Fine arts and athletics have a strong presence on Simpson College’s campus. I get the pleasure of being involved in the sports and fine arts worlds, particularly theater. Majoring in sports communication and graphic design with involvement in Student Media and an undergraduate assistantship (UGA) position in Simpson Productions in marketing, I get the best of both worlds.

My love for sports isn’t participating in them but capturing the action and love of the game through a camera lens and writing. I love sports photography and have dabbled in sports writing as well. My love for theater isn’t acting in performances but working behind the scenes, especially being a stage manager.

My argument: fine arts should get more recognition at Simpson.

The fine arts consist of band, choir, theater and art. While Simpson doesn’t have an art department, they still have a graphic design department. Simpson has multiple bands and choirs and offers a lot of opportunities in the music department. 

On top of that, Simpson has a theater department that helps aspiring actors and technical theater lovers to get involved. Simpson Productions is the theater, opera and musical theater collaboration on campus.

I’ve written both a speech and a ten-page research paper about how the fine arts need more funding at the educational level in high school. While the departments likely need more funding, I will focus on how they need more recognition.

There are multiple performances at Simpson during the academic school year. In particular, Simpson Productions puts on five total performances, ranging from operas to plays to musicals. There are multiple concerts and recitals by students or guest artists for choir and band. 

In the graphic design world, Simpson’s art studio hosts a lot of different artists and is also home to the Senior Exhibition when it comes time for that.

A lot of time and effort goes into each performance during and outside rehearsal. While I’m not saying that sports don’t require a lot of time and effort before, during and after a game, the fine arts also require that.

Students and even faculty put in countless hours to put on performances for the public. From a stage manager standpoint, I worked on “Little Women” from almost the minute I got the assignment in the spring to the performance in November. The designers and director were also doing the same thing.

Simpson, as a college and its students and faculty, should recognize how much work goes into each performance by attending concerts and performances and heading over to the art studio.

Simpson should also market the fine arts even more, to bring awareness to the fine arts events that are happening.

For students, when else will you get to attend a concert, an opera, a musical, or a play for free? While students can attend most sporting events for free, they should also take advantage of attending fine arts events to get the best of both worlds and bring recognition to the other half of the student body.