UW-Stout now offers minor in the performing arts
With Wisconsin’s public universities feeling the strain of budget cuts, it’s comforting to know that there’s still progress being made and passion unshaken by hard times. Starting this fall, UW-Stout is offering a performing arts minor to its students.
“Many students come to UW-Stout because they have a keen interest in preparing themselves for a specific career,” Hui says. “But whether they come for plastic engineering or early childhood education, many students crave to continue their love in music or theater.” – Jerry Hui, UW-Stout director of choral activities, on the performing arts minor the university is now offering
For many, the import of the performing arts isn’t readily clear. Their utility isn’t as apparent as that of the hard sciences or the other more polytechnic offerings available to students at UW-Stout, but Dr. Jerry Hui, the university’s director of choral activities, believes in the far-reaching positive influence a performing arts minor can bring both to students and the wider community.
“Many students come to UW-Stout because they have a keen interest in preparing themselves for a specific career,” Hui says. “But whether they come for plastic engineering or early childhood education, many students crave to continue their love in music or theater.”
But beyond providing a structured creative outlet for students, the hope is that the new performing arts minor will help to inform the more technical majors. Christina Scinto, a student who has taken on the new minor, shares this hope. “If the more technical-minded students are willing to take music classes, they can easily improve and enhance many skills,” she says. “Being able to play, read, and write music helps with brainpower, critical thinking, and hand-eye coordination. Also, taking on other performing arts classes – such as theater – can help creativity, comprehension, and open-mindedness.”
And the facts back it up. A 2013 survey conducted by Time magazine demonstrated that 72 percent of Americans consider creativity to be important in the current economy, while 62 percent say that creativity is more important to success in the workplace than they had anticipated. In addition, a 2008 study by the Conference Board, a nonprofit business research group, found that 99 percent of employers value creativity in their employees and that 56 percent said an education in the arts is the most significant indicator of creativity.
Whether it’s the statistics or the more palpable enthusiasm of students and faculty, support for this new minor is felt throughout the university, with professors and administrators of all backgrounds understanding what a move such as this can mean for the university and its students in the future. And with the UW-Stout Chamber Choir and the Blue Devil Jazz project set to tour and perform across five cities in China this coming summer, the future is looking very bright indeed.
Come to Menomonie to see the musical talents of UW-Stout in action: the UW-Stout Symphonic Singers & Chamber Choir will present “Heavy Metal & Machinery” 7:00pm Friday, December 4 at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church and the UW-Stout Symphonic Band & Blue Devil Jazz Project will perform 2:00pm Sunday, December 6 at Great Hall, Memorial Student Center. Tickets for both events will be 5$ and can be purchased online at http://tickets.uwstout.edu or at the door prior the concert. To learn more about UW-Stout’s performing arts minor, visit www.uwstout.edu/performingarts.
Want to see some of UW-Stout’s performing arts students at work? At 7pm Friday, Dec. 4, the UW-Stout Symphonic Singers and Chamber Choir present a program titled “Heavy Metal & Machinery” at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 910 Ninth St. E, Menomonie. The following day at 2pm the UW-Stout Symphonic Band and Blue Devil Jazz Project will perform in the Great Hall of the Memorial Student Center on the UW-Stout campus in Menomonie. Tickets for either event cost $5.
