Meadows students from all disciplines will showcase their talents at the first annual Meadows Fair, The BoulevART, a school-wide event that will take place on April 24.
Funded by Student Senate, the project will be co-directed by senior communications major Anthony McAuliffe and sophomore theatre major
Becca Rothstein.
“We’ve really noticed a huge disconnect with Meadows and the rest of the school, so it would be very nice to showcase what happens in Meadows so people see what happens so they can support fellow mustangs,” McAuliffe said. “We are hoping that this will turn into an annual event where the Meadows senators will take charge of the Meadows Fair committee and completely pull it together.”
This come-and-go event will last from late morning to early evening and the quad outside Dallas Hall will be set up with a large stage, several tents and free food and drink for all.
There will be music, dance and theatre performances on stage, along with visual art galleries and student films playing throughout the day.
With a committee of 19 Meadows students that meet once a week to discuss the details of the project, McAuliffe’s and Rothstein’s vision is taking off.
“I think it’s important because in observing SMU, I’ve seen that there are lots of different communities but not one large strong community, and especially in reference to Meadows in relation with the rest of the school,” Rothstein said. “It’s a way to reach out to the school and to build community and to break down barriers between Meadows and other SMU communities and schools.”
Rothstein explained that she has had conversations with friends outside of Meadows who have expressed their interest in coming to Meadows events, but they are intimidated by the fact that the Owen Arts Center building is so difficult to navigate.
McAuliffe, Rothstein and their team are hard at work researching and brainstorming the ways in which they can best advertise the BoulevART: Meadows Fair so that many non-Meadows students will attend and experience it. They decided to hold the event on a Thursday so that it would be as accessible as possible to non-Meadows majors where students can stop by, get some food, experience the art, talk to the artists and then head to class.
The team has high hopes for the long lasting legacy of the event and how it could potentially increase future audience sizes of Meadows performances of all kinds.
“Meadows students are incredibly creative and intelligent and talented and, unfortunately, our talents are not as available to the rest of the school as they could be,” Rothstein said. “This event will help showcase our talent, will help show the rest of the school what we do as artists and we’ll be able to share our incredible art with them in many different mediums.”
