The arts have always been a crucial part of Christopher Newport University but many people who don’t spend time in the Ferguson and Torggler or aren’t majoring in something related to the arts, have no idea of all the exciting and constant events that are happening. A new website called Arts@CNU (artsatcnu.org) developed by senior Emma Murphy and junior Harper Minarik introduces all aspects of the arts at CNU and how students and faculty can support and get involved with the different departments, shows, and exhibitions that are constantly happening. With the website debuting this past Friday, I had the opportunity to interview Emma Murphy and Harper Minarik to find out what inspired this innovative idea and how the website can provide useful information.
“It’s an all encompassing, multimedia arts platform so we have the website and then we will also be launching the Instagram, Youtube channel, and blog and you can get to all of that through the website. It’s basically a website about marketing the arts on campus and what’s happening at the Ferguson Center and in student organizations,” Emma Murphy stated. Both she and Minarik are Arts Marketing Interns for the Ferguson Center for the Arts and with the help of executive director Bruce Bronstein, they came up with this resource and just from a quick exploration of the website, there are so many cool aspects such as a calendar that has events listed every day that you can attend related to the arts such as the 15th Annual Dance Concert that opens this Thursday and Friday and even Gamma Phi Beta’s Best Dance Crew that occurs this Saturday. You can find virtually everything you want and need to know within this website. Minarik explained how they hope in the future that new interns will want to take over the website once she and Murphy graduate and that people can get training and continue to grow the website and bring about publicity for it and performances and events on campus. They also want students to know that you don’t have to be directly involved in the arts to manage the site. “I was in choir all through high school so I had that appreciation for the arts as well,” Minarik explained. “But also I played tennis in college and recently quit so it’s been cool seeing the difference with how sports come into your life which is not so often in everyday life versus the fine arts which plays into everything that you do.” Even if you do not sing, paint, or play an instrument, knowing how to give speeches or be interviewed are examples that you can grow in by exposing yourself to the arts.
“We do interviews with students and I realized last year that some people graduate and they don’t know what’s in the Torg or have never been in the Ferguson,” Murphy said when describing why the arts need attention at CNU. “I did interviews last semester and some students don’t even know that the productions the theater department put on are free,” Minarik added and she continued to explain how there are so many fantastic professional shows that come to the Diamonstein Concert Hall that students don’t know you can get discounted tickets for or they simply have no clue at all. Ultimately, CNU is full of vibrant young artists who are just waiting for their talents to be seen and heard so hopefully, these new mediums will help shine a light on all the arts on campus. For more information, you can visit artsatcnu.org and follow their instagram @artsatcnu
