“Imagine waking up tomorrow and there’s no music — none on the radio, in movies or television, nowhere. What kind of life would that be?”

This is the question Faina Lushtak, the Downman Chair in the Performing Arts and Head of Piano in the Newcomb Department of Music, has returned to time and again throughout her career at Tulane. Most notably, she asked it in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when floodwaters stagnated in Dixon Hall and weeks of heat, humidity, mold, and no electricity followed. The building suffered significant damage and most of the department’s pianos were destroyed beyond repair.

Determined to restore music to Tulane’s campus, Lushtak, a noted Steinway Artist, traveled with department chair Barbara Jazwinski to Steinway & Sons in New York to purchase 21 new pianos. Her efforts led Tulane to become an official All-Steinway School.

Now, after two decades of concerts, competitions, recitals, and rehearsals, it was time to replace one of the cherished post-Katrina instruments: a concert grand piano. This May, Lushtak returned to the Steinway & Sons factory, where pianos have been handcrafted since 1870. There, she was presented with six different Model Ds — nine-foot-long pianos designed to fill concert halls with rich, resonant sound.

“It was one of the most stressful things I’ve done,” Lushtak admits. “Pianos are like people; they have different voices and personalities, and they age differently.”

In August, the result of her careful selection arrived at Dixon Hall. The new concert grand was assembled on stage, and a technician spent three days meticulously adjusting the instrument to ensure it sounded its best in the thousand-seat theater.

Lushtak will debut the new Steinway Model D at the opening performance of the Concert Piano Series on October 8, 2025, in Dixon Hall. The series is another testament to Lushtak’s lasting impact at Tulane and within the New Orleans classical music community. Since the series inception more than 30 years ago, she has worked tirelessly to bring top pianists from around the world to the university. Over the decades, the Concert Piano Series has hosted internationally acclaimed artists such as Sergei Babayan, Vladimir Viardo, Ian Hobson, Alexander Korsantia, Angela Cheng, and Seho Young.

After being named the Downman Chair in 1997, Lushtak expanded her efforts, making the Concert Piano Series completely free for both students and the community. She also established the Keyboard Festival, which features two days of recitals and master classes led by prominent pianists each spring.

She is profoundly grateful for the generosity of the Downman family, whose support not only sustains the series but also made the purchase of the new piano possible — providing a world-class instrument for world-class performers and the world-class education Tulane strives to offer.

“It’s culture, enrichment… it’s a voice,” Lushtak reflects. “With this new piano, I hope I’ve given the department a wonderful new voice for decades to come.”

 

If I were to describe this past summer in one word, it would be different. Over the past two months, I have worked, studied, and lived in our nation’s capital through The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) program. This opportunity allowed me to grow extraordinarily, meet highly respected people, and learn new skills and new ideologies that will help shape my future career.

Coming from a conservative, Catholic background and having attended an all-boys Catholic high school in Pennsylvania, I never really had the opportunity to talk to that many people who were different from me. All my friends thought like me, looked like me, and acted like me. This program, though, introduced me to various views. I have had great conversations with people from all walks of life, which has led me to become more open-minded, as some people say, but rather, enlightened to the usefulness of seeing problems and their potential solutions through the lenses of those who think, act, and look differently from me.

After the first couple of days of settling in, my internship officially began. As I walked into The Daily Caller building that morning, excitement graced my spirit. I was nervous, yet eager to achieve and become a part of an organization. I started out working as an editorial intern for The Daily Caller— writing pieces about concepts and ideas that resonated with the conservative populace of the United States and Republicans in general. I hated it. Within the first week of my internship, I reached out to a man at my company asking if I could transition to his sales team. Within the next week, my spark, drive, and love of working quickly returned. If you would have told me three months ago that I would be working in sales for a news organization, instead of writing, I would have called you insane. The truth is, though, I loved it. The Daily Caller introduced me to something I never would have thought to be a potential career path of mine, but the feeling I got when I sat down in that chair and did something I genuinely enjoyed was invaluable to me.

