The KSC Art Collective is facing an uncertain future as leadership roles are in need of fulfillment.
An email sent to club members in January by outgoing Club President Alysha England said the Art Collective would not be able to happen during the spring 2024 semester, due to vacancies in club leadership positions.
Many of the Art Collective’s student leadership positions were previously held by graduating seniors, and the club is looking for students who are interested in filling the vacancies.
According to outgoing Faculty Advisor and Assistant Professor of Art and Design Emily Lambert the club could still happen during the Spring 2024 semester if student leadership roles are fulfilled.
Lambert had to step down from the faculty advisor role, but will be replaced by Art and Design Professor Jonathan Gitelson, Lambert said.
Gitelson had previously acted as faculty advisor to the Art Collective and said that the club needs interested and willing students to continue.
“The club really depends on student involvement; we run into problems when seniors who run the club graduate, and enthusiasm for running the club dies out,” Gitelson said. “The Art Collective is created at the incentive of the student. If there’s a desire for this club, it should continue to exist.”
Student Center Programs Coordinator Brandon Carta said it is difficult for clubs to be re-established after a period of inactivity, but expressed hope that the club would find new student leadership.
“We don’t want it to die out. Once a group becomes inactive it’s hard to get that group back up and running,” Carta said. “We’d rather have interested and enthusiastic people come in and bring the club back.”
Carta said the Art Collective would be hosting meetings to invite and orient prospective student leaders who are interested in filling the student leadership vacancies.
First-year Tyler Vose has been involved with the Art Collective since the fall semester of 2023 and expressed interest in taking a leadership role.
According to Vose, Art Collective is pivoting towards planning a re-start next year but has not ruled out the spring 2024 semester entirely.
Vose, who joined the Art Collective immediately after starting at Keene State College, said the club is a diverse space for artists from all walks of life, skill and interests to find community and work together, regardless of skill or major.
“It’s so important to get to know people and find that community of artistically-minded people,” Vose said. “This is a liberal arts college, and the artsy people can be hard to find. The Art Collective gives us that, and gives us a space to connect and hang out and do art together.”
Vose said he is planning on taking a student leadership role, either this semester or whenever the Art Collective restarts. Additionally, he wants to organize group-based art projects and field trips and promote the student-artist community.
Interested students can contact Gitelson for more information at jgitelson@keene.edu.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
