Tag Archives: Event2

The Charleston Museum: Fashion in Fiction

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fashion-in-fiction

The Charleston Museum is known for exhibiting the natural and cultural history of Charleston. They currently have an exhibit called Fashion in Fiction, which is their latest textile exhibit. This exhibit displays the fundamental role that clothing and style play in some of the most popular works of fiction. The styles of clothing and accessories shown are historical but are presented in a more artistic way by including books and illustrations in order to relate the styles to some of the most iconic characters in literature. This is including characters from Jane Austen novels, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and even an outfit that resembles the classic style worn by the beloved Mary Poppins.

As a fan of all of these classic works and characters, I really enjoyed this exhibit. I liked how they connected the history of fashion to the well known characters from literature and it really made me appreciate the subject matter more. Although, since this is only part of a larger exhibit in the museum, I felt like there wasn’t enough to look at. If I had the chance, I would definitely go see a larger exhibit of this same presentation.

The Charleston Museum website does an excellent job in advertising their current exhibits and programs. Their mission statement is also clearly stated on the home page. I found out about the Fashion in Fiction exhibit from the Charleston City Paper website which shows that the museum does well in advertising outside of the organization itself. However, I think the museum could still promote their exhibits more by reaching out to the public, especially here at the college.

I would recommend attending the Charleston Museum and especially this exhibit to anyone who enjoys the art of our history. The Fashion in Fiction exhibit is on display until April 6, 2014 so there is plenty of time to view the beautiful clothing and styles of the past.

 

AMERICAN GOTHIC

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College of Charleston Opera
College of Charleston Opera

On Sunday, October 6th, 2013 at 3pm I attended College of Charleston’s Opera program in the Music Department that present “American Gothic.” It was held in the Recital Hall, which is on the first floor of the Simons Center for the Arts. This music was very operatic and included Broadway ensemble pieces written by American composers. Music teachers Anna Young and David Templeton directed the production, and Irina Peyzner played the piano. There was a large cast of twenty-four singers including everything from freshman to seniors at the College of Charleston.

First of all, I have to say that my music appreciation teacher directed this, so she gave us some insight on what it was going to be like, but to my surprise it was much better than what she made it sound out to be. I was not expecting it to be completely based on Opera and Broadway songs; it was really nice though because it was almost like its own musical. During some songs there were many solos and they all were great and very dramatic like they should have been. The best part was when the entire cast would come out and sing together, it just gave me chills when they all sang. It sounded just like a those choirs you hear in movies, especially when they sang “The Ballad of Sweeny Todd” from the musical Sweeny Todd.

Going to see this concert related to what we discussed in class about having organizational control. As soon as I got there I noticed that there were many people out in the lobby area waiting to get their ticket from the box office. There was only one person at the entrance greeting everyone and taking up tickets, which held up the line to get in. No programs were passed until after 3pm which is when it was suppose to start. Something was wrong with the printer and they had to go somewhere else to print them, that’s why they started a bit late. The director never came up on stage and gave an introduction or a thank you. Someone did go up on stage and gave information, but I figured it would have been the director. Also there was one point where there was no one in the booth in the back who worked the lights and the cast had to wait on the person to get back to the booth because the lights gave a very special effect for this particular song. Things would have ran more smoothly if it was planned accordingly and should have had a back up plan just in case things went wrong. Other than the mishaps that happened I definitely recommend seeing it because the cast was spectacular, unfortunately it was only held on October 5th and 6th. If they have another show whether it’s this semester or next I would definitely try to go!

 

 

 

Theatre 99: Improv Riot

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Saturday night, October 5th, Theatre 99 proved to be the perfect solution to last minute plans with a visiting friend!  The 8:00pm show of the night was the recurring “Improv Riot,” where a selected 5 or 6 of the 18 member performing cast feed off of audience suggestions in hilarious off-the-cuff skits.  In the intimate theatre, presenting to a full house, the show began with a warm-up for the audience.  This twist was especially helpful for the unsure first timers of the audience.  It established a relationship between the audience and the performers, as well as the atmosphere of the rest of the show.  The cast had great energy and quickly responded to unpredictable audience suggestions.  If the onstage action didn’t have you laughing-out-loud, the underhanded comments from the announcer were sure to have you rolling.

As we have learned in class, one of the most important qualities of an arts manager is to be able to adapt to changing environments.  In a unique way, improvisational acts, such as the “Improv Riot,” are a representation of adaptations to the economic, political, social, demographic, technological, and educational external environments.  Audience involved improv is almost entirely based on the impacts of these external environments.  For example, Theatre 99 is able to evaluate their expected local demographic by maintaining relationships through their Facebook page.  Aside from that, however, the performers most likely use the audience warm-up as an immediate demographic evaluation to get a feel of how the night will play out.  Another example is a sketch where the cast asks for audience members to volunteer their phones to be involved.  This technological adaptation uses real text messages from audience phones in the hilarious improvised skit.

