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Miami’s school year to celebrate ‘Year of the Arts’

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Staff Report 9:25 PM Friday, August 26, 2011

OXFORD — The 2011-12 school year will be the “Year of the Arts” at Miami University, President David Hodge announced as he welcome more than 3,650 first-year students at convocation Aug. 19.

The Year of the Arts celebration will feature several new signature events while highlighting the excellent work offered each year, and it will involve events from all academic divisions on campus, according to Jim Lentini, dean of the School of Fine Arts.

“Every year, we offer hundreds of events, exhibitions and other arts activities, which are a treasured part of life at Miami and the communities that surround our campuses in Oxford, Hamilton, Middletown and West Chester,” Hodge said in a news release from Miami. “So it makes perfect sense to celebrate and spotlight the important role the arts at Miami play in engaging, entertaining and educating the region. We invite everyone in our regional communities to partner in celebrating the transformative power of the arts.”

Highlighted events include the Sept. 23 grand opening of the Art Center, which moved from Rowan Hall to the newly-renovated Phillips Hall natatorium; a multi-media “Collage Concert” at 7 p.m. Aug. 27; and the performance of the Miami marching band in the nationally televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“The arts challenge us to explore and embrace difference, helping develop the cultural competence necessary for living and working in a multicultural world,” Hodge said. “The arts teach adaptive and creative capacities for lifelong learning and success in a rapidly changing world. These kinds of ’high impact’ experiences have an unusually great effect on personal growth. The Year of the Arts underscores one of the many ways Miami University provides a broad educational experience.”

Another key component of the celebration asks, “How have the arts changed you?” Students, faculty and community members are asked to email their stories to MyArtStory@muohio.edu.

Stories will be collected and shared at arts.muohio.edu/yearofthearts, according to Lentini.

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