In celebration of artistic achievements this year, the Ent Center will soon transform into a place the community can use to find a home in the arts.
UCCS’ Visual and Performing Arts Festival will feature artistic student works from May 6 to May 8 that demonstrate different interpretations of the theme “Always Almost Home.” Art pieces interpreting the theme will be accepted through the submission form until April 19 at 11:59 p.m.
Interim VAPA Chair Teresa Meadows said that all students and alumni can submit their work.
“The [VAPA student council] this year wanted to make it very clear that it is open to students across the campus, not just VAPA majors, to submit their work to be part of this,” Meadows said.
The submission form lists 15 broad categories of mediums to consider, allowing the VAPA program to gather and represent everything students have to offer in one place.
According to the council’s visual arts representative Amadea Katz, the theme was inspired by a question on many peoples’ minds: How can society go back to normal after enduring the past few years?
“That can be optimistic, and that can also be a little scary,” Katz said.
VAPA student council art history representative Aileen Sullivan believes that the festival this year will differ when it comes to the atmosphere surrounding the pandemic. “This year, a lot of that anxiety is kind of lifted and the excitement surrounding the festival is back,” she said.
Dance representative Kaley Corinaldi believes this year’s events will satisfy a vital need for students to showcase their work. “A lot of people are going to finally have that opportunity to perform and express the art that they’ve been working on in class or outside of class,” she said.
Creating an event full of excitement and enjoyment is the main goal the VAPA student council hopes to achieve. Students will get to experience the festival in its entirety for the first time since the pandemic. “The idea is to have a weekend of art that is as lively and present as possible,” Meadows said.
“This festival is really just kind of an end of the year celebration for everything that the VAPA department does,” Sullivan said.
The festival will begin on May 6 at 3:30 p.m. with an opening ceremony, where students will hear an a cappella performance and view the work of a dance group.
For more information and announcements regarding events and pricing, students can visit the VAPA Festival’s Instagram account.