As part of orientation, you will soon receive a card with your name, a number, and a tiny photo of your beautiful face on it. Though there will be a lot of information thrown at you over the course of your orientation, that card is arguably the most important thing you will get out of these summer info sessions.
What you may not be told is this card goes by two names, not just one: UCard and Arts Pass.
“Well, the Arts Pass is just your UCard, and I think that’s something that a lot of people don’t realize, that you just have it with you all the time,” said Annealea Flynn, a senior majoring in Musical Theater, who has saved a lot of money and attended many arts events using the Arts Pass capabilities of the card. “With your UCard you can get into the arts events on campus for free, so whether that’s a music performance, ballet, modern dance, theater; and then you also get very discounted tickets to the Utah Presents events which are professional groups that come to the U too.”
For Flynn, the best part of the Arts Pass is the ease with which it allows students to engage with various art forms. “Being a theater major I just love to attend all of the theater events on campus,” she said. “So when I learned that I could get into all the arts events on campus for free that was very exciting for me.”
Some arts forms available at the U and discounted by the Arts Pass are provided by students, such as modern dance, a favorite of Flynn, as she said, “They’re always exciting.” Others are more professional, like those offered through Utah Presents or Pioneer Theatre Company, providing a balance of learning and trained performances in the available art opportunities.
As most students know, there is only so much you can gain from a classroom and only so much of the classroom you can take before you need a break. The Arts Pass represents an effort by the U to incorporate all sorts of learning into the more rigidly scholastic education.
“The University of Utah’s commitment to providing affordable access to diverse arts experiences is unparalleled,” said Raymond Tymas-Jones, Associate Vice President for the Arts and Dean of the College of Fine Arts. “Because, for us, we’re not here just to provide great entertainment; it is our responsibility to highlight new ideas, challenge old perceptions, reflect the world’s rich diversity and expand the critical thinking skills that affect U of U students’ ability to be empathetic global citizens. We are thrilled to see a growing thirst among our students for these creative experiences.”
To help students take advantage of all the Arts Pass has to offer, Duncan Cox, a student at the U, created The Party, which is meant to answer the age-old question of “but who would I go with?”
“It was created to make arts events more approachable for students and basically just a way to make arts events even more social,” said Flynn. “So the idea is that a party would be thrown in collaboration with an art event, so that way you could have friends to go with, you could hang out before, hang out after and also it’s a good chance to learn about the art event.”
As you learn more about classes and DARS reports and majors and colleges during orientation, don’t forget about the Arts Pass. Be sure to visit theparty.utah.edu, as well as The Party’s Facebook page, to keep up to date on future events. The first Party event taking place this school year will be on Sept. 9.