SEMO set to Celebrate the Arts at River Campus

The second annual Celebrate the Arts event is a public showcase of the different types of art forms produced by the students and faculty at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

Celebrate the Arts will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the River Campus's Crisp Museum. The event includes music performances, aerial, contemporary and ballet pieces choreographed by the university's students and faculty.

The SEMO steel drum band will play music outside the River Campus museum. Holland College of Arts and Media dean Rhonda Weller-Stilson said when the River Campus was constructed the faculty wanted artists to be able to work together and events such as Celebrate the Arts facilitates that goal.

"We tried to find different events throughout the year to bring in that collaboration," Weller-Stilson said. "We are all so busy and everybody's got their own shows. Art has their exhibitions, music has concerts and theaters has plays. So, we don't always have the time to be together and to collaborate. Celebrate the Arts brings everyone together."

The event also features ARTrageous -- an online art auction featuring eight Yamaha guitars. The guitars have been decorated by art students at the River Campus and can be viewed at the Crisp Museum and online at www.event.gives/artrageous.

Yamaha donated the guitars to the university after SEMO was named a Yamaha Institution of Excellence in 2021. The university is one of 10 schools to receive the designation.

Money from the ARTrageous auction will go toward the River Campus's new art building located at the corner of Morgan Oak and Frederick streets. The auction is now open for bids on the guitar art pieces and will run until 9 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets for the event cost $5 and the money will go toward taking Celebrate the Arts to more locations, according to Weller-Stilson.

"We were going to take this show to Puerto Rico and that is when the pandemic hit," she said. "Puerto Rico has been hit pretty hard between hurricanes and COVID, so we have not rescheduled that. But, that is the ultimate goal. To get down to Puerto Rico. I want to take people to New Orleans or to Chicago and have some performance opportunities there. So, that is what the money from ticket sales will go toward."

Tickets can be purchased by contacting the River Campus box office located at 518 S. Fountain St. or by visiting www.rivercampus.org. The box office can be reached by calling (573) 651-2265.

Celebrate the Arts is sponsored by Saint Francis Healthcare. The organization previously sponsored the River Campus's Summer Arts Festival and the Big Bang Christmas Jukebox.

"Saint Francis has been very supportive of our students and the experiential opportunities for our students," Weller-Stilson said. "They are very wonderful and very giving to us. So, we're super appreciative of them."