Arts & Culture

The book examines the Rinzai Zen convent, founded in 1285 by nun Kakusan Shido.

David KilperAs fall quickly approaches, so does the time for which many parents and students have long been waiting — some would say, dreading — the first day of college. Your child’s departure for college is a monumental step and one that you can start preparing for when your child is just taking his or her first steps, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on the college experience.

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoAdvice for sending your child off to college for the first time.Sending your child off to college for the first time isn’t easy. But it can be especially tough on “helicopter parents,” those who tend to hover over their children and can have a hard time letting go. But not to worry, says an expert on the freshman transition at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of the acclaimed book “Letting Go: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding the College Years.” Even helicopter parents can make a successful break.

Eric Hoffman and Tony Patterson*Softscape*Two recent architecture alumni from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts have been selected as finalists in a national competition sponsored by the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA). The competition, titled inside::out: Weaving the Arts Into the Urban Fabric, aims to unify the 3.6-acre BCA campus — which includes a wide variety of galleries, performance venues and artists studios — by transforming its central brick plaza into an architecturally distinctive public space.

The piece will receive its world première July 27 at Le Festival de Radio France et Montpellier.

In its 43rd season of summer shows, the orchestra will highlight composers and young artists from Missouri and Illinois.

James RichardsThe Gateway Festival Orchestra will begin its 43rd season of free summer concerts with “Midwest Musical Masters,” highlighting composers and young artists from Missouri and Illinois, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 9, in Washington University’s Brookings Quadrangle. The orchestra is conducted by James Richards, professor of orchestral studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Subsequent concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 16 and 23 in Brookings Quadrangle. The season concludes Sunday, July 30, in Graham Chapel.

Paul VertucioShapiro & Smith DanceEach year, the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series highlights music, theatre and dance by a variety of nationally and internationally acclaimed performing artists. The 2006-07 season — the Edison’s 34th — will include more than a dozen events, ranging from returning favorites to St. Louis and world premiers to the popular ovations! for young people series, which offers specially priced Saturday matinees for audiences of all ages.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesCatharina ManchandaCatharina Manchanda, Ph.D., has been appointed curator of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Manchanda succeeds Sabine Eckmann, Ph.D., who was named director of the Kemper Art Museum last year. Her appointment comes at a critical time for the museum, which will open a new 65,000-square-foot facility, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, in the fall.

He’s on the faculty of Rome’s Santa Cecilia Music Conservatory and is director of the Officina Musicale Dell’Altipiano Delle Rocche.