This year, a group of students were announced as the leaders of a new club on campus: the Fine Arts Fanatics.
The Fine Arts Fanatics is a group dedicated to supporting the arts, and it consists of five leaders that represent the factions of the St. George’s fine arts program: theatre, choir, band and visual arts.
It was founded by senior and Head Fanatic Halligan Bulthaus as a way to bring in more people to support the arts.
“I wanted to do something for the St. George’s arts community, make it more of a community and make it more celebrated… it’d be nice to have more [of the] student body show up and support,” Bulthaus explained.
The organization of the Fine Arts Fanatics is similar to that of the Gryphon sports enthusiast group, the Bleacher Creatures.
The Fanatics will send out emails and make social media posts to promote upcoming arts-related events.
Artist-in-residence Mrs. Allison Webb, who serves as Director of Fine Arts and is the Fine Arts Fanatics mentor, believes that spreading awareness about arts events will make a difference in student participation and attendance.
“Oftentimes the arts isn’t always as showy. There’s not quite as many things going on all the time as there are in athletics, and so sometimes it can be unintentionally sort of set to the side… I think it’s just another way to bring it to the center and get student involvement,” Mrs. Webb explained.
This issue of student attendance was a major motivation for Fine Arts Fanatics leaders like Elle Weathersby, a junior and the Fanatics choir leader, to apply for the position.
“[The choir is] really good and I feel like a lot of people don’t really come to our shows, so I think that being able to advocate for the choir is really important,” Weathersby said.
To bring in more people, the Fanatics plan to add a student section at fine arts events, similar to the ones found at sporting events.
Future endeavors for the Fanatics include creating a micro later in the year to form a space for arts enthusiasts.
“I want to have a community and during the micro we can share what’s going on in … fine arts endeavors… to create a community that supports each other,” Bulthaus said.
The Fanatics have been focused on planning future endeavors that will unfold over the course of the year. Mrs. Webb believes this marks a season of growth for the St. George’s fine arts department.
“I am just so proud of them and I cannot wait to see where this goes this year,” she said. “It’s going to be just fantastic.”
