Applications for Arts House Program Due March 23

Applications for residency in Lafayette’s Arts Houses, located at 623, 626, 641, and 643 Parsons Street (behind the Williams Center for the Arts), are due Tuesday, March 23.

Forms are available from Allison Quensen Blatt, Williams Center operations director, in Williams Center room 133. Interviews for applicants will be scheduled during the first week of April. Applications are reviewed by a committee of Williams Center staff and graduating Arts House residents.

The Arts Houses are home to as many as 12 students who serve as the leadership for the Arts Society, a group of musicians, actors, visual artists, designers, dancers, directors, writers, and avid performance-goers, and winner of the 2002-2003 Hoff Award for Outstanding Cultural Group. Residents, as the steering committee for the Arts Society, are each required to chair or organize one Arts Society event or program per semester.

Lafayette Arts Society meets several times a semester, in addition to getting together for programs and activities. It works with the constituent organizations of the Williams Center for the Arts (Performance Series, College Theater, Art Gallery, and music and art departments) to advance the presence of the fine and performing arts on campus. The Arts Society sponsors, presents, and manages regular, ongoing arts-related programs and activities, as well as special events open to all students. All members are expected to participate in Arts Society activities, including fundraising, and to frequently attend performances and events presented by the constituent organizations of the Williams Center for the Arts.

Members receive discounts or other privileges for some cultural events, including two free College Theater tickets and discounts for art department trips to Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In addition, this school year’s off-campus schedule includes trips to Broadway performances of Movin’ Out and Wicked; trips to Deer Head Inn for dinner and live jazz (one per semester); and Forks of the Delaware Shad Fishing Tournament and Celebration Doo-Dah Parade May 2 (last year’s marching unit, A School of Fish, was judged Wackiest Entry).

Campus activities for 2003-04 include:

• Second Annual Pre-Game Block pARTy (the 2002 pARTy won the Hoff Award for Program of the Year);
• An Afternoon of A Cappella concert to benefit Friends of Lafayette Music;
• Arts Careers Exploration Series;
• Swingin’ at Marlo’s swing dance party March 5;
• Photo caption contests (one per semester), Little Shop of Horrorsticket giveaway at the campus blood drive;
• Café Night, an evening of performances at Gilbert’s (one per semester);
• Fringe Karaoke and Nacho Bar, in conjunction with College Theater’s annual Fringe festival;
• Red Carpet Party for the Academy Awards; Progressive Dinner;
• Post-performance receptions for all College Theater and Performance Series events, the group’s major fundraising activity;
• Publication party forMarquis literary magazine in December; guitar jam sessions (several each semester);
• Co-sponsorship of dance classes (swing and jazz) with Recreation Services, with Arts Society members enrolled for a substantial discount;
• Monday Night Karaoke at Gilbert’s March 29;
• two free College Theater tickets for each member.

Students living in the Arts Houses pay off-campus housing rates and must arrange for their own telephone, Internet, and cable television service.