Major Highlights: Fine Arts Division

The fine arts building on campous.
Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

The students at Concord University pride themselves on the liberal arts education the university offers. Having this type of education can strengthen intellectual ability and assist in many fields that today’s workplace offers. This week, Dr. Cory Williams, brings light to the various opportunities one can take advantage of in the Fine Arts Division.

    The Fine Arts Division at Concord doesn’t just have one option for students, there are many opportunities. “In the Fine Arts Division, there are three departments: art, music, and communication arts,” Williams explains. There are many choices for students within these different departments, each with something interesting students should know.

    Williams says that he is a faculty member of the communication arts department. “What we offer is speech, public relations, broadcasting for TV or radio, journalism, and theatre,” he explains. Williams goes onto say that any of those programs are emphases for communication arts and that you can have a double emphasis where classes can overlap. “The cool thing about [communication arts] is [that] you get a core of classes and then you just add on an emphasis. If you want to, you can be in broadcasting and you can be in PR,” Williams says. Within the communications department lies some interesting programs such as the newspaper, public relations workshop, or doing your own radio or television show.

    Communication arts isn’t the only thing in the division, there’s also music. Williams explains the programs saying that students can get involved in the band and choir, and take part in a great deal of music theory. “Getting a degree in music is something a lot of people are passionate about and I think it’s a great benefit to the community,” he says. Concord has some benefits, one being the band. Williams states that Concord is rather small and if a student can play an instrument and enjoy it, they can potentially be a member of the band and do quite well at it.

    The art department consists of studio art and graphic design. “The graphic design program helps people on the business side of art while the studio arts side is more traditional with the use of ceramics, drawing sculpting, etc.” Williams says. He goes onto say that getting into a class to hone in on fine art skills is beneficial to students even if they may have a biology degree. Williams says that a lot of students desire that and actually do quite well in it. It’s also something to note that these programs can be beneficial to students even if they do not want a full-blown art degree.

    Also, the theatre program is growing at Concord. “We’re doing a musical this spring so that’s an exciting thing about our program as well,” says Williams. He thinks it is very exciting for students to receive a well-rounded education. In the Fine Arts Division, there is the possibility of not only majoring in something, but getting an emphasis as well. Williams says, “I would hope that people see the opportunities around them and take those [classes].”