On Feb. 1, the Arts Council, a student-led group that plans school events related to the arts, held Darlington’s first coffeehouse, hosting student performances and providing treats.
After unveiling the arch at Trippeer Hall, the coffeehouse was the second major event planned by the Arts Council. It has student representatives from each program in fine arts, and it has allowed students to become leaders in their classes and the fine arts department as a whole, encouraging more autonomy and initiative in students.
“It has given a space to…have a little more student ownership over events that we as the fine arts department hold,” choir teacher Alex Johnson said.
Beginning before Winter Break, students planned and came up with a coffeehouse to celebrate the arts. It gave people with fewer opportunities to perform and a chance to express their creativity through their coffeehouse performances.
“We just felt like a coffeehouse was a great way to sort of celebrate some of the things we were doing this week and recognizing some of our artists that were designers and composers and all those types of things,” Fine Arts Director Kim Tunnell, said.
It was also an event that brought more attention to fine arts.
“We had a senior who was working on a senior ventures project, and he felt like the artists needed some celebration and some showcasing, much like we do for some of the sports teams,” Tunnell said, “and he felt like we needed more people to come to concerts, we needed more people to see the artwork that was on display and really find ways to celebrate some of the artistic endeavors of students.
Moreover, it connected back to Darlington’s theme of design in the arts, which can be a process made up of many things.
“The design process is a whole thing. It can be both something that you create from scratch, but it can also be something that you prepare in a performance,” chorus teacher Alex Johnson said,” and you design what that performance will look like, what you’re going to wear, what you sing, how you sing it, how you play it, etc.
The coffeehouse and other similar events bring the school’s theme in art closer to students with more interactive and student-led activities.
“[The coffeehouse] can be used as a space for students to share ideas on how we can have fine arts department events that the students would be more involved in,” Johnson said.