NAVIGATING A DECLINE

Starting in 2018, citing decreased demand, lower overall university enrollment, and budgetary concerns, Calvin scaled back some programs including theater and music. By 2020, the theater major and the music education major had both been eliminated. 

Though many students remain passionate about the arts, a decline in demand for undergraduate degrees in these fields tracks with nationwide trends, overall. “What I hear from students and parents is that there’s a lot of nervousness about spending four years and a lot of money on an arts major, but that they can’t imagine their lives without having the arts in it,” says Benita Wolters-Fredlund, Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

The good news? The cuts, while disappointing, did not stop students from participating in the arts at Calvin. “We are created to create; it is part of who we are as human beings. Culture has not changed our students’ artistic DNA. They’re still making music, they’re still telling stories, they’re still making art. And that will never change,” Wolters-Fredlund says. 

In 2021, the university organized the music and theater departments under the umbrella of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. This, along with an overall increase in enrollment and the university’s long-standing belief that “you can’t have liberal arts without the arts,” helped pave the way to reinstate a theater minor and music education major this fall.

SPOTLIGHT ON RENEWAL

The Calvin Theatre Company dates to the 1930s, when it was a student-run club. “Even after the decline of the theater major, theater at Calvin never went away,” says performing arts managing director and Calvin Theatre Company managing director Kristen Pearson-Eno. After 2020, the university retained four staff members and continued to offer Theater 120, a core class that helped sustain student engagement in theater productions. 

As soon as the theater minor’s return was officially announced, 10 current students declared theater minors. “It’s exciting it’s happening so fast. The students have said it’s like prayers have been answered,” Pearson-Eno says. 

New faculty members, new courses, and a complete lighting upgrade in the Gezon Auditorium along with a renovation of the Lab Theater have infused Calvin theater with new energy.

Pearson-Eno also sees an uptick in community engagement as audiences continue to grow, post-Covid. The Theatre Company’s spring production of Little Women sold out a performance, which “hasn’t happened in a long time,” she says. 

Theater minors will take 22 credits, mixing foundational theater classes with curated electives. Theater students will have access to courses across multiple departments, including film in the communication department, Shakespeare in the English department, and period fashion design in the art department. 

Pearson-Eno says she is also excited to bring musical productions back to Calvin, expanding collaboration with the music department, which also got a boost this year.

COMMITMENT AND PASSION

Co-chair of the department of visual and performing arts and director of instrumental studies Tiffany Engle says a series of unrelated changes converged to create the right environment for reinstating the music education major at Calvin, which was cut in 2018. 

Last year, the anticipated retirement of two full-time faculty members and interest in developing a new marching band generated “visioning conversations that led to the proposal for music education, something we once had,” Engle says. 

Engle believes it would be difficult to overstate the positive, far-reaching impact of offering a professional degree program. Many current music majors are double majors who may pursue careers in fields outside of music. “But having a professional program back in addition to the bachelor of arts degree attracts students completely dedicated to the study of music,” Engle says. “And at the same time, there’s still a place for everybody who wants to study music in our department. That’s incredibly exciting.” 

Engle says she is eager to help rebuild a more intentional music outreach on campus and beyond, whether that’s through developing a marching band, connecting with alumni on tours, or creating student teaching partnerships with area schools. She says the current and incoming faculty and staff also bring energy to this vision, including the new director of choral activities, Mark Stover. 

Engle, who began her career at Calvin 19 years ago, knows well the hills and valleys Calvin’s music department has traveled over the last two decades. “To see the university making active investments in the arts energizes us to get back to being creative and deliver on that investment, keeping a hand in the past, preserving those traditions at Calvin we all love, but with an eye toward the future. It’s a new day. We’re all looking forward to what can be.”

ARTFUL COMEBACK

The theater minor and music education major share unique qualities in common. Cross-disciplinary in their reach and cross-departmental in their functioning, theater and music education offer opportunities for students to use their talents to serve the wider community. It’s a mission-centered approach to returning valuable programs to campus. 

Pearson-Eno says the aim of the performing arts at Calvin has always been education for students and the public. The arts, she says, “inform us a little bit more about the human journey and how we can have empathy not only for our brothers and sisters in Christ, but for our community as a whole.” She adds, “We also really want to have some fun, too.”