The Southwestern Arts Festival, hosted by Delta Omicron, is an opportunity for the Fine Arts and other campus departments to come together to share its love and passion of the arts with our campus, the local youth, and their families by providing a day of artistic activities and performances from a variety of content areas. Free and open to the public, the festival will take place on Saturday, April 6, 2013 from 10am to 4pm in the Bishop’s Lounge, McCombs Ballroom, and outside on the Academic Mall. 

The Arts Festival staff has collaborated with the Office of Civic Engagement and the GISD Fine Arts departments to bring students from Georgetown school districts, Duck University, and the Georgetown Boys and Girls Club. SU students participating in the Office of Civil Engagement’s BIG Event will act as “buddies” for the students from Duck University and the Boys and Girls Club during the day, show them around campus, and walk them through the Arts Festival. 

The Arts & Crafts booths will run throughout the day and are provided through collaborations with SU student organizations including Alpha Chi, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Xi Delta, American Chemical Society, Art Association, Circle K, Delta Delta Delta, Mask & Wig, Rotaract, SEAK, Young Democrats, and students from the computer science department. Students from these organizations will provide various activities including face painting, free-expression banner painting, mask making, tie-dye, recycled crafts, t-shirt decorating, a cakewalk, Bead the Change, experiments in electronic audio recording, a Progressive Activist Workshop, and “Hands Across the Visible Light Spectrum.” The festival will emphasize the science and math aspects of the arts, and we are thrilled to have organizations participating, including the music technology department in demonstrating the principles of sound, acoustics, and other aspects of modern music technology. This year each child in attendance (up to 250) will receive a special keepsake tote bag bearing the Arts Festival logo to hold and carry all the crafts and creations from the day. Also running throughout the day will be the instrument petting zoo, where children and adults will have the opportunity to handle and play a variety of musical instruments, from boomwhackers to violins. SU students familiar with each instrument will hold demonstrations and instruct those who wish to learn about playing each instrument. 

The Arts Festival embraces every aspect of the arts, offering educational experiences that will broaden the awareness of all aspects of “art” and its various outlets for expressiveness, creativity, and engagement. A wide variety of organizations are involved in order to connect every content area to the arts and to embrace the fact that the arts surround our lives. In the McCombs Ballrooms, a special art exhibit will showcase SU students’ works, alongside art from students at Annie Purl Elementary, as well as a special art display by the Art Club at Williams Elementary. 

Among the highlights of this year’s festival, San Antonio’s own Mariachi Nuevo Estilo A.D.M. will perform. A full day of events will be held in Bishop’s Lounge and outside on the Academic Mall:

 

10:30 – Cooper Elementary Percussion Ensemble

11:00 – Zumba with Taryn

11:30 – Mariachi Nuevo Estilo A.D.M.

12:00 – Yoga on the Lawn

12:30 – Williams Elementary Percussion Ensemble

1:00 – Cooking Demonstration with Shannon Soltesz, NoRTH Modern Italian Cuisine

2:00 – Zumba with Taryn

2:30 – SU String Quartet

3:30 – Student Composition Showcase: Rescued by Rover, composed by Jeffery McKenzie

 

Also to be added is a harp demonstration, given by SU student and Delta Omicron President, Sara Watson, as well as additional performances to the Student Composition Showcase. 

This event also includes fundraising in the form of a silent auction and donations, with proceeds going to Mr. Holland’s Opus and the MacDowel Colony Fund. Items up for auction include: Spa package at Novita Spa, “Have Your Dog Painted Playing Poker” by Greg Glowka, Family Fun Bowl at Mel’s Lonestar Lanes, a birthday party for 8 at All Things Kids, and much more! 

By bringing together the local area population and the campus, we as a whole have the opportunity to interact with the arts in ways that positively reinforce expression, creativity, and open-mindedness.