By Camila Bagley ’17, Contributor
The high school community continues to have contrasting notions about the Evening of the Art’s place at Country Day. Evening of the Arts has traditionally been a chance for creative students to gain recognition for a semester’s worth of hard work by performing or displaying their art. However, due to heavy criticism of the night accompanied by competition in the form of a casual visual arts presentations at assembly, some students believe it’s time to let go of Evening of the Arts.
One such student, an anonymous junior, claimed, “No one would go to Evening of the Arts if we weren’t forced to,” and that “our school should understand that with such a heavy course load and with daily sports practices students cannot be expected to dedicate their Thursday night to an elective.” This is not an unpopular opinion- in fact Sarah Jarrell ’18, an advocate for the event, even admits that she “probably wouldn’t go if [she] wasn’t forced to.” Nevertheless, it is important to note that students are not required to stay for the duration of the night, but are only obligated to make a short appearance if their work is on display or if they are performing.
More criticism of the night stems from the disrespect exhibited by some students last year who touched the art and left a trail of food and trash across the school. “It was a mess last year,” says Katie Jamison ’16, and “the middle-schoolers were running absolutely wild.” Ms. Lichty-Smith reiterated this re-counting of last year’s Evening of the Arts and added, “If Evening of the Arts is going to stay it needs a bit of a face-lift. What the Fine Arts Team and I learned from last year was that some students still need to learn how respectfully to engage with art.” Ms. Lichty-Smith expanding by saying that any future Evening of the Arts will be formatted to hopefully “give students a more genuine learning experience where they can learn to respectfully analyze and observe art.”
Ms. Lichty-Smith is not only a supporter of reformatting and keeping Evening of the Arts, but also advocates the fine arts presentations at assemblies. “I’m excited because I think students need more art more frequently and it helps that it’s in a casual setting.” Bryce Flannigan ’17 said that he prefers the assemblies to Evening of the Arts because, “each work gets its own spotlight and we’re actively observing them as they’re presented.” In opposition, an anonymous sophomore claims that “everyone just sleeps during assemblies.” He also adds that, “no one is actually appreciating any of the art because we’re being forced to go to assemblies just like Evening of the Arts.” Although it is true that there is required attendance at assemblies, it is of note that no student is being graded on the assemblies, as is the case with Evening of the arts. Sarah Jarrell ’18 hopes both Evening of the Arts and assemblies continue and believes that “the art presentations at assemblies and Evening of the Arts could work well together if the assemblies acted as an advertisement for Evening of the Arts.”
Erica Glosby ’17 believes that the reason Evening of the Arts is superior to the art presentations is that “Evening of the Arts fosters community.” She considers Evening of the Arts one of the most special school events of the year and “[thinks] that it’s important for art students to have recognition the way athletes do with banquets and sports assemblies.” This popular sentiment among fine arts students along with the plan to discard the old model of Evening of the Arts makes Ms. Lichty Smith believe that “it’s very likely Evening of the Arts is here to stay. We’re working hard to make it better- its moving parts right now.”
Do you think Evening of the Arts should stay? Comment below!
Image Source: http://www.sodahead.com/living/have-you-ever-been-to-an-art-show/question-4760614/
