When people think of NSU, they may think about its many research opportunities, but they often forget about the many expressive outlets available to all students. No matter what their major is, creativity is at their fingertips.
When surrounded by the strictness of science, it can be beneficial to allow oneself to be able to use the arts to maintain individuality.
According to Tennille Shuster, associate professor of visual arts, the arts are what make NSU unique.
“[The arts] provide an outlet for self-expression. I think it brings a lot of culture and value to the students, to the offerings on campus,” Shuster said. “It’s just part of the fabric of what makes us an interesting and diverse population on this campus: being able to express ourselves visually and being able to communicate in a visual form.”
William Adams, associate professor and director of the Razor’s Edge Shark Talent Program, holds a similar view. He said the arts matter everywhere because of the opportunities they hold for expression.
Adams also said the arts are important because they provide a platform to talk about heavy topics, such as NSU’s fall theatrical production of “Dog Sees God.” Adams said, “Many of the themes in “Dog Sees God” are uncomfortable, but we can present them in a theatrical way and then they make the themes palatable and more easily discussed and learned from.”
Luckily, NSU provides multiple opportunities on campus for students to express themselves.
Edward Fitzpatrick, facility manager for the Department of Performing and Visual Arts (PVA), said that arts classes are available for all students, not just PVA majors and minors.
Fitzpatrick also said that PVA events are also available for students to participate in.
“You can also participate in any of our events,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have open auditions for our dance shows, our theatre shows and music concerts. Some of our art exhibitions are open to student entries as well.”
As an example of expressive outlets, Elana Lanczi, associate professor of dance, said Dance Awareness Day is an event promoting different styles of dance to students. She also said that master classes occur fairly regularly.
“Sometimes we bring in artists in a particular genre or professional companies that are in town. We bring them in to work with the students,” Lanczi said.
These classes are available to all students on campus. Some students, of course, might be nervous to immediately jump into performances.
Adams said that PVA classes help overcome those nerves.
According to Adams, “You should do an acting class or a voice and movement class, a beginning voice class, something where you have to get up in front of people and get over your nerves because you just need to get over it.”
Each discipline within the PVA provides a number of opportunities for students to participate in expressive outlets.
“[Students] can always audition and be a part of any of our shows, any student on campus. Any faculty, staff or student can. And we do [multiple] shows a year, so all of those are open to everybody,” Adams said.
Students can also have a more administrative or hands-on experience within the arts, too.
The Don Taft University Center’s second floor houses an art venue called Gallery 217. The gallery is mostly student-run in the fall and houses rotating exhibits.
Shuster said, “It’s great because people can register for the museum studies and gallery practices course [ARTS 3040], but if they’re not, we take lots of volunteers. They come and they help to install the show, unpack, install, patch and paint walls, get everything ready for any of our new opening exhibitions.”
NSU is a research university that offers opportunities for students with different interests, including the arts.
As Lanczi said, “You don’t have to stay right in your discipline, and that’s something that’s unusual about NSU is that we kind of like to have people experiment with other disciplines.”
