The Goshen College Chamber Choir delivered a captivating performance  at Rieth Recital Hall on Friday, Jan. 18, offering a preview of their upcoming performance at the Indiana Music Educators Association professional development conference in Fort Wayne. The concert began with a lighthearted moment as the choir members took some time to settle into their places on stage, with a playful remark from choir director Scott Hochstetler,  who assured the audience that the early stage nervousness would pave the way for a flawless performance the next day. The momentary  exchange added a personal touch creating an intimate connection with the audience. ...

By Ana Alves Machado • January 23, 2025 • Arts

Goshen College’s theater department may be small but it is filled with talented people, as seen by the program’s recent participation in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. KCACTF is a five-day event where several GC students were able to participate in  multiple competitive semifinals and finals for scholarships.    Aysia Adkins, a junior music major, was a semifinalist in the musical theater intensive. She recalled, “It’s a lot of people… I’m not actually sure the number, I feel like it was a hundred or something [people] on day one that I auditioned.” She explained how the number of people...

By Annabelle Bartz • January 23, 2025 • Arts

The Queen Singers, one of Goshen College’s singing ensebles, is set to return to the stage this Monday as a part of GC’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. The group has been preparing for their performance, which will mark two years since the ensemble’s beginning. The Queen Singers were originally founded by Jakyra Green and Nakiyah Kilpatrick, and are a group that “amplifies and honors the BIPOC feminine experience,” according to H. Roz Woll, assistant professor of music and faculty adviser to The Queen Singers. Green and Kilpatrick were familiar with activism on GC’s campus through being heavily involved...

By Caoimhe Farrell • January 16, 2025 • Arts

Last Sunday, on Jan. 12, the Goshen College Hershberger Art Gallery presented an opening reception for the exhibit “Aspects of the Feminine” by Laurie Rousseau, a local artist from South Bend, Indiana. The artist talked about her previous work and what led her to create “Aspects of the Feminine,” then followed her talk with questions from the public, which was partially made up of students from different art classes. Sara Method, assistant professor of art and chair of the art department said, “One of our big goals with our art gallery is to show a variety of artwork from a...

By Ana Alves Machado • January 16, 2025 • Arts

Daffodils are among the first flowers to bloom each spring, and when I see them I’m always reminded of the warm weather that’s on its way. They help me remember that even when things are bleak, something new could be on the horizon.  I was a first-year when I began collaging. I saw these posters all over campus and liked different aspects of them, and I would see them get thrown away as the thing they were advertising had gone by. I decided on a whim one night to walk around and collect posters from events that had already passed,...

By Sarah Miller • November 25, 2024 • Arts

Goshen College’s Lavender Jazz band hit the stage with a show-stopping performance on Friday, Nov. 15, in Sauder Concert Hall. With a set list of six different songs, the band captivated the audience and ended with an encore for their grand finale.  Greg Smucker, who has served as the director of Lavender Jazz for the past six years, spoke highly of the group when talking about the decisions that went into choosing the setlist for the concert: “This band is very accomplished, as far as musicians, and so as soon as I knew the band — they were all returning...

By Alina Bergstresser • November 25, 2024 • Arts

Sunday, Nov. 17, the Hershberger Art Gallery hosted a reception for local artist Jake Webster’s exhibit, “A Conversation between Agony and Grief.” The reception was full of a mix of colleagues, community members and students. Growing up in Mississippi, Webster noted the presence of social movements and general systemic violence in his upbringing. In his youth, Webster thought that art of the time should reflect not just tragedies around him, but the way people continued to live in both ordinary and remarkable ways.  “Somehow, nobody around me was making art about that,” he said to the audience. Webster began to...

By Bennett Silveus • November 25, 2024 • Arts

Umble Center’s stage lit up with glow-in-the-dark dragon masks and dramatic fight scenes for the first time on Friday, Nov. 8. “She Kills Monsters,” a production by Qui Nguyen, tells the story of Agnes Evans, an average girl living an average life. Her world is turned upside down when her parents and her younger sister, Tilly, die in a tragic car accident. The play follows Agnes in her attempt to reconnect with Tilly through her love for Dungeons and Dragons. Brenton Abram-Copenhaver, technical director at Goshen College, came on as the director of this production after two failed attempts to...

By Eliza Alemán • November 14, 2024 • Arts

When you enter the side door of the Union building and walk toward the campus post office, you pass a door that almost blends into the wall — not wanting to attract attention. With a faculty key, the door opens and you ascend two flights of stairs. Through another door, you enter a mysterious space. Imagine a giant storage room filled with history and creativity — an art gallery tucked away far off of the beaten path. This is the home for Goshen College’s art collection, which consists of more than 200 unique pieces.  Since she started teaching at GC...

By Aaliah Higareda • November 14, 2024 • Arts

The imagery of the disembodied head of George Washington, urging the onlooker to vote, is meant to provide humor and further reflection upon the absurdity of politics, with the milking of patriotism and bygone eras becoming crutches for current candidates.   Ryan Snider is a senior art major from Goshen, Indiana. In his free time he enjoys doodling, jamming to music, working at Campus Post, hanging out with friends and welding sculptures. 

By Ryan Snider • November 3, 2024 • Arts

On Saturday, Oct.  26, the Goshen College Music Department held its annual Fall Choral Concert. A tailgate hosted by the Campus Activities Council in the Music Center courtyard was a prelude to the concert itself. The tailgate provided snacks, refreshments and lawn games.  Ella McLeod, a junior accounting major and member of the Campus Activities Council, said she wanted to “bring light to students that are going to be performing and … [bridge] the gap between the dorms and residents and the concerts at Sauder.” While the event was advertised to students on campus, the CAC generously opened up the...

By Mireya Alemán • November 3, 2024 • Arts

This past Friday, the Art Club and Latino Student Union hosted a Decorate Your Own Piñata event. Aaliah Higareda, Art Club president and junior graphic design major, and Kena Oropeza, an LSU leader and senior marketing major, are two of the many minds who put together the event.  When asked about the planning behind the event, Oropeza said, “We wrote down ideas that were not done by LSU in prior school years and tried to think of creative events. I was the one who wrote down decorating piñatas because I thought a craft event would be fun, engaging and unique.” ...

By Zyion Maring • November 3, 2024 • Arts

 Last Friday, EcoPax and Advocates hosted their first fashion show and clothing swap in Newcomer 19. The event brought over 50 students, and highlighted the importance of sustainability in fashion, alongside the potential for personal style to be empowering. Advocates is Goshen College’s LGBTQ+ affinity group, with Lydia Esh, a senior social work major, and Peace Muhagachi, a senior sociology major, as vice president and president respectively.  Esh said the planning was stressful since the event happened so soon after fall break. “We were trying to figure out all the things before break hit, and it felt a little bit...

By Mackenzie P. Miller • October 24, 2024 • Arts

By Mackenzie P. Miller • October 24, 2024 • Arts

This past summer, two Goshen College film students, Isabel Massud and Silas Immanuel, dedicated their time to producing a documentary as a Maple Scholars project. Their time has been spent discovering and telling the story of Cora Dale, a talented artist from Goshen who died in a state mental hospital. Their summer term has since ended, but Massud and Immanuel continue developing the documentary. Dale’s roots in Goshen can be traced to 1889, when her parents built a house downtown when she was 21. As a young adult, Dale traveled to Chicago and found opportunities as a teacher and  musician,...

By Igor Sapucaia • October 10, 2024 • Arts