It is no secret that the University of Denver’s academic programs tend to have a strong emphasis on science and business. While that certainly does not mean that other majors are necessarily neglected, it does mean that if you state a major without bringing up business or science, you will probably attract some strange looks and borderline condescension.
But now, a new club is giving students in the “creative” majors a place where they can meet and collaborate with persons of similar intent. Artists of DU is a club that seeks to unite students across campus to participate in large collaborative projects and give them an outlet for their creativity.
“I have always been in art classes, in and out of school,” said senior Mackenzie Cleveland, the club’s founder. “When I came to DU, I was a business major. I decided it was too boring, so I added an art minor. I finally ended up switching my major to mass communications and adding a theater minor,” said Cleveland.
The club’s first meeting took place this past Tuesday. Approximately 17 people attendanced.
“Our intent is to get all the creative majors working together and get rid of some of the division,” said Cleveland. “We want to get something across to people using art.”
The club is still very new, so much so that the name is tentative. “Our current name is Artists of DU,” said Cleveland, “but we’re taking suggestions from the club members to change it. The only other idea we have is Imagination with Reason by Inspired Students, or IRIS.”
While the club is recently formed, it’s been in the planning stages for quite some time.
“I started talking about doing something like this with a theater major and a mass com and theater double major last year,” said Cleveland. “One of them graduated and the other didn’t have time, so this year I decided to start it myself.”
Part of the club’s intent is to create a piece of “installation art” each quarter. The projects will seek to be the type of art one can physically enter and experience. Cleveland also expressed an interest in getting the club involved in various campus events to attract more members and get the word out.
“I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to do anything this quarter, but there’s a lot of enthusiasm for getting started right away,” said Cleveland. “We’ll start talking about a project to get together this quarter at the next meeting.”
The tentatively named Artists of DU meets every Tuesday at 6:15p.m. in the Driscoll Commons. All students are welcome to attend, no matter their major.
“We don’t want to exclude anyone,” said Cleveland. “There are a lot of students across campus in majors that could be considered artistic, and we want their input.”
