Fine and Performing Arts alumni board awards announced

calendar icon03 Mar 2023    

Lincoln, Neb.--The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Alumni Board has selected the recipients of its annual alumni awards. The awards will be presented on Friday, May 5 at the college’s annual Honors Day celebration. The dinner is by invitation only.

This year’s awardees include:

Alumni Achievement Award in Art:
Trent Claus, B.F.A. 2006

Claus is a visual effects supervisor and senior compositor at Lola VFX and has been with them since 2007. The company has developed many unique and proprietary effects that have been used in more than 120 feature films and television productions, including “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Mandalorian” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”  

After graduating from UNL with a studio arts degree, Claus began his career first as a matte painter, and then moved up to the position of compositor and eventually visual effects supervisor. His job is to supervise all of the artists’ work on a film involving matte paintings, blue screen and live action footage and CGI and make sure it’s finished by the film’s release date.

Claus’ work on feature films has contributed to 19 Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects and 10 nominations for Best Picture. 

He has worked on 22 Marvel movies, including “Captain America: The First Avenger,” where he developed special effects to transform a skinny weakling into a muscular super hero. He was awarded the Visual Effects Society (VES) Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture for his work on this film.

He is also known for his work with age manipulation. In “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Brad Pitt begins as an old man and de-ages to a young boy by the end of the movie. The film was awarded the Best Visual Effects award from BAFTA, the Academy Awards and VES. 

Claus is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Visual Effects Society.

During his career, he has amassed a personal collection of artwork from the visual effects and animation industries, which he exhibited at the Eisentrager-Howard Gallery last summer. “Building a Narrative: Production Art and Pop Culture” consisted of animation cells from 90 different television shows, advertising animation cells, matte paintings, proprietary drawings and comic book pages. 

In 2021, he found and manages a branch of Lola VFX in Lincoln, where he has employed several Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts students.

Alumni Achievement Award in Music:
Sam Loeck, B.M. 2014

Loeck joined the Calgary Philharmonic as principal bass in 2016. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, he earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance from UNL. He then earned a Master’s degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he was named the winner of the IU Bass Concerto Competition.

He has participated in numerous music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival, Pacific Music Festival and the Banff Centre International String Quartet Festival.

Recently, Loeck was under consideration for the position of principal bassist of the London Symphony Orchestra, one of the premier orchestras in the world. While he did not get the position, the year-long process allowed him several stints as guest principal bass with the orchestra. 

He has also served as a substitute bass with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony.

Alumni Achievement Award in Theatre and Film:
Elizabeth Baquet, B.F.A. 2012

Baquet is a podcast executive for Mosaic Media where she oversees development and client pitches for podcast projects in a variety of genres. Mosaic Media’s A-list roster includes Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Jessica Chastain and Tessa Thompson. Additionally, Baquet oversees Ninth Planet Audio, Mosaic Media's in-house audio production company, which holds a first-look deal with iHeartRadio’s Big Money Players Network.

After graduating from Nebraska with her degree in film and new media production, Baquet became a Director of Production for Funny or Die, a production company founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. She worked on various digital web projects before moving into their television department, where she worked on shows such as IFC’s “Brockmire,” TruTV’s “Billy on the Street,” Netflix’s “American Vandal” and Comedy Central’s “@midnight” in addition to several comedy specials. Her work on “Billy on the Street,” starring comedian Billy Eichner, earned her three Emmy Award nominations, as well as a PGA Award nomination, all before she turned 30. 

Before joining Mosaic Media, Baquet served as Head of Production for PodcastOne where she developed and launched dozens of successful podcasts while supervising an in-house team of producers, editors, and engineers. 

She is an active member of both the Television Academy and the Producer’s Guild. 

In addition to her work in traditional television and media, she also collaborates with various nonprofits and political organizations to develop digital content and events that help share their message. Most recently she has produced projects for “Supermajority,” “Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign” and the “Indian American Impact Fund,” but is especially proud of her work producing voter turnout content campaigns during the 2018 midterms and 2020 presidential elections. 

Award of Merit:
Todd Nelson and the Nebraska Coast Connection

The Nebraska Coast Connection (NCC) was founded in 1992 by Producer/Director Todd Nelson, and its monthly Hollywood Salon has been a touchpoint for University of Nebraska–Lincoln students, alumni and Hollywood transplants. 

The idea was fostered by Nelson’s frequent trips home. He visited the late theatre professor Bill Morgan, who connected him with former students who were pursuing careers in the arts. With support from the University of Nebraska Foundation, the first NCC cocktail event in Bel Air drew 200 people, and the NCC was up and running.

Since then, they have hosted barbecues, play nights, Halloween parties, Christmas caroling and comedy nights. They have produced radio commercials, a few short films and two extensive websites. 

It is a social networking group that allows professionals working in the entertainment industry to share their experiences growing up in Nebraska. Members provide advice and insights into succeeding in the entertainment industry centered in Los Angeles. More than 2,000 Nebraskans have found their way into the Nebraska Coast Connection. 

This friendly, approachable social networking makes the leap to California less daunting for our students, and offers our alumni a regular place to engage with fellow artists and meet professionals in the industry.

Now, in the digital age, the Hollywood Salon is an access point to Los Angeles for students while they’re still in training in Nebraska. The Nebraska Coast Connection’s “Famous Nebraskans” blog and social media features help students recognize they are not as isolated in their big dreams as they may feel.

The Nebraska Coast Connection has sponsored internships over the summer for Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film students and celebrates regular engagement between professionals, alumni and current students. 

Student Leadership Award:
Katherine Schmit, Glenn Korff School of Music

Schmit is a senior music education major from Lincoln. She has been a member of the Cornhusker Marching Band for four years, where she has served as Trumpet Rank Leader and two-year Drum Major. She is also an officer of the Epsilon Omega Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi.

She has been a member of the UNL Wind Ensemble, UNL Symphony Orchestra and UNL Jazz Orchestra. And she is the co-founder of Quintessential Brass, a student-led brass quintet that has played on several student recitals, premiered new works by student composers, and performed in a masterclass with the Canadian Brass.