Where Talented Artists Meet a Creative Showcase

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Visual and Performing Arts

Where Talented Artists Meet a Creative Showcase

As part of our commitment to a liberal arts education, we want all of our students to appreciate and understand the arts beyond the traditional classroom setting.

Most of what happens in the arts at Westminster happens when teachers and students get their hands and their feet dirty in the practice rooms and studios, when they take advantage of artistic opportunities.

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Creative Students

Werner Centennial Center (WCC) was constructed in 1988 to celebrate the school’s 100th birthday, giving the arts on Williams Hill a wonderful showcase for talent. The 420-seat theater has since been the setting for hundreds of performances, concerts, shows, lectures, poetry readings and school assemblies.

It is a stunningly beautiful venue. But more importantly, it was designed to be both a showcase for performances and a place for hands-on learning. What visitors see is a magnificent theater, inside and out. What students and faculty see are the practice rooms and studios and workshops spread throughout WCC, places where sets are designed, hammered together and painted; where dance steps are painstakingly choreographed; where jazz solos are imagined; where lines of dialogue are rehearsed.

WERNER CENTENNIAL CENTER

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Guest speakers, performances and rehearsals are hosted in our beautiful, professionalquality theater.

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Adjacent to WCC, you will find the Hamilton Art Studios, home to Westminster’s visual arts program. In the studios, poems become paintings, plastic bottles are transformed into flowers and buildings are designed. The captivating results of these efforts are on display across campus in Westminster’s buildings and galleries.

At almost any time, day or night, you will find students painting and sculpting in the studios, working at the drafting boards in the engineering and design classroom, developing photographs in the school’s dark rooms or creating digital art in the computer lab. You will also find them perfecting piano pieces, reviewing stage directions, auditioning for Chamber Choir or mastering choreography in WCC. From time to time, they have the opportunity to work with outstanding visiting artists and musicians in master-class settings.

Excellence in the arts at Westminster is showcased at the school’s major artistic events: the performing arts concerts that take place three times a year, Dramat’s major theatrical productions in the fall and winter and periodic art installations. Excellence is further highlighted by the number of students who qualify for All-State recognition in music, or win regional photography awards, or go on to pursue majors in the arts at colleges and conservatories all across the country.

Opportunities in the arts often flower in smaller, more informal events, that involve both students and faculty as well. These events include studentorganized coffeehouses, performances by singers and instrumentalists during chapel services, the spring showcase of student directed performances and an annual cabaret show.

m “We integrate the learning of artistic theory, history and technique with practice and performance, forming a bridge between academics and arts activities and presentations. That bridge enlivens and enriches the living and learning environment of the school community. We aim to increase students’ skills and to instill a lifelong appreciation for the arts.”

david chrzanowski

head of the visual & performing arts department, director of music