Introducing the BoulevART: The First-Ever Meadows Fair

By Ally Van Deuren (B.F.A. Theatre, B.A. Journalism, ’15)

Meadows students from all disciplines will showcase their talents at the first-ever “The BoulevART: Meadows Fair,” a school-wide event taking place on April 24, 2014.

Funded by the SMU Student Senate, the project will be co-directed by Anthony McAuliffe (B.A. Communication Studies, ’14), Becca Rothstein (B.F.A. Theatre, ’16) and Connor Volz (B.A. Music, ’16).

“Meadows students are incredibly creative, intelligent and talented and unfortunately our talents are not as available to the rest of the school as they could be,” Rothstein said. “This event will help showcase our talent, will help show the rest of the school what we do as artists and we’ll be able to share our incredible art with them in many different mediums.”

The come-and-go event will go from late morning to early evening, featuring music, dance and theatre performances on stage, along with visual art galleries and student films playing throughout the day. The quad outside Dallas Hall will be set up with a large stage, several tents and free food and drink for all.

With a committee of 19 Meadows students that meets once a week to discuss the details of the project, McAuliffe and Rothstein’s vision is taking off.

“It’s a way to reach out to the school and to build community and to break down barriers between Meadows and other SMU communities and schools,” Rothstein said.

McAuliffe, Rothstein and their team are hard at work researching and brainstorming the ways in which they can best advertise “The BoulevART: Meadows Fair” so that many non-Meadows students will attend and experience the art. They decided to hold the event on a Thursday, the most accessible day when non-Meadows majors can stop by, get some food, experience the art, talk to the artists and then head to class.

The team has high hopes for the long-lasting legacy of the event and how it could potentially increase future audience sizes of Meadows performances of all kinds.

“It would be very nice to showcase what happens in Meadows so people can support [their] fellow mustangs!” McAuliffe said. “We are hoping that this will turn into an annual event where the Meadows senators will take charge of the Meadows Fair committee and completely pull it together.”

Editor’s note: this piece originally ran in SMU’s independent paper: The Daily Campus.