Because of the unpredictable nature of improv, shows are likely to be hit or miss, but this night was definitely a hit!  I will without a doubt return to Theatre 99 for future performances, and so should you! Especially with prices averaging $5-$10, Theatre 99 is can’t-miss-entertainment  in Charleston.

in!Genius

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On Wednesday, September 25th, I attended the College of Charleston’s in!Genius event at the Sottile Theatre. The event consisted of multiple speakers presenting stories regarding their experiences in their different fields of study. I greatly enjoyed the event. I thought there was a very nice atmosphere, the speakers did a great job keeping the audience interested, and it was just overall a good time. The one downside was that some of the speakers went over their time limits, so the event lasted longer than the one-hour time frame.

Looking back at the event I can see a few points that actually relate to our recent discussion of operational control. While the event went smoothly for the most part, there were points where it was clear that more organizational control was necessary. The biggest example being the speakers who spent too long on stage. If it had been a bigger priority to stress the importance of the time frame to the speakers, it is likely they would have tried harder to adhere to it. Another time when more control and clarity were needed was when the prizes were being awarded at the beginning. It was a bit unorganized, as the winning seat number the emcee was initially calling out was nonexistent, and it took a few minutes for everything to get back on track at that point.

In the end, I would definitely recommend this event to others. I think it was a very interesting experience.

Monday Night Concert Series

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The Monday Night Concert Series is a long running tradition maintained by the Department of Music here at the College of Charleston. Every fall and spring semester, the Monday Night Concert Series showcases a variety of artists including students, staff, and guest performers in the Simmons building recital hall. I had the pleasure of attending this past Monday’s concert. It was a beautiful mix of piano and violin played by two very skilled artists for what might have been the most enriching hour of my week. Micah Gangwer was stoic but stellar as he coaxed each piece from his violin. Robin Zemp may have looked small in comparison to Gangwer, but the sounds that burst forth from his piano were big enough to fill the room (perhaps even more so than his partner’s). The show lacked fanfare or excessive niceties, but that did not take away from the experience in my opinion. A simple introduction given by a student provided the only words necessary for Gangwer and Zemp. They came on quietly and they left quietly, but they filled the spaces between each pause with perfectly executed explosions of music.

I consider it a privilege to have been able to experience so much talent for free through the department of music, but I’m sure the department knows what a great opportunity for revenue that it’s missing out on. I’m positive the department realizes the killing it could make from charging students, even if it were only a fraction of what they charge everyone else. We talked a little bit in class about “selling out”. Perhaps the department feels it would be doing students a disservice that would diminish attendance by charging them to attend the Monday Night Concert Series. Maybe the department would consider it (figuratively) “selling out” to (literally) sell out. I know that students would certainly be a little shocked if the Monday Night Concert Series suddenly began to charge them, but I don’t think that it would stop them from going or make them lose faith in the series. Even though the business minded part of me disagrees with free admission, I still admire the department of music for being so kind to College of Charleston students.

The Monday Night Concert Series is something that I would recommend to anyone who loves music. The tickets are still incredibly cheap (just ten bucks…) for non-students, and you can’t see better performances anywhere for that price.

To see what’s going on next Monday, please visit http://music.cofc.edu/.

In!Genius

ingenius

 

Wednesday, September 25th

Sottile Theatre

On Wednesday, September 25th I attended the In!Genius event held at CofC’s Sottile Theatre. The event was advertised as “a night of free thinkers and free stuff.” In one hour, seven individuals presented something that made them unique and they wanted to share with the community. All the presenters were in some way associated with CofC whether they were students, faculty, staff or alumni.

The event was based on a simple idea of giving presenters a short amount of time to share their story and message with the audience. It was a similar set-up to TED talks as the presenter was standing alone on stage alone, sometimes with a PowerPoint on behind them, but they all were well prepared and did not use notes to speak. One student who is a computer science major shared his success creating mobile apps that have been recognized by several magazines. Another student shared her experience travelling in Asia where she applied her Hindi studies to empower impoverished women. My favorite presentation was from the director of the women and gender studies program who shared her experience raising her daughter with Down syndrome. Each presentation was entertaining because it was unique and so different from the next one. The presenters clearly shared their points and shared some overall lesson they learned for the audience to take away from it. Most presenters kept to the time limit, but it was obvious when they exceeded it.

During the event I began thinking about our class discussion about SWOT analyses. One of the event’s strengths was its ability to connect people and audiences whose paths may have never crossed. The collaboration between offices and departments was very apparent and offered a unified image of the CofC community something that is necessary when appealing to an outside audience like potential donors or perspective students.

I really enjoyed the event because the presenters made clear and concise points with some final thought or lesson to take away from it. I hope to attend the next one and highly recommend this event to others!

