Arts groups at Marquette have experienced enormous success over the past few years. The Meladies, one of several a cappella groups on campus, competed at the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella. The Marquette University Symphony Orchestra was named as a runner-up for best classical music ensemble by the Shepherd Express.
Marquette’s arts website, www.marquette.edu/arts, has been updated to reflect these successes. The website underwent a complete makeover recently, designed to showcase the various groups and organize information more clearly.
Currently, the various arts programs are spread thinly between the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Communication and several other student clubs and organizations. Dr. Joel Flunker, director of the symphonic band, said the arts programs typically have little interaction with each other.
“In general, the things we do are things that we’ve done for a while, and they tend to be pretty much focused on band,” Flunker said. “There isn’t a whole lot of collaboration as far as that goes.”
Until the recent update, Marquette’s website has reflected this fragmentation, with each program being listed under its respective college or student organization. Flunker said he believes many prospective and current students have found this confusing.
“(The old website) was always so fragmented, and that’s really not the way the university is organized, and they thought that the website should reflect that … It certainly makes sense,” Flunker said.
The updated website is the brainchild of Marquette’s Office of Marketing and Communication. They consulted a committee of faculty who represented the various arts programs.
“(The OMC) wanted to examine the current state of the arts at Marquette and ways advance some of them and give them the spotlight that they need,” Courtney Buvid, theatre operations coordinator for Marquette Theatre, said.
Buvid said she hopes the consolidation of the arts programs can allow for more collaboration in the future.
“I think that the theater can tie in nicely with some of the projects going on in the College of Communication … There is overlap between some theater classes that we have, as well as digital media like radio, TV and film.”
Sally Spannagle is a marketing specialist at the OMC. She said one of the committee’s recommendations was to consolidate the arts into one concise place.
“Our colleagues who lead some of these arts programs asked us to create a site that would combine and highlight different aspects of the arts scene at Marquette University,” Spannagle said in an email.
The website is designed to be a digital arts guide, showcasing art-related events, classes and organizations in one place. It also features an events calendar which lists public events across each of the programs.
“Students, faculty, staff and visitors can go to this page for a comprehensive listing of the wide variety of arts events we have on campus,” Spannagle said. “We are also encouraging arts groups or those hosting arts-related events to help populate the calendar.”
