At 7:30 p.m. on October 19, 2018, the first PMAC Arts Festival will take place. Students will fill the PMAC courtyard with all disciplines of art offered at Choate — dance, visual arts, slam poetry, theatre, singing, and music. Though this festival is a new event, both Ms. Kalya Yannatos, Director of the Arts, and Medina Purefoy-Craig ’20, the event’s creator and main organizer, hope to make it a yearly affair.
Medina Purefoy-Craig ’20 was driven to create an interdisciplinary arts festival because she noticed that small performances at Choate were undervalued. Craig realized that people scarcely attend arts events other than major performances — something particularly evident for instrumental concerts. Medina hopes to give all artists a chance to showcase more of their art, as they all dedicate an important amount of time to rehearsing and creating. “I’m not telling people not to go to the major performances but for people to go to [smaller events such as this one,] and to actually get to know the people who aren’t really always on stage all the time,” Craig said.
Craig wants a festive atmosphere and hopes to include all art forms. She said, “This is an arts festival for all. I didn’t want it to be selective just because I want some different forms to have the chance to be showcased. I am not going to take away the opportunity for anyone, because all types of art mean so much to me.”
Craig chose to debut the festival in early Autumn. “Most won’t appreciate being in the cold during winter, and during the spring, everyone is too busy and getting ready to leave,” she remarked.
The creator hopes everyone will attend the arts festival. She expects those who participate in the arts or have friends who do to attend, but also hopes those who are busy and rarely participate in artistic endeavors take a moment and realize that their classmates’ work is just as important as other things on campus.
Craig is currently working with Ms. Yannatos and a few other adults to get the festival approved by the school, but this event is mostly student-run. Craig is trying to get members of the Arts Concentration program to share ideas in order to help her be as inclusive as possible for all disciplines. Ms. Yannatos said, “I was super excited to hear Medina pitch this idea because I was hoping that a student would [come up] with this idea. I’ve had this in mind for years myself, but I’ve always thought it would be better if it was student-driven rather than being driven by faculty. I could tell by Medina’s energy and the look in her eyes that she had the right energy and passion to really kick this off.”
The process has been challenging for Craig, but she still maintains a positive mindset. “The hardest part of this project is visualizing it. Over the summer, I completely forgot about how the PMAC courtyard looked and was afraid of having dance over there because I really did not want to have anyone get hurt,” she commented. Craig wants the festival to be visually entertaining and interesting. She hopes the artists will be able to express themselves and make bold statements.
Ms. Yannatos believes the event is “the kernel of potential.” Although the PMAC Arts Festival may look like a smaller event as it is making its first debut, it will likely sprout into its full potential in the near future.
