Student
interests in art changing
By Christine G. Adamo
On-line Forty-Niner
 Professor
Justus Matthews, Ph.D., has a lot to say
about the state of the arts at Cal State
Long Beach.
A member of the CSULB music department since
1971, Matthews said he has seen voluntary
student participation in arts-related events
dwindle dramatically since the early ‘70s.
“It’s not just here; it’s across the country,”
he said. “It’s a kind of malaise.”
Matthews attributes the lack of student
interest in the arts to reliance on computers
as a primary means of communication and
entertainment. To such an extent, he said,
that it has affected literacy rates, curiosity
levels and attention spans - which have
all given way to the need for immediate
gratification.
“I hear a lot of shifting in seats and shuffling
of feet when I’m in front of a class,” he
explained. “It’s disastrous. Students have
to be required to go to [on-campus events]
or they won’t go.
“When students do go, they love [them].”
Constance Glenn, director of the University
Art Museum, has witnessed a different kind
of change.
“We’ve seen a decided shift in student attendance
since we moved to this location [in 1994],”
Glenn said.
Glenn said the Art Museum was previously
housed on the 5th floor of the University
Library, where it suffered from a lack of
student traffic. The Art Museum has seen
a rise in student visits after moving 100
steps from Brotman Hall and adjacent to
the North Campus Center.
Glenn said student reliance on the Art Museum
as an on-campus source of culture has grown
in proportion to the increased number of
art students the campus plays host to. She
estimated that one in 20 students at CSULB
is an art major.
“There is a sense that the arts are more
important,” Glenn said.
She said the University 100 course, a requirement
of matriculation, has also caused a boon
in bodies at the Art Museum. The course
includes a tour of the facility that generally
leads to return visits.
Michelle Roberge, general manager of the
Carpenter Performing Arts Center, said students
account for one-quarter of the Carpenter
Center audience.
“Anecdotally, the box office sells about
25 percent of our Carpenter Center events
tickets to students,” Roberge said.
The venue sold 33,000 tickets during its
2001-2002 season; approximately 8,250 were
purchased by students. So far, 25,000 tickets
have been sold for 2002-2003 season. Students
have purchased 6,250 of them.
The “CSU Fall Term Enrollment Summary” of
student profiles for fall 2001 and fall
2002 (available at calstate.edu) show that
total enrollment at CSULB was 33,259 and
34,566 students, respectively. Student participation
in Carpenter Center events, therefore, has
decreased by 7 percent, from 25 to 18 percent.
Jill Mather, ticket office manager for Carpenter
Center and the College of the Arts, said
ticket sales also vary by department. The
dance and music departments require student
attendance at a minimum number of on-campus
events within their discipline.
As a result, Mather said, students often
fill 85 percent of the seats in the Martha
B. Knoebel Dance Theater and the Gerald
R. Daniel Recital Hall.
Matthews is opposed to the threat of a lower
grade being used as an incentive to get
students involved in on-campus arts events.
More specifically, getting them involved
in what he calls the lost “art of wanting
to go there, to socialize, to see [what
the set design is like], to witness the
achievements [of others] and to talk in
a social setting.”
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