Tang Party Friday

On Friday, April 29, the Tang Teaching Museum and Pro-Arts Club will host the 12th annual Tang Party. This art extravaganza offers guests a chance to experience student-crafted and -curated installations that span a variety of media. The event will run from 8 p.m. to midnight., offering lively music, free food, souvenir coins, and outdoor art-viewing.

"Our mission is to bring art to the Skidmore community," says Jonathan Greene '18, president of Pro-Arts. Greene has been working closely with Alicia Graziano '16, education assistant for college and public programs at the Tang, to plan this event. Meghan Hyde, museum educator, oversees the planning, though it is primarily student-run. Students of all artistic and academic backgrounds are invited to submit their installation ideas as an individual or in groups. The event will exhibit artwork and performances from students across all class years and majors. "The Tang Party is a yearlong culmination of student art," says Graziano. "It allows students who are not necessarily art majors or seniors a chance to exhibit their work."

The Tang has partnered with art and digital media classes, offering students an opportunity to display their final projects in public. The event will feature experimental projections from "Contemporary Time-Based Media," a new course taught by Nicky Tavares, visual and digital media Mellon Fellow, and works from "Advanced Digital Media," taught by Sarah Sweeney, associate professor of art.

From noon to 7 p.m., the Tang will host a "Handmade Pop-Up" shop, where students enrolled in "Marketplace for Artists" will sell their handmade goods and crafts at the Tang store. The course instructor is Elizabeth Dubben, coordinator of Skidmore's Entrepreneurial Artist Initiative. Another new event, "Tangwaves," will take place at the Tang from 2 to 8 p.m. Students enrolled in "Introduction to Audio Documentary" and "Introduction to Media Studies" will air a live broadcast of final audio projects and sonic art. These courses are taught by Adam Tinkle, a lecturer in arts administration and documentary studies in the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative.

"The Tang Party is a maze of different events going on at once. We're going to have art installations on the roof and projectors on multiple sides of the building. You can circle the whole building, and there will be something on each side," says Greene. The event is a kaleidoscope of different media and artistic expressions, including visual, audio, and performance art. But above all, the "party is about celebrating student creativity," says Graziano.

Performance lineup
8–8:35 p.m.—Goldsplash
8:55–9:20 p.m—Jon & the Band
9:40–10:10 p.m.—Call Me Home
10:30–11:05 p.m.—Perpetually Salty
11:25 p.m.–midnight—Rim Joe and the Boys

More information here.

–Lisa Fierstein '16