Dr. Roy Blackwood has newly been named as the director of the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. Blackwood, a professor of Ancient Art History, has been involved with Southeastern for over 30 years and was eager to take the position as director.

“I’ve been here at Southeastern 34 years and back in 1984 and ‘5 our football program got canceled,” said Blackwood. “There were three of us who decided that there could be a good reason for people to come to campus in the fall for Homecoming, even if there wasn’t a football game. We decided that reason should be the arts and cultural events. So Dr. Karen White, Harriet Vogt and myself put together Fanfare.”

Blackwood has an extensive history in supporting the arts. He sat as the chair of 17 years and developed and has directed the Cultural Resource Management curriculum on campus for over 20 years.

“That curriculum is now being folded into history and political science under the Public History concentration,” said Blackwood. “So with that background and with my interest in Fanfare and also in musicology and many other aspects of the arts, the Dean, Provost, the President asked me if I would consider being the director of the Columbia.”

In addition to being the Director of the Columbia, Blackwood also balances his time as an art history professor and is very dedicated to that position. He comments on how he’s had to balance his jobs on campus.

“Well, you know the contemporary term is multitasking and it seems like I’ve always been doing that,” states Blackwood. “For the first few years I was building the sculpture program in the department and art history and then in 1984 I became chair of the department and was doing that, we were also developing fanfare at the same time. I was developing a cultural resource management curriculum at that time as well, so I’ve always had a lot of hats that I wear on the campus, including my teaching, which I’m very much dedicated to. One of the strong requests that I had when I took this job is that I continue teaching my favorite class, which is ancient art history. So I really do have a strong commitment to teaching as well.”

Along with the forementioned positions, Blackwood also serves as the University’s liaison to the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum, of which Southeastern is an educational partner. This relationship helps to connect the Columbia Theatre to St. Tammany parish and even beyond the Northshore. Blackwood also has a background in studio arts.

“I’m a sculptor and I also teach Ancient Art History,” mentioned Blackwood. “For the longest time I was a practicing studio artist and faculty member, and I still have faculty status. But I was showing nationally and internationally all through the 70s and the 80s into the 90s. I was making a lot of sculpture and selling it.”

Blackwood was very excited about the upcoming Fanfare season. Patrons of the arts can expect to see more campus presence during Fanfare this season.

“Let me tell you I’m very excited because the student government association is the exclusive sponsor of fanfare events for this fall,” said Blackwood. “So we’re really, really pleased about the fact that they wanted to invest in Fanfare in that way. Fanfare is for the most part being focused back on the campus now. It had been dispersed. A lot of things happened here, some things happened on the campus. Now the majority of things will be available to the students and the community on campus.”

Blackwood confirmed that there will be a Fanfare lecture at the Maritime Museum in Madisonville. A few events will be held in the Columbia, but most of the events are slated to take place on campus. More information about the Fanfare season will become available when the schedule is published in the coming weeks.