Miss America Nia Franklin to give talk, class at Fredonia

Nia Franklin, the 2019 Miss America who’s also an accomplished composer, classically trained opera singer and promoter of the arts, will lead a master class and give a lecture at the State University of New York at Fredonia on Tuesday.

“We’re so excited to have Nia Franklin come to Fredonia and not only work with our composition students but also to talk to the entire campus about her year as Miss America and her work supporting the arts,” said Professor Rob Deemer, who coordinates the Music Composition area in the School of Music. “She is a role model in so many ways and I hope our students will come and meet her while she is here on campus.”

Ms. Franklin indicted she’s “thrilled” to come to Fredonia to work with Music Composition students and summarize what she’s done in the last two years and what she continues to do following her Miss America reign.

Franklin learned of Fredonia from a fellow classmate who attended Fredonia as an undergraduate. “He talked about his many great times there. I’m ready to take in the Fredonia experience and continue building upon my work as Miss America by advocating for the arts,” Franklin said.

The master class, geared for student composers, will be at 4 p.m. in Mason Hall Room 2019, the lecture and question/answer session at 8 p.m. in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room. Both events are free and open to all students and community members.

Franklin dedicated her year as Miss America to supporting arts education and her social impact initiative, Advocating for the Arts. Franklin speaks to students, school administrators and teachers about the importance of arts education and why she believes it’s vital to a well-rounded education.

A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Franklin has an undergraduate degree in Music Composition from East Carolina University and a master’s degree in Music Composition from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In graduate school, Franklin was a member of ArtistCorps, an AmeriCorps program that invites well-known artists into public schools and community centers to work with students with declining access to arts programming.

Franklin was awarded a Kenan Fellowship at New York’s Lincoln Center Education, part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and relocated to New York City, where she worked closely with Success Academy Charter Schools, founded a music club for students, and served as a cultural partner with Sing for Hope, a New York City-based non-profit organization.

Ethos New Music Society, a student-run and student funded organization that presents guest composers and performers and concerts of student works, is sponsoring Franklin’s visit, in conjunction with the President’s Office and the Enrollment and Student Services division.