Creative Activities

Transfer student finds community on both sides of the river

When deciding what four-year university he wanted to attend, affordability and proximity to family were primary factors for first-generation student Kyle Kopta (’21). He discovered WSU Tri-Cities, located just 40 minutes from his hometown of Hermiston, Oregon, had a digital technology and culture program that would allow him to apply his passion for photography, video, […]

Students pen original songs of protest, social commentary

From the morality of science and the banality of pandemic lockdown to struggles with money, police, queerness, and being the only girl in the band—the diverse topics of songs composed by students in Gabe Condon’s Songwriting II course reflect a wide range of social concerns and music created to address them. For their capstone project, […]

The power of poetry to advance social change

When America’s first youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, presents another of her original poems during Super Bowl LV events on Sunday, WSU campus civic poet Allyson Pang will be among the millions of people cheering her on. Like Gorman, Pang wants to use her education and creative writing skills to make the world a better […]

Q&A with Yoon-Wha Roh

An active chamber musician and a celebrated piano soloist with philharmonic and symphony orchestras from New York to Saint Petersburg to Seoul, Yoon-Wha (Yuna) Roh is a recent addition to the WSU School of Music. She has presented solo and chamber recitals at venues around the world and appeared in major music festivals such as the […]

Radio Re-Imagined: storytelling with sound

“A Radio Christmas Carol,” a WSU Vancouver community holiday tradition, returns this Christmas Eve via radio rather than an in-person public performance. “We want to spark listeners’ imaginations with this sound-based performance, not to mention bring a program of joy and hope,” said John Barber, faculty member in the Creative Media and Digital Culture program […]

Fine arts education flourishes in face of pandemic

From moist, cool clay to wet, drippy paint and dry, smudgy charcoal, visual art is a distinctly hands-on, sometimes messy, field of practice and study. So, what happens when art education goes online? “Remote teaching certainly hasn’t slowed us down. In fact, these strange times have helped us reimagine new, more expanded ways to reach […]

Artist combines dance, psychology in documentaries

Through her recent collaboration with EcoArts on the Palouse, psychology graduate student Hannah Levy created “Staying with the Pause,” a dance documentary which touches on the struggles many people face during the pandemic. “For a documentary dance, the main purpose is highlighting the story more than anything,” said Levy. This form of storytelling allows her […]