The Wake

West of the Mississippi River and between the bricks and mortar that make our campus lives the art fostered by the West Bank Arts Quarter – home to the innovative student group the Arts Quarter Collective. As one treads the pavement past Anderson Hall and Wilson Library the arts get closer. There, near the edge of the West Bank Campus, the visual and performing arts are housed and separated by walls and university departments. But these physical divisions disappear when the Arts Quarter Collective meets for their unique events. The student group acts as a catalyst for interdisciplinary artwork and collaborative arts events, developing a forum for art creation and discussion at the university.

Collaboration is the driving force behind the Arts Quarter Collective’s work, as is building a community for artists. “It offers an opportunity for people who love the arts and who enjoy cross-discipline work a place to meet other like minded people, and to foster community in this warren of departments that we have as a university,” says Elliot Lynch, the group’s vice president. The Arts Quarter Collective also enables students to realize new ideas and projects, which can fuel career development opportunities. The group opens up artistic doors at the university. “This is an opportunity for students to become involved in more than one arts discipline and to make use of all arts areas on campus unique to the University of Minnesota,” says board member Julia Kouneski.

The Arts Quarter Collective’s events span visual and performance arts. This mission brings artists from all disciplines together, making the West Bank Arts Quarter thrive with known and unknown art forms. “The events that we have curated have provided many many artists with a great venue for their work and to break a lot of ground,” Lynch says. “This is a chance for people to take risks outside of their classroom space, and at the same time engage the physical environment of the Arts Quarter.”

Last fall’s ARTSmosis event, the group’s major activity for the year, is a good example of what the group does. The event brought sculpture and dancers together in a piece titled “Emergencia de Evolución,” which dared to ask “are we changing nature or is nature changing us?” Musical performers also jammed on the steps of the Rarig Center while art student Ben Jennings played with fire in a piece called “Fire Organ.” Dancers took over the walkways in the Regis Center for Art to create an illuminated movement piece for nighttime entertainment. Because of these inventive art expressions ARTSmosis has made a large impression on those who have participated. Kouneski was first introduced to the Arts Quarter Collective during their fall event her freshman year at the university. “I especially remember the performance with an iron pour and dancers in the dark. It gave me that wonderful feeling that for me only comes from art. Right then I thought to myself, I want to be a part of this,” Kouneski says.

However the group’s activities are not limited to planning ARTSmosis. Recently the student group received a grant from the Beautiful U Day funds to improve vacant lots and create a commons area for the West Bank. The Arts Quarter Collective is in conversation with the Art Department, Grounds Management, and other students to use the funds to revamp an open space east of the Barbara Barker Dance Center. They are also hard at work planning the upcoming Springboard Grant Writing Workshop. The workshop aims to help artists (or anyone) with the grant writing process, an invaluable skill to know. The workshop will be held at the Regis Center’s In-Flux auditorium on April 12 at 7 pm and is free for everyone. For more information, visit Springboard’s Web site http://www.springboardforthearts.org/.

Another event coming in April is the 6th annual AIDS Charity Cabaret, which benefits Open Arms of Minnesota. Traditionally, the event was coordinated in the Department of Theatre Arts, but this year the Arts Quarter Collective will team up with two of the older organizers to put together the fund-raiser. The event boasts entertainment, giveaways, and an auction of both art objects and instructor/professor lunches. Some of the giveaways include tickets to the Walker Art Center, the Guthrie Theater, Southern Theatre, and much more. The cabaret will take place on April 17 at 7 p.m. in the Rarig Center.

Yet the events that the Arts Quarter Collective organizes serve an additional purpose besides artistic creation. The group also forms bonds and friendships within the art community that are fundamental to the university. When an unexpected accident happened during Kouneski’s piece in last fall’s ARTSmosis she was amazed at everyone’s ability to help in the face of adversity; “I realized that this group is about collaboration not only with projects but also in the form of support and encouragement.” Likewise, Lynch has found the Arts Quarter Collective to be a major social force, “The people I’ve met as a part of this organization have really helped me to see the arts and the community as something that is incredibly important to society as a whole; and I just love getting down with positively motivated individuals.”

To get involved with the Arts Quarter Collective’s volunteer efforts check out the group’s listserv at their website http://www.tc.umn.edu/~aqc. The listserv acts as the major mode of communication for the group where members and former members post event ideas and other information. The listserv is free for anyone to join who is interested in the Arts Quarter and wants to become involved in the arts.