Secrest Artists Series

Whether your student is getting ready to enter his or her first year, or is preparing to be a senior, one thing they must be sure to take advantage of in the 2012-13 school year is the Secrest Artists Series.

The Secrest Artists Series is part of the “tradition” of Wake Forest.  As a liberal arts institution, we deeply believe that our students need to be well rounded in all the areas of knowledge and culture.  Accordingly, knowledge of the performing arts is an essential for any well-educated person.

The Secrest Artists Series brings world-class talent to our campus.  These are some of the same artists that perform at Duke, the University of North Carolina, Stanford, and UCLA – but at Wake Forest, tickets are free for WFU students, staff, and faculty.  This is another amazing benefit of being a Wake Forester. (Think about it: a ticket to see these artists at the Kennedy Center or Lincoln Center would be about $100.)  An added benefit is that some of our faculty are known to give extra credit for attendance at a Secrest event.

My colleague Lillian Shelton, who runs our Secrest Artists Series, told me once that even if you don’t know anything about chamber music, jazz, Indian classical dance, or contemporary classical music, you can be assured that whatever we are bringing, it is “the best” of its genre.

One other benefit your students will have through the Secrest offerings is access to faculty experts.  Each Secrest event is accompanied by the Secrest Signature pre-performance talk in which a faculty or community expert talks about the artist and their program in detail and providing context.

There are many reasons to go to Secrest events.  They are free, fun, eye-opening, whimsical, inspirational, and mind-expanding.  Your student might fall in love with the music or dancing they see, and might be off on a lifelong adventure as a supporter of the arts.  Someday, students in these Secrest audiences might even be asked to serve on boards of symphony orchestras, opera companies, dance ensembles, and theatre companies.  We want them to be prepared to serve with confidence.

So urge your students to take advantage of this tremendous resource on campus.