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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/2/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
August 21, 2002 Weidner is also about education Opinion column By Briana Fahey
The Weidner Center is the largest performing arts center in the state that is affiliated with a university. This nonprofit facility provides many educational opportunities to the students at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Students studying the art and craft of theater benefit greatly from the Weidner Center. I know. I graduated last December with a degree in theater. With the Weidner right "across the street," the UWGB Theatre Department has many opportunities to offer students that other campuses cannot. These opportunities include everything from dancers attending a master class with a first-rate dance company to technical students working backstage during a performance.
During the weeklong runs of Broadway shows, many educational events are set up through the Weidner Center's Education Department. It is not uncommon for a few of the artists to give a master class. These classes are open to any UWGB student at no cost, allowing students the chance to learn from working professionals.
During this past year, acting students were given the opportunity to join a professional acting techniques class led by actors from the touring production of "Death of a Salesman." University dance students also had an incredible opportunity to work with River North Dance Company this past February in a dance workshop.
Technical theater students are probably the students that benefit the most from the Weidner Center. From the moment they arrive on campus, they are offered the opportunity to work backstage at the Weidner Center. This experience gives them the opportunity to learn in the classroom and then get paid to put that education to a practical use. Students focusing their studies on stage management have been given the opportunity to sit with the stage manager of a touring Broadway show and listen to him/her call the show. Likewise, students interested in costume design have been allowed backstage to witness the calculated precision of a touring costume department. All of this is valuable experience that these students would never have been exposed to if they had chosen to go to college elsewhere.
The Weidner Center not only has experience to offer students, but performance spaces as well. During each school year, the Music Department is allowed eight performances in the main hall of the Weidner Center with all rental fees waived. Every three years the Theater Department performs their musical in this same space rent-free as well.
Music and theater students are not the only people on campus that are able to benefit from the Weidner Center. Student "rush" tickets are available to almost all of the shows that perform at the Weidner Center, even the Broadway shows. These tickets can be purchased for low prices an hour before the performance.
In addition to student rush tickets, the Weidner Center offers many employment and internship opportunities. The ticket office employs up to 24 students during the school year and an average of 15 students make up the technical staff.
Wonderful internships have been created through the Weidner Center administration office in many different areas of arts management: marketing, programming, education, finance and development. These internships are a perfect fit with the new arts management minor recently created by the university.
I had the opportunity to take advantage of this internship program during the last two years of my education. I know that the insight I gained by working with the Programming and Education departments has greatly influenced my stage-managing abilities. My internship at the Weidner Center has also blossomed into a full-time job, which was granted to me upon graduation. This experience of applying skills I learned in the classroom to an internship made for an extremely well-rounded education.
The relationship that UW-Green Bay and the Weidner Center have built has obviously created many wonderful educational opportunities for many students. My hope is for the Green Bay community to realize the incredible benefits of having such a fine performing arts facility and strong university located here.
Briana J. Fahey is a programming assistant at the Weidner Center. Contact her at faheyb@uwgb.edu
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