Center for Performing Arts
Ives Hall 206 and Green Music Center Education Hall
(707) 664-2235
Dean
Thaine Stearns
School of Arts and Humanities
Production Manager
Juliet Pokorny
Box Office
(707) 664-2353
In addition to its broad spectrum of course offerings in music, dance and theatre, the Center for Performing Arts coordinates the performance activities of the music and theatre arts & dance departments by providing technical support in scenery, costumes, makeup, lighting, and sound, as well as marketing, facility management, and ticketing services. An estimated 16,000 people attend the Center’s annual presentation of more than 140 student and guest artist workshops and performances.
The Center for Performing Arts is home to a variety of performing ensembles comprised of both students and community members, including Drama Ensemble, Dance Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Chorus, Chamber Singers, Music Theatre Production, Music Theatre Scenes Workshop, Indian Singing Ensemble, Chamber Music Ensembles,Student Composers, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Brass Ensemble, Guitar Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Concert Jazz Ensembles (2), Latin Jazz Ensemble, Technical Theatre, Theatre Studies, and Jazz Orchestra. In addition, a number of student-initiated projects in music, dance, and theatre are presented each semester, including senior recitals and projects.
In addition to the regular performances of its resident ensembles, Performing Arts’ departments and programs each year host and present a variety of other special events and activities. The Music Department’s Collage Concert, presented each October as part of parent visitation weekend, launches the Music Department’s performance season with debut performances by its major ensembles— it is soon followed by the annual Scholarship Showcase for scholarship and endowment donors, which in addition to music, features highlights of fall dance and theatre productions. Other fall events include the High School Invitational Choral and Jazz Festivals and the annual vocal teacher’s workshop presented by the local chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Throughout the year, the jazz and symphonic wind programs host a variety of regional clinics and festivals, all of which bring high school and college ensembles to SSU. Trio Navarro, Faculty Jazz Ensemble, and Sonoma Musica Viva the Music epartment’s resident professional ensembles each presents a concert series. Finally, the Theatre Arts & Dance and Music departments and their many programs present each year a varied season of guest artist residencies, workshops, and concerts that introduce students to intensive, hands-on creative work with top-ranking artist professionals. The Center’s guest artist series—and the departments’ many talent scholarships—is made possible by the Evert B. Person endowment established in 1991.
The center manages a variety of distinct performance venues:
- Schroeder Recital Hall: Designed as part of the Green Music Center, this 240-seat recital hall houses a Magnificent Brombaugh Opus 9 Organ and functions as an intimate venue for choral performance, chamber music, and jazz. It is equipped as a “smart” classroom and function as a well-appointed lecture hall.
- Evert B. Person Theatre, opened in 1990, a beautiful state-of-the-art, fully equipped and accessible 475-seat proscenium theatre with excellent sight lines, a complete fly system, movable thrust with orchestra lift, large stage, computerized lighting board system, well-equipped scene and costume shops, and actor-friendly dressing rooms and makeup facilities. It is used for most large-scale theatre, dance, and music theatre productions, as well as for concerts, lectures, and special events;
- Warren Auditorium, a 200-seat proscenium auditorium, a venue for jazz concerts and other music and theatre events. Equipped as a “smart classroom” for lecture-style classes and home of the Sonoma Film Institute;
- A 125-seat flexible drama theatre and rehearsal space.
- A 50-seat black box studio theatre suited to small-scale, intimate productions;
- Alumni Amphitheater, a small outdoor space surrounded by trees, used for a variety of performances.
- State of the art sound engineering studio allowing for a 1 year certificate program.
In addition to its own concerts and productions, the Center provides venues and support for a variety of campus activities, including convocations, lecture and film series, conferences, and events sponsored by Associated Students Productions. Many off-campus groups also rent the Center’s performance facilities for meetings, conferences, dance, theatre, and music performances.
Information about performances and tickets is best accessed online at the Music and Theatre Arts & Dance websites: www.sonoma.edu/music/ and www.sonoma.edu/theatreanddance/. Tickets to all CPA performances can be reserved or purchased weekdays at the main campus box office located in the University’s Student Center and at tickets.sonoma.edu. Tickets can also be obtained at three campus box office outlets 30-60 minutes prior to the performance: 1) the Evert B. Person Theatre Box Office; 2) Ives Hall box office (main floor outside Warren Auditorium); and 3) the lobby of Schroeder’s Recital Hall at the Green Music Center. Discount rates on all tickets for students, senior citizens, and groups in effect for all performances. Free admission tickets are available to all SSU students.
