Ohio University’s Dr. Matthew Shaftel, Dean of the College of Fine Arts, presented Wednesday about the college’s involvement in Athens and its need for financial support.
The college is very active in community work, with about 48% of the students engaged in community service, Shaftel said. They have recently partnered with the Ohio Valley Center for Collaborative Arts, which reaches out to other colleges to help build interdisciplinary programs like Healthy Village, a program that teaches students how to apply theater skills to their studies.
The college sponsors Arts for Ohio, which provides Ohio University students the opportunity to attend arts events for free. It also sponsors the Athens International Film and Video Festival, where students can purchase one ticket for the festival and see as many movies as they would like.
It is also the only college in the university that has grown in the past two years, growing by about 15% each year.
“The arts have the power to transform society and individual lives,” Shaftel said.“I’m so proud every single day I come on campus … We are incredible.”
Ohio University recently received an alumni donation of about $64 million, with about half going to the College of Fine Arts and the other half going to the College of Education.
However, Shaftel said that while the College of Fine Arts has received money for renovations of fine arts facilities, it still needs about $50 million for a new theater. The college’s facilities studies also say that it has about 5 years until some of the buildings are no longer usable.
Senate also approved a new member to the committee on community and social activity, as well as a senator for the minority affairs commission. It also approved three delegates to the senate appropriations commission.
