Public performance, community and creative arts programs, design consultations

Creating Artwork for the Community
by Haven Tucker

For my engagement experience I fabricated and installed a large welded metal sculpture at a local sculpture garden. As a sculptor with both smithed and foundry-cast metalworking experience, I furthered my own skills in the area of welded metalworks by creating a site-specific large-scale sculpture to be donated and permanently installed within the Rhoneymeade sculpture garden. The piece explored conceptual notions of materiality in addition to the relationship between nature and so-called “industrial materials” (i.e. metal).

I feel that art is an important social and cultural facet; as such contributing to the local artistic community was of great importance to me. In addition, this opportunity allowed me to take the skills and knowledge that I have learned in the class, and apply those to an outside of class endeavor.

This experience is exactly what my class studies have been preparing me to do. I have studied aspects of outdoor installation, welding, and how to successfully develop and fabricate a work of art. This project allowed me to utilize all of those things and synthesize them into a beautiful work of art.

Through the course of this experience I learned how to troubleshoot issues in the fabrication of a work of art outside of a classroom setting, and therefore without the resources of teachers and peers to give feedback and assistance. I gained experience communication with landowners about the potential for installing art on their property. A key thing I learned from this experience was that resources are available for artists like myself to access; grants and other funding can be obtained to assist in the creation of art. This grant gave me great insights into how to go about preparing a grant application and what might be involved in that process. I think all of this information is very applicable to my plans after graduation. Applying for grants, making art, and communicating with landowners and public forums are all skills that will greatly improve my success as an artist, outside of an academic environment.

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Exploring Diversity in Theatre
by Gabriella Benedicto

My SEN funded experience was to write a play exploring diversity in theatre through researching the experiences of women of color and white women and crafting a story in which these two types of women learn to uplift each other. I held three different hour-long conversations with women of color during which we discussed their experiences as black women on a mainly white college campus. I also released surveys for both white women and women of color to provide information on their knowledge of feminism and their experiences at college, which helped me get a better idea of what woman knew of each other’s experience and how I could better portray that information in my play. In March, I have plans to host a reading of my play for Penn State community members.

This experience was important for me mainly because I had felt like I didn’t learn enough about other cultures at college. I am in my senior year and felt like if I wanted to leave college as a more ethical, conscious, and supportive feminist, then I had to open up a dialogue between white women and women of color so that I know how to properly support them, and so that we know how to best support each other going into the ‘real world’. It was amazing to hear from some of the women I had talked to that I was making a difference and making them feel better by just listening to their story and giving them a voice.

Many of my classes have helped me in working on this project. Specifically, my classes that have script analysis components and my history of American musical theatre course. In these courses we learn about how a story is crafted structurally, but also emotionally. We learn about character and action, and analyze how each playwright and composer conveyed their messages. That practice helped me figure out how I wanted to convey my own message, and challenged me to find the best formatting for my play’s structure.

I learned a lot from this experience. Personally, I learned how to be a better ally and that listening is key. This is going to help me move forward in my career with conscious thought on diversity and telling stories of those who need a voice. Professionally, this experience has helped me learn more clearly the procedure of creating a play with a greater purpose than just “entertainment”. It also has helped me learn the procedures on how to actually get a piece of work to the reading and work-shopping stages. When I pursue playwriting post-grad I will be able to walk into a room and understand that process better, having done it at the university level first!

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