwege Foundation, founded by Nobel laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege to support victims and survivors of conflictrelated sexual violence.
Earlier on Friday, two open sessions will also be
held in the Sciences and Engineering Center and The Commons Auditorium:
• 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: “Memory and Reconciliation in the Face of Adversity” and “Conflict: Reflections on the Terrorist Attack in Norway and Lessons from 9/11.”
• 1:45 to 3:15 p.m.: “Lessons from Nobel Laureate Dennis Mukwege: Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War, and How We Build a Society Based on Peace and Respect ” will be hosted by Toje and Henrik Syse, former member and deputy leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and WCU Visiting Scholar.
Based in Oslo, at the Nobel Institute, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has five members who are elected for six-year terms and can be re-elected.
Since World War II, the Nobel Peace Prize, known as the most prestigious award in the world, has principally been awarded to honor efforts in four main areas: arms control and disarmament, peace negotiation, democracy and human rights, and work aimed at creating a better organized and more peaceful world.
In the 21st century, the Nobel Committee has embraced efforts to limit the harm done by manmade climate change and threats to the environment as relevant to the Peace Prize.
Thanks to connections made through WCU’s Honors College, West Chester University has the distinction of being the only school in the world to submit a nomination for Nobel Peace Prize laureate to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Register for any of the above sessions at https:// wcuconfservices.ticketleap.com/wcu-nobelpeace-forum-think-globally-act-locally.