The Forum: Music/theater arts student fee
The Forum is the students’ chance to ask questions of the USU administration. Questions can be sent to editor@statesman.usu.edu.
I recently overheard two students who were collapsed in a heap between classes in a hallway in Old Main. They were bemoaning the university fees they had to pay and in particular the music/theater arts fee. (The music/theater arts fee is $3.50 per semester and gives a student entrée to music and productions at USU.) I took a deep breath and visualized the conversation I wanted to have with these two students.
The music/theater arts fee provides not only a terrific financial deal, it provides access to outstanding music and theater events that should be part of every student’s university experience. The fee allows a student to attend the four main stage Utah State Theatre productions as well as the Children’s Theatre and Conservatory Theatre. If we consider the cost of a student ticket to theater productions (under a former system before the fee was instituted), then the fee provides a $25 value, and that is for theater productions alone. The music productions are numerous and include a range of performances like chamber music events, student opera productions, and USU Symphony Orchestra concerts.
Finally, a student’s spouse can obtain a “spouse card” and have the same benefits from the music/theater arts fee. What a deal!
Beyond financial considerations, arts literacy (music, theater, art, design) should have a place at the university alongside communicative literacy and quantitative literacy. The music/theater arts fee gives students access to rich, arts and cultural-events opportunities. In the same way we expect university students to learn to write effectively and acquire quantitative skills, the university seeks to challenge students to create with imagination and appreciate a range of artistic endeavors. This is the rationale behind USU’s studies breadth course, USU 1330, Creative Arts.
The arts communicate to us about the human experience. This communication can be an exhortation to action. For example, the play, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which opens in USU’s Morgan Theatre on Nov. 21, calls us to fight prejudice and discrimination at every turn. This communication can also be about musical representations of creative imagination in humor, despair, celebration, indeed the range of human emotions and experiences.
As these thoughts raced through my head, I considered, “You’re getting awfully preachy.”
As I turned to tell the students what I was thinking, I saw them shuffling down the hall. I can only hope they read this article, present their student identification cards at one of the USU ticket offices or at the performance venue, and take advantage of the vibrant cultural events to which their fees entitle them.
Gary Kiger is the interim dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Comments can be sent to him at gary.kiger@usu.edu.