Green Music Center
The Donald and Maureen Green Music Center’s mission is to create transformative experiences in the arts and education, further promoting active learning, and contributing to the cultural and economic betterment of our community. Modeled after Tangelwood’s renowned Seiji Ozawa Hall, the Green Music Center (GMC) is a focal point for arts in the northern San Francisco Bay area, and has established Sonoma State University as a major destination for the study and performance of music. The GMC campus includes the 1,400-seat Weill Hall; the intimate 240 seat Schroeder Hall; the highly unique summer time concert going experience of Weill Hall+Lawn, which can accommodate over 4,000 additional patrons on the lawns of surrounding the facility; and the education wing, which houses the SSU Music Department. The GMC provides the ideal performance setting for vocal, choral, chamber, jazz, popular, instrumental, world, and symphonic music of every style and tradition. The GMC is also the performance home for the Santa Rosa Symphony and Sonoma Bach. For further information, please visit gmc.sonoma.edu.
University Art Gallery
Art 101
(707) 664-2295
Director
Michael Schwager
Opened in 1978 as part of SSU’s new art department complex, the University Art Gallery is a large and well-equipped facility with almost 2,500 square feet of exhibition space in two adjoining galleries. The Art Gallery serves the campus and surrounding communities through ongoing presentation of exhibitions, publications, and lectures, featuring work by local, national, and international contemporary artists.
Throughout its existence, the Art Gallery has organized and displayed museum-quality exhibitions, ranging in focus from experimental installations and multimedia works to more traditional styles and techniques. Some of the artists featured in Art Gallery exhibitions are Mari Andrews, Robert Arneson, Chester Arnold, Squeak Carnwath, Laurie Fendrich, John Yoyogi Fortes, Mineko Grimmer, Mildred Howard, Robert Hudson, Marc Katano, Annie Leibovitz, Judith Linhares, Hung Liu, Judy Pfaff, Peter Plagens, Sabine Reckewell, Dana Schutz, Luis Silva, Tomas Vu, and Cate White, among many others.
During each academic year, the Art Gallery presents five exhibitions, including work by graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students and the annual Juried Student Show, which is open to all SSU students and is selected by two art professionals from off-campus. Work by the SSU Art Department faculty is also shown in the gallery every two to three years. In addition, the Art Gallery hosts a variety of programs and events, chief among them the annual Art from the Heart Auction, featuring affordable works of art by more than 100 local and nationally recognized artists, the proceeds from which directly benefit the gallery’s programs.
In addition to its public programs, the Art Gallery serves as a teaching facility, providing art history, art studio, and other students with hands-on experience in the fields of museum and gallery work and arts administration.
The Art Gallery is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free.
University Library Arts and Events Program
Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center
(707) 664-2010
library.sonoma.edu/about/artsandlecture
The Arts and Events Program in the University Library enriches the scholarly and cultural life of the Sonoma State community through a year-round program of gallery exhibits, lectures and presentations, and events.
The Library Gallery, on the second floor of the Schulz Information Center, provides a venue for artwork aligned with university initiatives and interests. In addition to featuring student art at least once a year, past exhibits have ranged from the work of local photographer John LeBaron to a traveling exhibit of photos of African-American baseball players in the era of segregation. In 2015, in honor of the 15th anniversary of the Schulz Information Center, the Library collaborated with the Schulz Museum on “You’re an Open Book, Charlie Brown,” an exhibit featuring reproductions of library-related Peanuts cartoons. In keeping with the university’s focus on sustainability, in Fall 2015 the Library hosted an exhibit of artwork by Michelle Friend related to the conservation of mountain lions. The Library Gallery is open whenever the library is open.
Events programming by the Library offers a balance of scholarly enrichment and campus engagement. Every summer the Library kicks off its annual event series with Love Your Library, a carnival-like event for the University’s incoming Summer Bridge students that offers games, displays, and other fun activities. Recent topics for lectures have included faculty readings, panels on voting rights, and the art of cartooning. Wikipedia Edit-a-Thons, held in our lovely Special Collections room, have drawn faculty and students from across disciplines.
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