Year of the Arts continues at HPU
By Amanda Crow, Staff Writer //
For the next eight months, High Point University will celebrate the Year of the Arts in honor of the creative spirit behind music, theatre, art, writing and much more. These events include performances, workshops with professionals, speakers and a grant program for students.
Scott Raynor, the Chair of the School of Art and Design and an instructor of Interior Design, had the idea for YOTA a few years back.
“It always seems like athletics are the way we get the community into our campus, and we thought that people should come here for the arts,” said Raynor.
The celebration was aimed to bring the community onto the campus as well as to help freshmen find their foothold in the arts. The idea behind the professionally-led workshops was that if students are introduced to the many arts programs at HPU in the beginning, then they will continue to study that area throughout their time at college.
The YOTA celebration will introduce a mini-grant program in December for all HPU students. Students will create small groups and submit an abstract for a project they would like to do during the spring semester. There aren’t many guidelines either; students may create an art piece, redesign a product, perform a piece of theatre, come up with an innovative way to improve the world and more.
Interdisciplinary group projects are highly encouraged because they want to see that students are collaborating and making connections across multiple areas of study.
Raynor mentioned that one particular group of students is collecting recycled water bottles on campus to help save the environment, and they will be teaming up with an artist who is making pieces out of recycled materials.
Selected proposals will receive $250 for start-up materials and each group will be assigned a faculty mentor. From there, projects will be juried by faculty and outside professionals and awarded monetary prizes. Additionally, each student will receive one course credit for his or her work.
“This is a resume builder. It doesn’t have to be gigantic, find something manageable,” Raynor said.
YOTA began with a Fall Festival on Sept. 13, 2014. The event included local artists, showcased HPU’s acapella groups as entertainment and featured student art exhibitors. The event was free admission and open to the public. The day included food trucks, a kids’ tent, and artists from potters, to jewelers, to painters, and even robot engineers. Raynor says that if the school will fund the Fall Festival, they have plans to make it an annual event.
Kenzie Allred, senior, said the Fall Festival was the greatest experience she could have asked for since it gave her the opportunity to publicize her business as well as make a profit. Her business is called Printology Letterpress, which designs and prints everything from customized stationary and invitations, to coasters.
Allred believes that YOTA will be a great way to increase support for the arts and that many students will apply to compete in the grant program.
The next YOTA event will be the production of “On the Verge” which runs Oct. 9-15 at 7:30 p.m. For the full event calendar, please visit www.highpoint.edu/yearofthearts.