With the help of the Drexel Alumni Association the Entertainment and Arts Society hosted Night of the Arts Nov. 20 in the URBN Center Annex. The event was designed to be a way for students to network with each other and alumni through a celebration and showcase of the many different forms of art that Drexel students, including majors outside of The Westphal College of Media Arts and Design, have created.
Throughout the night, the guests were offered many different forms of entertainment. There was art of many forms to both observe and participate in, a Chinese Raffle and food from two of the sponsors: Saxby’s and Wahoo’s. As attendees walked into the URBN Annex, they were able to experience the Night of the Arts right away. The guests were greeted in the lobby with a vocal performance by Caylie Landerville with Braxton Carter accompanying her. Their set was followed by another performance by Drexel a capella group 8 to the Bar. The walls were decorated with paintings, drawings, and graphic art created by artists including Allison Liu, Marissa Fu, Stephen Bell, Prairie Yang, Josey Driscoll and Rawan Almohsen.
As the night continued, there were even more activities for attendees to take part in. Complimentary popcorn was given out as the guests went into the Annex’s screening room to view the short films that were being featured. The short films that were screened throughout the event were “The Block” by Tristan Santana, “Past Tense” by Dan Mosley, “Cellular” by Anna Pruett, “Tiger” by Connie Chung, “Our Generation” and “Golden State of Mind,” both by Laurel Gabel. After the first round of the screenings, Allison Hart and Emily Sykes of Dragon Flow Arts Collective presented a silent performance titled “Hoop Illusions and Flow.”
All night, the Black Box Theater featured performances by some of the many talented groups and clubs that Drexel has to offer. The Drexel Football Team, Drexel’s improv comedy team, performed first and had everyone in the audience laughing. After the comedy performance, The Drexel Players put on a reading of “Just the Tip” by James Acker. Dance performances followed starting with the Drexel Fanaa, the only co-ed Bollywood dance team at Drexel. Some of the members of the Drexel Dance Program performed their personal styles of dance afterward.
The Night of the Arts concluded with a rock concert by two bands from the Music Industry Program here at Drexel. The Last Frontier took the stage first, and got everyone out of their seats to groove to their music. RFA, the up-and-coming indie band, closed the show with a mixed performance of both original songs and well-known covers. All in all, the Night of the Arts provided a great time for attendees while also showing the great artistic work Drexel students created.