Arts & Culture

MTSU Unveils New Student UnionUnveiling of the new $65 million MTSU Student Union and the “I am true Blue” branding effort will be at the forefront of the University’s start to the fall semester and 2012-13 academic year.

The opening of the nearly 211,000-square-foot Student Union, whose length is said to be one-and-a-half football fields (150 yards), is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 24, with doors opening at 7 a.m. The Student Union is located on the east side of campus near the University Honors College and the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center.

The opening of the upcoming season at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC), and the distinguished contributions of John Ferguson to the arts, will be celebrated on Saturday, August 25, 2012 at TPAC’s annual gala. Inspired by the hit movie and Broadway show Catch Me If You Can, this year’s benefit for the arts center’s educational and cultural programs will feature a stylish 1960s atmosphere.

Dust off those boots and tighten up that 10-gallon hat for MTSU’s upcoming “Saddle Up for Project Help” fundraiser, pardner, or you’ll have to answer to some mighty big little cowpokes.

“Saddle Up” gets under way at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 26, at the MTSU Foundation House, located at 324 W. Thompson Lane next to the university’s Tennessee Miller Coliseum. 

Create2012 will focus on aligning classroom instruction with 21st Century learning skills, which encompass creativity, imagination, problem solving, and critical thinking to support literacy in all subjects. Sessions will be offered for K-12 classroom teachers, arts specialists, teaching artists, special education, and resource teachers as well as principals and superintendents.

For the second year in a row, Nashville Ballet will serve as Nashville’s official location of National Dance Dayon Saturday, July 28, by offering free sample classes and choreography provided by Fox hit realty show So You Think You Can Dance(SYTYCD).

Pioneer rockabilly artist Wanda Jackson, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence” in 2009, will headline the 10th anniversary edition of the Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp at MTSU July 23-28.

Known as the “Queen of Rockabilly,” Jackson toured with Elvis Presley, featured then-session guitarist Buck Owens on her early singles and included then-unknown Roy Clark as part of her band, The Party Timers. Her hits include “Let’s Have a Party,” “Right or Wrong” and “In the Middle of a Heartache.”