It’s reaching that time of year again. The weather gets colder, leaves change—fall is approaching. At Grand Valley State University, the beginning of fall also marks the beginning of the Fall Arts Celebration.

Celebration Committee Chair Teri Losey said the program has featured distinguished writers, poets,
musicians, artists and scholars in addition to GVSU’s own faculty and students for two decades
now.

The annual celebration kicks off Sept. 11 with the opening reception for the Art Gallery Exhibit,
which will feature Cyril Lixenberg’s creations in the Performing Arts Center Gallery. This event is
expanding on the artwork already in the Thornapple Room of the Kirkhof Center.

Through Dec. 9, GVSU’s campus calendar is filled with all forms of art events that are open to the
public with free admission.

“Art events help us connect—both to people who have similar interests, but also to new things that,
if we’re not too afraid of it to give it a little time, could give us a brand new pleasure, some new
things to think about and new perspectives to think from,” said Fredrick Antczak, the festival’s
spokesperson and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Music from La Belle Époque: Chamber Music for Winds from Turn-of-the-Century Paris will follow
the Lixenberg exhibit on Sept. 16. The concert will be held in the Louis Armstrong Theatre in the
Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m.

“One of the best things about college is that you can discover brand new interests that energize
you and make you happier,” Antczak said. “Think about how much richer your life is because of the
things you love; now think of college as a place where you can get access to many more, to make
your life that much richer.”

The Fall Arts Celebration is being offered to the community, students and faculty to enrich them
with art and also give back.

“Fall Arts also connects the university to the community,” Antczak said. “Our events have a really
big following, but ‘connect’ is too weak a word. The events of Fall Arts express the university’s
excellence to our community.”

Other events include a lecture by Laurie Garett, an “Evening of Poetry and Conversations,” “The
American Identity in Dance” and “A Very English Christmas: Music of the Season from the British
Isles.”

“People may or may not know at first glance what’s good biochemistry research or accounting or
engineering instruction, but if they come to a concert and hear excellence, they identify that level
of performance with everything we do at Grand Valley,” Antczak said. “And after all, we are a public university, we are this region’s university. It’s right that we give back.”

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