Arts Week: an invitation to dream
Kristin Burkhart
Issue date: 4/22/04 Section: Life!
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You may have been approached by clowns, had your dinner interrupted by tap dancers in the Garden Room or listened to a variety of student bands while enjoying a barbeque dinner courtesy of Wood Dining Services all within the last week. All of these things, and many others, are signs of a new tradition emerging on campus at the hands of a few creative, motivated students: Arts Week.
Arts Week began as the brainchild of Charlotte McIvor '04. As President of the Muhlenberg Theatre Association (MTA), McIvor is very close to the arts: specifically, to the Theatre and English Departments. During her four years at the College, McIvor began to notice that the various artistic departments seemed to lack intercommunication. The Art, English, Music, Theatre and Dance Departments all have to share many of the same classroom, performance and exhibition spaces and are in the same two connected buildings on campus; yet it is common for one department to be completely unaware of another's events.
McIvor also noticed that many students hold total misconceptions about the students in the other departments. McIvor explained, "Arts are not divided disciplines, but are really interconnected." Since this important interconnection was missing, she thought something needed to be done to unite the arts programs at the College.
On a campus-wide level, McIvor noted a general dichotomy between the two sides of campus. She and fellow Arts Week organizers believe that this division needs to be jostled. As Caitlin Mahoney '04, who is responsible for the scheduling and specifics regarding the Arts Week events, says, Arts Week is, in part, about "bringing arts to the other side of Chew Street."
McIvor, Mahoney and their fellow workers wanted to make the campus see art in a new light by presenting it to the people who rarely get to see it. McIvor commented that part of her idea was to see "what would happen if arts were in everybody's faces." Mahoney also explained that the "arts aren't closed off" and that the week is meant to make everyone on campus feel that they are "welcome to join in."
Arts Week began as the brainchild of Charlotte McIvor '04. As President of the Muhlenberg Theatre Association (MTA), McIvor is very close to the arts: specifically, to the Theatre and English Departments. During her four years at the College, McIvor began to notice that the various artistic departments seemed to lack intercommunication. The Art, English, Music, Theatre and Dance Departments all have to share many of the same classroom, performance and exhibition spaces and are in the same two connected buildings on campus; yet it is common for one department to be completely unaware of another's events.
McIvor also noticed that many students hold total misconceptions about the students in the other departments. McIvor explained, "Arts are not divided disciplines, but are really interconnected." Since this important interconnection was missing, she thought something needed to be done to unite the arts programs at the College.
On a campus-wide level, McIvor noted a general dichotomy between the two sides of campus. She and fellow Arts Week organizers believe that this division needs to be jostled. As Caitlin Mahoney '04, who is responsible for the scheduling and specifics regarding the Arts Week events, says, Arts Week is, in part, about "bringing arts to the other side of Chew Street."
McIvor, Mahoney and their fellow workers wanted to make the campus see art in a new light by presenting it to the people who rarely get to see it. McIvor commented that part of her idea was to see "what would happen if arts were in everybody's faces." Mahoney also explained that the "arts aren't closed off" and that the week is meant to make everyone on campus feel that they are "welcome to join in."