Stop by the Snite Museum of Art this Friday for the “The Professor’s Pick,” sponsored by the Snite Student Programing Committee (Snite SPC) and featuring professor and Irish scholar Diarmuid Ó Giolláin.
The free event will run from 1-2:00 p.m. and is one of several events the Snite SPC organizes to foster student engagement with the Snite. Rachel Heisler, the assistant curator of education and academic programs at the Snite, said she recently reformed how Snite has been run to increase its outreach to students.
“We’re broadening our reach ... you don’t need to know anything about art to be involved,” she said.
The Snite SPC is run through the museum and is composed of 20-25 students devoted to helping connect students to the plethora of opportunities the museum has to offer, Heisler said.
“We have 90-100% attendance for every meeting,” Heisler said. “The members [of Snite SPC] are creative. They think about how to use space and objects as a way to get people to engage and use them in new ways. They have a passion to connect and bring the museum beyond its role as a museum.”
The Snite SPC is composed of students from diverse majors, backgrounds and years, Heisler said. They meet every Tuesday to brainstorm new ways to get students involved or improve past events.
Sophomore Marie Latham, one of the two SPC coordinators for the group, has been involved in Snite SPC since her freshman year. As a coordinator, she helps lead weekly meetings and handle logistics of SPC events. In her time in SPC, Latham said she has seen how the committee has successfully increased student engagement with the museum.
“The ‘Anyone Can Art: Bob Ross’ event has been our most successful event so far,” she said. “… We gave people free reign of the event and let people design their own experience.”
Latham said the “DIY” art event, inspired by painter and television host Bob Ross, recently attracted approximately 300 visitors to Snite in September.
Latham and the committee are in the midst of planning “Snite Fright,” the group’s signature and most popular event, she said, scheduled for Oct. 31 — Halloween night. The night’s activities will include screen printing, a Halloween-themed tour and a “mystery-themed game.”
Senior Scott Somers, a member of SPC for three years, said he is also excited about the committee and its members.
“It helps that the group is so diverse,” he said. “We have a lot of art majors but a wide array of others like physics, business, english and anthropology.”
Before becoming an active member of the Snite SPC, Somers said he was not aware of all the opportunities Snite had to offer.
“I wanted to learn more about it,” he said. “One thing led to another, and I have been involved ever since. Give the Snite a chance.”
