‘Artists’ Night Out’ gives students another outlet for artistic expression

Dozens of students clustered in the Center for the Arts atrium to watch a wide variety of acts Saturday, Oct. 24. Organized and hosted by student-run SPIN Theater, the event, “Artists’ Night Out,” was created to give students a different kind of opportunity to share their art.

“There are so many planned events with auditions that we wanted to create something more casual where there’s less pressure and students can have fun,” Paige Armstrong (‘12), a SPIN member who helped run the event, said.

Anyone was welcome to sign up, from art majors to biology majors. Students crowded into the atrium to enjoy cookies, cider and the performances in a laid-back setting.

The casual atmosphere allowed students to share art that was less conventional from acts one sees at campus talent shows. Dylan Syverson (‘10) and Michael Harms (‘10) plugged in to perform what they call “computer folk” music.

“We were looking for another open mic opportunity after we played at Marty’s,” Harms said.

The duo, known as “Scholl,” thought the more casual atmosphere of “Artists’ Night Out” would host a more receptive audience for their musical style than the open mic nights at Marty’s.

Another group of musicians, an unnamed barbershop quartet that started merely two weeks ago, performed for the first time at the event. The group received enthusiastic feedback from the audience.

“It was a good gateway to perform, since it was less formal,” said singer Shane Wilson (‘13).

Each of the eight performances differed widely from one another. The event started in Dance Studio 1 to showcase a dance group, then moved into the atrium where acts including poetry, jazz singing, a guitar and voice duet and a preview of the upcoming dance show, “Smoke & Jazz.”

Armstrong hopes that future events will offer even more variety.

“We would like to have more visual artists come to do live art, like sculpting or painting,” Armstrong said.

This was the first such event SPIN Theater has put on, and was, in many ways, an experiment.

“We wanted to reach out and recognize arts as a whole, not just as musical performance,” Armstrong said.

While this event was relatively small, SPIN Theater hopes to see more acts and more audience members at future events such as this one.

“This is just a small start to something we hope will become more regular and more open to everyone,” Armstrong announced at the end of the event.