ARTSwego’s annual performing art series begins next week, but the program’s influence and support stretches throughout the year.

Lowell Hutcheson, director of arts programming, said that ARTSwego –- funded by the student arts fee –- programs and administers the ARTSwego Performing Arts Series, co-hosts the Ke-nekt’ Chamber Music Series with the Music Department, administers the SUNY Oswego Artist-in-Residence program, serves as a marketing hub for arts events on campus, and offers funding support for faculty and departmental arts projects and initiatives.

This support, and a focus on education, means that events in the performing arts series and chamber music series are free for all SUNY Oswego students.

“Our performances are generally $20 for [the] general public and $15 for faculty, staff [and] alumni,” Hutcheson said. “[It is] $5 for non-SUNY Oswego students, but everything we do is always free for [our] students, but you do have to go online and get a ticket through the box office.”

To get tickets for events, people can visit tickets.oswego.edu.

Fall season begins

Two main ARTSwego events will take place in the coming days. The first features the American Patchwork Quartet performing at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, in Tyler Hall’s Waterman Theatre.

Led by multi-Grammy award-winning guitarist/vocalist Clay Ross, the quartet binds timeless American folk songs with jazz sophistication, country twang, West African hypnotics, and East Asian ornamentation. Ross is joined by Falguni (Falu) Shah, an 11th-generation Hindustani classical vocalist and the first South Asian woman to win a Grammy award; Yasushi Nakamura, an internationally acclaimed Issei jazz bassist; and Rudy Royston, a drummer and percussionist who has performed with many of today's finest jazz musicians.

In addition, APQ’s residency will include a jazz workshop from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25, in Room 11 of Tyler Hall. This workshop is free and open to the public. These residency opportunities are a key part of broadening the impact of visiting artists.

Hutcheson said that ARTSwego also works with the student leadership and others to partner on performances.

“We’ve oftentimes worked with the ALANA Student Leadership Conference to bring in a performer that can tie in or fit into that conference,” Hutcheson said. “As we’re doing this year, American Patchwork Quartet [is] performing as part of the inauguration celebration.”

Inauguration Week will culminate in the official installment of President Peter O. Nwosu from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena and Convocation Hall.

A second big event in the ARTSwego series is Squonk Opera performing its musical multimedia extravaganza “Brouhaha” on the South Lawn adjacent to Marano Campus Center at 2 and 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3, and at 1 and 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4. These shows are free for all audiences.

An immersive outdoor spectacle bursting with music, imagery and audience participation, “Brouhaha” prominently features the Squonkcordion, an enormous musical instrument powered by behemoth bellows topped with towering tuba bells. 

Squonk members performing will include the troupe’s artistic director, Jackie Dempsey, on keyboards; guitarist David Wallace; bassist Tony Thomas; drummer Charlie Kiesling; and Steve O’Hearn, who plays the bagpipes, sax and flute.

Hutcheson said that each performance is unique in its own way, and has recommendations for people who may be interested in certain genres.

“If you like American folk music or world music, I would highly recommend that people come see American Patchwork Quartet,” Hutcheson said. “If you’re a local community member with young kids and are looking for more family-friendly programming, I would highly recommend coming to Squonk Opera, which, even if you’re a student here at Oswego, I’d also recommend.”

The third main event in the ARTSwego series, the “Spirit of Harriet Tubman” theatrical performance, is something Hutcheson recommends for people interested in theater and history.

“That’s going to be just a really incredible performance,” Hutcheson said. “I’ve seen a small portion of the piece performed. The actor is incredible and does a really beautiful job of telling the story.”

Leslie McCurdy re-enacts the life of Tubman, a well-known abolitionist and social activist who had fled from slavery in the Underground Railroad, with the Oswego performance at 7 p.m. on March 12 in Waterman Theatre.

The last entry in the 2024-25 main series, Noirflux’s Electric Heliotrope Theatre, is a collaborative event where Lorne Covington will assist SUNY Oswego students in developing a new interactive experience involving creativity and technology.

This event stretches from April 21 to May 4, 2025. It is free for all people, with no tickets required, and will occur in Marano Campus Center Room 133. 

Bringing artists to campus

Hutcheson said that ARTSwego considers multiple factors when it comes to choosing what performers come to campus.

“For the most part, it’s really the director looking at what’s available and what fits with what our campus, students, and local community are interested [in], as well as what will best support ARTSwego's mission,” Hutcheson said.

Hutcheson works with a campuswide committee to ensure that programming dollars support a wide range of entertainment across the academic spectrum.

“We have a large funding pool … that funds projects happening in the following academic year,” Hutcheson said. “And those are things like the gallery exhibitions and the Living Writers series. Oftentimes, it’s faculty one-offs, special projects that they want to work on.”

There are four distinct areas of ARTSwego, including artistic performances, artistic events, musical performances and a marketing campaign.

Artists are not generally applying to ARTSwego, and Hutcheson explained her process to acquire performers.

“What we do is we work with agents to identify potential performers that we would like to contract with,” Hutcheson said. 

Hutcheson said she travels to identify and acquire talent every year for ARTSwego, and that she is looking to see what artists fit with the mission and goals for programming in the upcoming seasons.

“Every year, I go down to New York City for a big conference called APAP, which is the Association of Performing Arts Professionals,” Hutcheson said. ”It’s four days of non-stop performances, [with] snippets of dance pieces, theater pieces, and more. It’s an opportunity for me to go and scope out what’s available.”

Support across the arts

Beyond programs it schedules and funds, ARTSwego looks to support all campus artistic endeavors.

“ARTSwego really serves as a marketing hub for all the arts events on campus,” Hutcheson said. “So we accept submissions for marketing from all of our faculty for events that they’re doing, as well as departmental events that are happening on campus. We really help get the word out via social media, a weekly email and through uploads to local and regional calendars.”

Hutcheson said that over time, the structure of the department has changed since its founding in 1990.

“The biggest evolution has been kind of the way in which the performing arts series has been programmed,” Hutcheson said. “How extensive that’s been throughout the years – I think that’s become a little bit more focused in the sense that we now program a smaller series, but with larger performers and a bigger impact per performance, as opposed to a larger amount of smaller performances.”

The series will open doors to people of all ages, and organizers look forward to students and others attending the artistic performances.

For more information on ARTSwego and campus performing arts events, visit oswego.edu/ARTSwego.

-- Written by Ryan Ravenell of the Class of 2024