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About two weeks ago we posted a self-commentary on John Connolly's State of State speech (which you can find HERE). We just wanted to include the video recording of the speech and give another shout out to State of State for this opportunity to elevate the Performing Arts and all of student culture here at Penn State!
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 What are your major/minor(s) and your year?
Senior, Advertising major & Theatre minor How are you involved in PAC, and how long have you been involved? I am PAC’s Communications Director. For my career, I want to work in the marketing/communications department of a music or performing arts venue, so getting involved with PAC is a great way to get experience and have fun! What other performing arts groups are you involved in on campus? I’m in Tapestry Dance Company, where I’m a dancer, choreographer and fundraising chair. What is your favorite thing about PAC? It’s nice to see the organizations collaborate and it’s interesting to learn more about the cool clubs I didn’t even know existed on campus. If you had to describe your performing arts experience at Penn State in one word, what would it be? Incredible. What is your signature karaoke song? There's so many! I'll sing pretty much anything. I guess the top songs are Don't Stop Believin', Party in the USA, Mr. Brightside, and anything by Taylor Swift or Adele... What is your favorite arts experience? I think my favorite arts experience is performing on stage with Tapestry at THON. Every year, we perform a jazz dance to a medley of songs based on a theme such as musicals, boy bands, 80’s, etc. The adrenaline rush that comes with performing in front of thousands of people in the Bryce Jordan Center is amazing. Being at THON for hours and hours is also a really great way to watch other arts organizations perform. John Connolly's commentary on his speech presented at State of State 2016 At the beginning of December, I received some phenomenal news - I was lucky enough to be chosen to speak at the 2016 State of State Conference which elevates issues at Penn State and provides a forum to discuss these concepts. When deciding on what to speak about, many different concepts came to me which ranged from the value of my college degree to how tradition and change play a role in our lives here at Penn State. However, because of my experience bringing the Performing Arts Council to life, I knew that my topic had to focus and relate to the concept of student culture and specifically what it looks like and how it can be changed. I had ample time to write this speech, however as a professional procrastinator the concrete concepts didn't start forming until four weeks before the conference when I began to dig deep into what I've learned while trying to enable change to take place in the performing arts here at Penn State. And then it wasn't until four days before the conference that I was really confident about what I wanted to say. However, the time that it took to put together these ideas enabled me to really begin to understand what it means to change a community here at Penn State and what we've done by changing the performing arts as well. The overall concept of the talk was that student culture here at Penn State can be likened to a fabric, where students make up the stitches when they engage with other students. From a very high vantage point, the entire student fabric looks something like this:  But to make change in the fabric you need to zoom in and analyze how students interact on a small level. So, for example, two students within No Refund Theatre (NRT). These two students could be two actors, two directors, or anyone who makes a connection in this organization. By engaging in their org, they enable the fabric of that club to be strong and (with good leadership) the organization can be changed in positive ways:  Now when you zoom out, you see the connections between two different organizations. Thespians and NRT are a great example because they share office space and this opportunity to interact enables actors to span both organizations. However, as I'm sure many in the arts know, creating these seams in the fabric where two orgs can interact so well is NOT common because it isn't easy. But when you look at the trade-offs (increased mission success, better social dynamics, increased impact at Penn State), the value of org to org interaction is almost immeasurable. But these connections are hard to create and even harder to maintain. That is why organizations like the Performing Arts Council have sprung up. To try and make it easy for groups to form these bonds and make their community greater.  Finally, when you zoom out once more, you can see that there is one more level of student interaction/engagement which spans two different and large pockets of Penn State culture. As intuition would suggest, these students ave the ability to affect the most change at Penn State. However, these students are the ones who face the greatest difficulty because they are trying to hold onto two very large and often incredibly fast moving groups. This then either requires strong leadership to take these positions or strong leadership needs to grow quickly to maintain these connections. There are also safeguards, like Student Leadership Roundtable, which is set up by the administration to prevent these students from slipping by enabling student leaders to engage with their peers.  But overall when we look at the big picture, these levels of engagement aren't perfect and this creates tears and holes in the fabric of the student culture. And in order to fix them, we need to:
1. critically analyze the fabric (because tears like to hide and it is our responsibility to point them out) 2. be constantly believing that positive change is possible 3. we need to find an organization that is doing positive things here at Penn State and join 4. get our peers to join in these organizations as well If we can do these things, we can create a structure that will enable change to take place at Penn State and if we focus those efforts (as PAC has been doing) I believe we can make that happen in the Performing Arts Community as well. A video of John's speech is HERE!  What are your major/minor(s) and your year?
Senior Stage Management Major/ Recreation, Park and Tourism Management Minor How are you involved in PAC, and how long have you been involved? Last January, I heard about PAC at a party from a friend of John and Brian's. I got in touch with John, who I had never met before, and expressed my interest in getting involved. Fast forward a few months and I'm the Vice President, a position which I still hold today. I've had an absolutely fantastic experience learning about and working with student performing arts organizations outside of the School of Theatre. What other performing arts groups are you involved in on campus? I am a Stage Management Major in the School of Theatre and serve as a Student Rep in the School of Theatre Affiliate Program Group, our Alumni Board. What is your favorite thing about PAC? I love watching organizations really talk to each other and realize that they can work together. The a cappella genre's common audition was a direct result of this and made the audition process far more smooth and less stressful for all involved. If you had to describe your performing arts experience at Penn State in one word, what would it be? Wild. What is your signature karaoke song? Lose Yourself by Eminem. Next question. What is your favorite Penn State arts experience? Producing 'WE ARE...On Broadway' this January was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Bringing back Penn State School of Theatre alumni to perform and work with current students at the State Theatre was a dream come true. It also helped me to realize that I truly have a passion for producing. Welcome to the new PAC member spotlight! Each week, we will showcase a member of the Performing Arts Council to get to know us better!  What are your major/minor(s) and your year?
Major: Chemical Engineer Minor: Engineering Leadership Development Year: Senior How are you involved in PAC, and how long have you been involved? As President, I've been involved since the start of the Performing Arts Council in September 2014 when it was just an idea in the heads of a few crazy students. We worked to make it a student organization (which happened in December 2014) and then worked on making connections within the community and building the team up to its current 20 member size! Overall though, I work to see the mission of PAC (to foster a culture in which performing arts can flourish by serving as a resource to student performing arts organizations and their liaison to the University) come to life here at Penn State in any way that I can! What other performing arts groups are you involved in on campus? Penn State Thespians as Treasurer and member What is your favorite thing about PAC? I love all of the people that I get to work with because they all have a passion for the performing arts and Penn State. If you want to be involved with PAC there is no way to separate your love for the performing arts and PSU. And getting to work with those people really infuses excitement into the work because I feel the exact same way. If you had to describe your performing arts experience at Penn State in one word, what would it be? Animated. What is your signature karaoke song? "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson What is your favorite arts experience? My favorite arts experience was the opportunity to technical direct "In the Heights" when the Penn State Thespians produced it in the spring of 2014. I could not have had more fun or worked with a better group of people than during that phenomenal performance! |
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