Dean's Messages Archive

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the country last March, it quickly became clear to many that the arts were more than creative outlets and modes of cultural expression. Artistic and creative forms of resilience were beginning to emerge in myriad ways.

We watched elaborately edited ensemble performances with each singer occupying a tiny box on our computer screens instead of situated on a well-lit stage. Visual artists took their work in new directions, using unconventional materials and exhibition formats while they grappled with our “new normal.” As an entire industry shut down with no reliable reopen date in sight, theatre professionals figured out how to stage performances via Zoom.

While our current available opportunities to experience the arts in person remain limited, there is no denying what the arts “do.” The arts bring us together. The arts reflect our current circumstances. The arts assist us as we deal with what is likely the most challenging period in our collective lifetimes. The arts help us feel like we are not alone, even if we are no longer together.

As alumni and supporters of the College of Arts and Architecture, I know you are intimately familiar with what the arts “do.” So, you may be wondering how, in the midst of a global pandemic, we are “doing” the arts at Penn State. For sure, it does not look like what you remember or may have experienced when you were a student. What is similar, however, is how our academic and outreach units have continued to offer a robust schedule of visual arts and performance opportunities, visiting artist and scholar lectures, panel discussions, workshops, and educational programming—all in a virtual format.

While it seems like very little of what we do is the “same,” teaching and learning in the arts and design at Penn State is not as different as you might imagine. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our staff and faculty, we have figured out how students can work safely in studios, on stages, and in classrooms. Health guidance and safety protocols have required us to call into question many of our uses of indoor spaces. That is, the likely locations for doing what we do have yielded to other spaces in which we now perform, design, and learn.

Too many students for a rehearsal hall? The Nittany Parking Deck has proven to be a suitable site to rehearse and perform music. Concerned about adequate ventilation in small music and theatre studios? Limit the number of students in the space for 30 minutes, and allow 30 minutes for the air to change before the next group can enter. Design studios are following strict schedules with small numbers of students allowed at one time. Faculty members have developed more sophisticated and creative ways to engage students via remote learning informed by what they experienced during remote instruction last spring. These are but a few examples of how we are making it work.

We cannot “make it work” without your support—as volunteers, as mentors, as donors, and simply as friends. On December 1, you will have an opportunity to support several different initiatives in the College of Arts and Architecture as part of Giving Tuesday: Glee Club Endowment Fund; Blue Band Legacy Fund; Penn State School of Theatre Future Fund; George Trudeau Endowment for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Center for the Performing Arts; K–12 education and diversity programming at the Palmer Museum of Art; and African American Music Festival hosted by Essence of Joy. Check arts.psu.edu and our social media channels in the coming weeks to learn more about how you can contribute to these initiatives. With your support, we can continue to do what we do and “make it work.”

I encourage you to check out some of our virtual programming in the coming weeks and months—I promise you will not regret it! As always, I appreciate your support of and engagement with the College of Arts and Architecture. Thank you.