ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., April 11, 2025 — As part of its yearlong 30th anniversary celebration, St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts (QCA) will host a community open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 26. The event is free and open to the public.
“The QCA Open House was planned as a collaboration between faculty and students in the School of Arts and Sciences, including the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, community partners, as in performers and artists, and the Quick Center,” said Paula Bernstein, QCA assistant director. “We wanted to showcase all that is going on in the Quick Center and the talented students who participate in extracurricular music, dance, theater and vocal activities.”
Local dance groups and their performance times include:
- 11:30 a.m., Heidi Noel’s Performing Arts Center
- 12:30 p.m., SBU Dance Team
- 1:30 p.m., SBU ASIA Team
- 2:30 p.m., Elevé Studio (Dana Crandall)
Local artists to attend include Nicole Missel, Darlene Subulski, John Balacki and Brad Mitchell.
The Quick Center galleries and common spaces will bustle with musical and dance performances, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. Events include an art exhibition, demonstrations, and art sales by local artists.
In the second-floor Paul W. Beltz Gallery, faculty will join students in presenting theatrical and musical performances inspired by the gallery’s paintings.
“Students and faculty have chosen paintings or sculptures that resonate with them and the works they are performing, whether they are for piano, voice or viola, or a poem, monologue or soliloquy,” said Laura J. Peterson, assistant professor of Music. “The interrelationship of the arts can be a powerful experience, and watching artists find their voices through music, theater and art is always exciting.”
In the Marianne Letro Laine Gallery on the first floor, participants can work with students and faculty member Chris Dalton, senior lecturer of History, to do calligraphy during hands-on demonstrations. Students will also be available for in-depth tours of the “Asian Collection: Ancient and Modern” in the Laine Gallery.
The Dresser Gallery, on the first floor, will feature “Where Plants are the Art,” a hands-on demonstration of painting with the natural environment, with Kevin Vogel, lecturer of Biology and chair of Environmental Studies, and students. A pottery exhibition and a pottery-throwing demonstration will also be available with faculty member Anne Mormile, lecturer in Visual and Performing Arts, and students.
In addition, local caricature artist Eric Jones, who has grabbed headlines across the region with his sand and snow sculptures, will draw people’s caricatures from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Dr. Rachel Harris, executive director of the Quick Center, said the event underscores the center’s mission. “Our doors are wide open for the community to enjoy the continuing collaboration of the QCA with multiple partners in and out of the St. Bonaventure community,” she said.
The open house is one of many events planned for the celebration of the QCA’s 30th anniversary. For the latest event schedule and ticket information, visit www.sbu.edu/qca-anniversary.