Even though I was interning, I was also enrolled in two courses: American Foreign Policy and Economic Problems and Public Policy Solutions. I loved these classes. Both were taught by extremely well-versed professors, Dr. Milorad Lazic and Dr. Christopher Coyne. Dr. Lazic came to class each day with an eagerness to share his passion for history and love of the United States.

Dr. Coyne always arrived with a professional tone and immense knowledge of the socioeconomic world. These two classes reinvigorated my learning spirit and captured my attention in ways I thought had been lost. Through in-class discussion, policy memo writing, AI conversation-based papers, and thorough examinations, I cultivated a passion for learning that I never had before.

Outside of class, I found myself participating in many TFAS sessions. One of my favorites was Braver Angels Dialogue, an argument-based event where two sides spar over a hot topic. On top of that, I was fortunate enough to tour Fox News, see the White House, attend a House Briefing session on Capitol Hill, and explore D.C. for all it has to offer. TFAS made networking in D.C., the city of networking, even easier than it already is. That may be quite the feat on its own.

I can safely say that if one goes into this program wanting to experience new and different things, view unique perspectives, and debate conflicting views, they will get a lot out of it. That’s what it is all about: experience.

Since its inception in 2009, Digital Media Practices — a coordinate major in the School of Liberal Arts that culminates in a student-produced, professional-level media capstone — has given Tulane students the chance to explore and develop critical “soft skills” in an ever-evolving selection of media and genres. On top of these benefits, program initiatives, including documentary filmmaking and screenwriting, audio and podcast production, animation, and game design, allow students to not only interact with the unique creative landscape that is the city of New Orleans but also to impart their learned skills and resources on the community. Now, a new 3-year grant from the Louisiana Entertainment Development Fund will expand those possibilities.

The $700,000 grant will modernize the program’s cinema technology, upgrading and expanding filmmaking equipment offered to students and other aspiring filmmakers. Through a partnership with #CreateLouisiana, these industry-standard resources — including professional cameras, sound recording devices, and high-performance editing workstations — will be made available to independent filmmakers in Louisiana at no cost.

“We have an opportunity to create a robust pathway connecting our rich, local community to Tulane’s innovative resources, thus elevating local storytellers and cultivating the next generation of cinema in this unique cultural landscape,” said DMP program director Casey Beck.

The new equipment will also support DMP service-learning initiative courses like “The Independent Film Ecosystem in New Orleans,” connecting Tulane students to the vibrant independent film landscape of New Orleans through collaborative partnerships with six local organizations, and “Digital Media for Community Health and Well-being,” allowing students to produce short documentaries and PSAs about local non-profits.

School of Liberal Arts Dean Brian T. Edwards notes that the grant comes at a particularly opportune time, coinciding with the extensive renovation of historic Newcomb Hall. DMP’s new home on Newcomb’s fourth floor will include 6,400 square feet of state-of-the-art screening rooms, a recording studio, post-production spaces, and teaching facilities.

“The vision for the renovation of historic Newcomb Hall — the centerpiece of the School of Liberal Arts — is to allow for spaces where students and teachers can collaborate across the wide range of disciplines and subjects,” remarked Dean Edwards. “This grant allows us to ensure that our exciting new spaces will feature professional equipment.”

The grant will also jump-start a curriculum expansion at DMP. Using a tool called UnReal Engine, the program will offer specialized training in visual effects and 3D animation, increasing opportunities for interactive storytelling and virtual production.

"We are so excited to continue to expand DMP and create new opportunities to access industry-grade equipment for our students and the greater Louisiana filmmaking community,” Beck continued. “We know there are many talented independent filmmakers in our student body and in the state who will capitalize on this expansion to tell the important stories of our time."

Louisiana-based filmmakers interested in accessing the Tulane equipment package can apply through the #CreateLouisiana Film Gear Access Grant.