Arts Crawl highlights Penn's 'rich arts and culture scene'

Some of Penn’s more artistically inclined students spent Friday on the floor of Harrison College House while participating in the second annual Penn Campus Arts Crawl.

The day-long event celebrated the diverse arts and culture scene at Penn.

Sponsored by the University Life Arts Initiative in conjunction with 23 participating organizations, the crawl consisted of 17 events held throughout campus and was open to students, faculty, staff and the public. It lasted from 9 a.m. until late Friday night, and the events highlighted a wide range of artistic mediums, including visual, musical, performance, language and cinema arts.

Maria Dietrich, the assistant to the director of the University Life Arts Initiative, explained that after the success of last year’s Arts and the City theme, the Initiative decided to continue events like the arts crawl and the Locust Walk Arts Fair.

“Especially for the fall semester, the crawl is a great way to explore campus and be introduced to new people and organizations,” she said.

Dietrich also explained that in addition to showcasing a variety of arts, the crawl targeted different levels of artistic experience.

“You have one event at the museum where a Ph.D. student and curator are presenting, and another where students are hanging out and making art on the floor of the Harrison College House,” she said. “Both are valid, both are part of arts and culture.”

The six-hour “art-in” was hosted by the Penn Art Club at Harrison. Sprawled on the floor, a plethora of art supplies within arms reach and music playing in the background, students enjoyed painting, collaging and drawing in the laid-back setting.

“It is a relaxing medium for stressed-out college kids,” College freshman Angela Hooks said.

Priscilla Leung, College junior and co-director of events and exhibitions of the Art Club, explained that many students don’t have access to art supplies. “The ‘art-in’ opens the floor for people to express themselves even if they’re not in art classes,” she said.

Overall, Dietrich believed that the second Arts Crawl was a success and sees the event occurring annually.

“Penn has such a rich arts and culture scene, and that’s the message the event seeks to send out,” she said. “If one student discovers something new to them or if an organization can collaborate with a student group, then that is a success.”

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