 

Photography and the American Civil War

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DP281452_smallFor my second ARTM event I decided to go see the new exhibit at the Gibbes Museum called Photography and the American Civil War. The exhibit opened September 27th. and will conclude on January 5th. The photographer of the entire exhibit was a man named Matthew B. Brady, according to the wall mounts their were not too many people taking pictures at this time. I thought parts of the exhibit was extremely gory. Some of the photos were very cool though, they had some landscapes of just rubble and battlefields and those I thought were somehow pleasant in there chaos, like the calm after the battle has finally set in. However, there was an entire room dedicated to what looked like  pictures of wounded soldiers and medical procedures, its like they were keeping a record. Pretty gruesome.

I thought that going to the Gibbes would be a good call for this art event. All of the examples of non profits we have been talking about in class have been  big museums in New York, most of which I have been to, but then I realized I had never been to the “big” museum in Charleston. The Gibbes is also an institution with a lot of moving parts, curators and management and a full staff. It doesn’t strike me as the type of museum where people are doing two different jobs which is another aspect we have addressed in class, a full staff.

I would recommend this to anyone really. The black and whites were really cool. The old newspapers were very cool too. They had rewards for signing up for war and bounty out on people heads. I would avoid the room with all the gore, no one needs that in their life.

As It Is In Heaven

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Tuesday, October 8th, I attended the play As It Is In Heaven put on by  the College of Charleston’s theatre department. The play was written and directed by Beth Lincks, who I was fortunate enough to have as an Intro to Theatre professor last year. From an artistic point of view, the play was wonderful. The play was about a shaker village in Kentucky around 1838. The story line was a little difficult to follow at times, but the performances by each of the actresses was marvelously done and made it very interesting to watch.

From a managing point of view, there was definitely room for improvement. Overall, the whole production went very well. However, the beginning of the experience was a little stressful. I was not aware beforehand that I could buy a ticket online. By the time I had gotten there, the show was sold out so I had to wait in a separate line until shortly before showtime when they began selling unclaimed tickets. Because people kept coming in late, they didn’t start  selling the extra tickets until 7:30, when the show was supposed to be starting. When I finally got my ticket and took it into the theater, it turned out the ticket I was given was for a different day. I took the ticket back out to the box office and, thankfully, was given the correct ticket. Everything worked out fine and I was able to enjoy the show, but there could have been better organization for ticket sales. Unfortunately, Tuesday’s performance was the last of this show, but I would suggest this play to anyone who has a chance to see it in the future.

As It Is In Heaven

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On Monday night, October 7, 2013, I had the pleasure of seeing As It Is In Heaven by Arlene Hutton. Put on by  the College of Charleston Theatre Department, the production took place in the Emmett Robinson Theatre in the Simons Center for the Arts. I was lucky enough to attend with a friend of mine who works for the theatre department and was able to inform me that the director, Beth Lincks, is in fact the same person as the playwright. It turns out that, “Arlene Hutton,” is Beth Linck’s pen name. I thought it was fantastic that the school was able to bring in the original writer of the play to direct it, securing its authenticity to the original vision for the play.

Although I know most of my friends who saw the performance were incredibly bored throughout the duration of the show, I actually enjoyed it. I would not use the word, “love,” to describe my experience, but I liked getting insight about what it was like to be a Shaker. I truly felt like I had learned a lot about the Shaker way of life . I also thought that, although it was not necessarily a musical, the singing and dancing in the show made it all the more enjoyable to watch and the actors were very talented singers. I would recommend this performance to the open-minded and to those with low expectations. If you go into the show with those mentalities, then I think you will be pleasantly surprised and get a lot out of it. On the other hand, if you’re prepared to be blown away by modest lives of The Shakers, this may not be the play for you.

Another great performance by CofC!

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For my second and favorite event so far event, I purchased a last minute ticket to see “As it is in Heaven” by The College of Charleston Department of Dance and Theatre. The theatre Emmett Robinson) was a packed house to say the least with a good variety of students and donors.  It was located in the Simmons Center right across from our classroom. It was interesting to see the first four or five rows were packed with elders of the community. These people I understood were mostly patrons of the Colleges department.

As stated in the program handed out “Theatre and Dance productions made in part by…” there were quite a number of people who were strong supporters/sponsors. This was nice to see especially because they are what keep the Arts Organizations going. This event was $10 for students and $15 for general admission. I thought that was fair pricing considering the majority of the audience was college students.This play only showed from October 3rd to 8th unfortunately. Although, there are many upcoming events coming soon that you may be interested in

The play in particular was splendid and had great taste. The actors seemed so excited to be out on stage. It was all girls in this play. They were shakers in a small town living a particular religion, not associating with the “outsiders.” The girls were super enthusiastic and enjoyed acting.

Overall, the experience was joyful as always and not at any point dull. I highly recommend seeing plays by CofC as well as other local places. Thanks for reading!