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“This year we’ve worked very hard to incorporate students; there have been students and alumni at every single event featured as presenters,” said English Professor Natalie Gerber, who directs the series with Communication’s Dr. Laura Johnson and Visual Arts and New Media’s Dr. Michele Bernatz.
Over 50 students attended each of the three fall presentations and nearly 70 gathered at Bartlett Theatre to learn how social media can create new bonds with audiences.
The 2010-11 Brown Bag series was aligned with the Convocation theme, “Faces and Phases of Creativity,” Gerber said. “We’ve been able to shine the spotlight on how SUNY Fredonia, both faculty and students, are engaged not only in creative activities, but are also engaged in the different elements that comprise creativity.”
This year’s series began in late September with an in-depth look at Fredonia Radio Systems, which coincided with Homecoming week and the 40th anniversary of the radio station. Dan Berggren, professor emeritus of Communication, was joined by Jim Ranney, ’80, station manager and director of news and public affairs at WNED-AM in Buffalo; Katie Fuchs, ’10, last year’s Fredonia Radio Systems general manager; and Gregory Snow, the campus’ audio specialist with Academic Instructional Technology.
In early November, Tom Loughlin, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, was joined by cast and crew members of, The Altruists, a play which the department performed this fall. The presenters demonstrated how social media can draw attention to live theatre, and “tweet seats” create buzz.
December’s program featured music professors Dr. Rob Deemer and Gregory Seigel, who explained how one core idea or concept can be crafted into a creative work and then taken to the market.
Another step in the program’s evolution takes place next year when departments are reorganized to create a College of Visual and Performing Arts. It’s a step that all three
co-directors embrace. There are splits in how the world is viewed, Johnson explained, and future Brown Bag talks will create a new opportunity to bring these views together in one venue.
“The strength of the program is the strength of the college,” Gerber added.
