Music, Theatre & Dance to Merge Departments

By EZEKIEL KINGSBURY

On Wednesday, November 1 Beloit students were invited to the Hendricks Center at 12:30 p.m. for pizza, soda, and a “Big Announcement.” After the pizza was distributed and the ice was formally broken, professors of the Music Department, the Dance Department, and the Theatre Department introduced the classes they would be offering in the Spring Semester. Then, a drumroll.

Daniel Barolsky, Professor of Music and department chair, announced the introduction of Beloit’s newest department: the Department of Music and Performance/Production (MAPP). The major is to include 12 credits: one in Historiography, one in Embodiment, one in Composition, one in Theory, one in Career Prep, two in Collaboration, three credits in the student’s concentration, and two credits outside of the major. 

The Department of Music and the Theatre & Dance Department are to merge into this new department. Students who have already declared in either major may finish their degree as they were going to before this announcement (or, if they want, they may choose to finish along the guidelines of this new major), but students who have not yet declared must do so within the MAPP major. 

The department’s mission statement declares that “MAPP provides an experiential program that focuses on academic knowledge and creative expression within a liberal arts context.” Along the lines of theater instructor Amy Sarno’s statement at the event that the arts are becoming more collaborative, the mission statement says the department “seek[s] to model [collaboration] in the classroom, creative projects, and in our connections to the wider campus and community.” Later it reads “our classes offer students (majors and non-majors alike) opportunities to think critically, create adventurously, and collaborate successfully.”

Along with this introduction came the announcement that the Neese Theater will be closing next year and performances will be moved to the Hendricks Center, which currently houses no theater. The Hendricks Center will be experiencing some renovations to accommodate this new purpose. With this change of venue, Sarno, speaking for the department, hopes “to get more of the community into the performances.”