New and Evolving Works (N.E.W.), is a salon-style opportunity for students involved in the creative arts to share their work with their peers. N.E.W. performances take place a couple times each quarter. The next performances will be in the Little Theatre in Margery Reed Hall at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 3, as well as the following Saturday, April 10.
Organized in the fall of 2008, N.E.W. has become a way to support the development process of creativity for students by allowing them to discuss informally their own and other students’ work, as well as get feedback outside of a classroom setting. Students are able to present anything creative, from poetry to sculpture, plays to dances, music to art installations.
According to Allison Horsley, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre who runs the program, N.E.W. creates a “nurturing environment for new stuff.”
Despite being primarily publicized among theater majors, N.E.W. is open to all DU students. Friends of students are welcome to come as well. Students are encouraged to bring their own material to present and discuss, or they can just attend and participate in the conversation.
Grace West, a sophomore, has attended N.E.W. several times and has presented her art installations as well as her play-writing ideas, while seeking “new directions to look at and new ways to view” her own writing process.
“It was great to get my art in front of a new audience with adequate feedback,” said West. “It’s a space that’s set up like an art critique but much more for improvement feedback and to learn new directions to take your artistic works.”
According to Alex Ngo, a senior, N.E.W. is a productive way for students to do their own creative work outside of a classroom and do the things they are actually interested in doing. He also explained how it’s particularly beneficial for students to receive critiques and see what their peers enjoy about their work, and what catches their eye, so they can use that to progress their work further.
“I’m working on my senior project which will be a series of vignettes, and N.E.W. is a great way for me to see if my material works,” said Ngo.
When Horsley was an undergraduate at DU, she recalled looking for people interested in the same things she was. She found her niche in theater. She now teaches dramatic literature and playwriting, specializing in contemporary work.
“I just wanted to be able to individualize learning and let students learn about what they enjoy,” said Horsley.
Contact Horsley for more information at ahorsley@du.edu.
