Venturing outside of the lecture hall
Nearly 1,000 Utah State University students are learning each semester that to become a citizen and a scholar, they need to be personally involved in the arts.
Tom Peterson, instructor for USU’s Creative Arts and Art Symposium courses, said he offers his students an education that he feels cannot be completely obtained by merely sitting in a lecture hall.
Peterson’s courses were designed to expose students to a wide variety of creative arts while fulfilling breadth and depth education requirements for graduation. Students are required to attend several art-related performances and exhibits throughout the semester, he said.
When the courses were created initially, there was some concern among Cache Valley community members that students were purchasing all the available tickets for performances and then acting inappropriately during them.
Julie Hollist, former director of marketing for the Ellen Eccles Theatre and current director of the Cache Valley tourist council, said in the past, students would come dressed in sweats, ball caps, cut-off jeans and football jerseys. Students would talk on cell phones, send text messages, play games, put their feet on seats and even make out during performances.
“This behavior changed the experience community members were having at the theatre,” Hollist said. “Community members complained that the students behaved and dressed inappropriately and that they could no longer enjoy the experience as they had before.”
Hollist said with the combined efforts of Peterson, theater ushers and ticket office staff, students are more educated and are now behaving and dressing more appropriately. She praised Peterson for his efforts to expand appreciation for live performance.
“It always surprises me how many students have never once attended a live performance,” Hollist said. “I am so happy that he is exposing thousands of students to the wonder and inspiration of live performance.”
Peterson said, “My objective is to help students continue to make the arts part of what enriches their lives.”
To help reach his objective, Peterson teaches his students what is necessary to fully appreciate a performance. His emphasis is to educate his students that in order to get the most benefit, they must be aware of the proper etiquette and attire for attending a presentation.
“Life is more than T-shirts and blue jeans,” he said.
Peterson states in his course syllabus, “if an event is worth attending, investing of both your time and money, then surely it is worth the effort of taking a few minutes to be certain that we are dressed appropriately.” The wearing of hats, T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops to a production is not allowed and will result in a student not receiving credit for attending the performance, he said.
There has been considerable change with his students who, for the most part, adhere to the standards. The Cache Valley Center for the Arts committee has been very appreciative and complimentary about the attendance of university students, Peterson said, who is also president elect of the committee.
One production students were able to attend this year for extra credit in Peterson’s Creative Arts class was “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”
One of the leading performers in the musical, Laura Whitesides Wilson, was appreciative of the attendance of so many college students. The youthfulness of the audience could be sensed from stage, she said.
“Young people are just more reactive to what’s happening,” Wilson said. “They feed off each other and the performers feed off the crowd.”
Wilson said the way people behave and dress during a performance shows their respect for the performers. She said the substantial amount of time performers put into creating a production demands the respect from the audience.
Response from students toward Peterson’s courses has been positive, Peterson said. An average of 500 students enroll in Art Symposium (USU 3330) per semester and at least that many students take the lower-division Creative Arts (USU 1330).
Noah Riley, a junior in public relations, said he enjoys the Art Symposium and experiencing a variety of arts.
“I like to think that I’ve always appreciated the arts, but now I’ll be more inclined to go more frequently,” he said.
As a growing number of students have shown interest in the arts, many other professors and departments at USU are now taking advantage of the wide variety of arts presented in Cache Valley. Hollist said there are are a variety of professors who are now recommending that their students attend performances available through the Eccles Theatre, Caine Lyric Theatre, and USU theater, music and art departments.
“I know some of the students resent it, but others are having their eyes opened to a lifetime of future fulfillment and enjoyment by experiencing live performance,” Hollist said.
-jhrash@cc.usu.edu