Transforming the atrium

On any given day, a walk through the atrium of the Center for the Arts can be unremarkable. The bare white walls and high ceilings have a minimalist feel, but are being transformed on Tuesday evenings for the Music is Art series.

Cool lights, ornate Persian rugs, enormous couches, and comfy pillows disguise the atrium to create a coffeehouse atmosphere for students to enjoy free of charge.

The series is sponsored by Robby Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls and the Center for the Arts. It features local musicians, dancers and artists. It will continue through the end of April and footage from the shows will be aired on campus cable.

"It all started one night when I was watching the sun come up and the Allentown Arts Festival was just four weeks away. I thought it would be cool to have a bunch of bands playing in the backyard of Chameleon West Studios when all the other arts festivities were taking place. We ended up having about 50 bands playing and that's where Music is Art was born," Takac said in a phone interview with The Spectrum.

"Our inspiration for this series came from shows like (MTV's) 'Unplugged' and (VH1's) 'Storytellers,' but we wanted to add the artist component," said Jamie Enser, director of operations and produced events for the CFA.

Enser, a team of student interns and sound engineers from Takac's Chameleon West Studios will be recording the shows to produce a CD and a 30-minute television series.

Upon first glance, all the glass and smooth surfaces in the atrium fail to suggest an acoustically friendly environment for a concert. Enser and her team are very careful about this factor, though.

"We're really conscious about the sound in the atrium. You can sit and have a conversation with someone while still enjoying the music. The sound isn't blaring out of the speakers," Enser said.

With art as the focus of the show, there are no rigid guidelines as to the shows' events. Students are encouraged to come and go as they please, taking in the experience as a whole.

"For the first hour, people can walk around, see the artists working, and talk with them. Then at 9 p.m., the first band comes on while the artists keep doing their thing. It makes for a really neat dynamic," Enser said.

Tom Burrows, director of the CFA, is excited about the broad effects that this series may have on the university community.

"We had been kicking around an idea to bring more music acts to the CFA, attract the student population, and utilize the space of the atrium. It had to be relatively inexpensive, but also have the potential to be televised. This is it," Burrows said.

Community involvement fuels this creative machine. Local musicians, student dancers and technical interns are the meat and potatoes of the operation.

"We want the student body, whether they are arts students or not, to come get involved with this project. Anyone is welcome," Burrows said.

For Takac, the "Music is Art" series is about more than the performance. It's about Buffalo.

"Being an entertainer is a self-centered situation, but Music is Art is something positive that many people are willing to rally behind. It's great to feel like you've had some impact on the community," Takac said.

Takac has had his hand in many stages of this experience, as well.

"I cannot believe how cool this has been. When Tom and Jamie brought us in, they opened their ears and took our advice. Between Tom's initial vision and how we've been able to combine all the elements, everything's come together flawlessly," Takac said.

So far, musicians such as Lazlo Holyfeld, Rhubarb, David Kane, and Damien Simon have performed, covering the genres of jazz, electronica, techno and jam. Future acts include David Wasik, Last Conservative, Fold in Half Cat and Terry Sullivan. Artists using the atrium as their studio have worked in illustration, oils, sequential art, textiles, sculpture and pastels.

The combination of the two has been well received and the resulting television segments will potentially be aired on public access as well as other arenas.

"They are eventually going to create a SUNY cable system for all the 64 campuses and will be desperate for product. We'd like to get in on the ground floor of that," Burrows said.

The goal of this project is to bring the UB and surrounding community together in a celebration of the arts. These performances will lead up to Takac's Music is Art Festival in the summer, according to both Burrows and Enser.

"Art is not only about painting or drawing. It's this whole experience, this whole process," Enser said.

Taking a break next week, the "Music is Art" series will resume on March 22 and continue every Tuesday until April 19. The artists begin working at 8 p.m. and the first band starts at 9 p.m., but students are encouraged to come and watch the atrium become as a canvas for creativity.