It’s Called Fashion, Look It Up: BOP Fine Arts Hosts PC Alumni in the Fashion Industry

by The Cowl Editor on October 31, 2019


Campus


by Sienna Strickland ’22

News Staff

Providence College’s Board of Programmers (BOP) is always busy planning fun events for students around campus. Anne Barbera ‘21, member of the Fine Arts committee, talks about the contributions Fine Arts makes to campus life.

The Arts Committee has had a busy year so far with a myriad of diverse programming, but, until last Thursday, had yet not ventured into the field of fashion. “Style Sophisticated,” an event held in ‘64 Hall on Oct. 24, changed this.

Barbera, one of the main planners behind the event, discussed the event’s origin story, stating, “I have always been interested in fashion, and felt that it was an area PC needed to touch upon more. I was deeply fascinated by the fact that we have successful women PC alum who work in the industry. I felt that more people should know about these talented women and the paths they had to take—as well as receive some fashion advice in the process!”

Like previous Fine Arts events, the turnout was impressive. Students, like Barbera, recognized the unique opportunity to hear from these women working in fashion. “The turnout was great, Kelly Schneider and Sarah Viens [the speakers] were very informative, and overall everything went wonderfully. It was an honor to have them.”

“The Fine Arts committee is one of the ten committees on the Board of Programmers,” Barbera says. “We plan all of the events that have to do with the arts.”

Continuing by listing some events the committee has hosted this past year, Barbera states, “We held a trip to the Boston Arts Festival, put together a tie-dye making event on Slavin lawn called ‘Clear Skies and Tie Dyes,’ and also had a vision board- making event in McPhail’s.” These events have all been massive successes in terms of turnout, often running out of materials within an hour of their start time.

Fine Arts has done a lot of work this year, but they are nowhere near done. “We would like to continue to reach audiences on campus that we have never thought to reach before with our events. This year so far, we have been doing a great job on diversifying our projects, but we are by no means complacent. We are hoping to wow the crowd with the events we have on the horizon for the rest of the semester.”

Barbera gave a quick preview of some of these future events. The Fine Arts committee has two events planned for the upcoming month of November. On Nov. 5 they will be hosting a trip to Providence Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. to watch the Aladdin musical. They will also be hosting a muse painting event called “Drink and Dabble” on Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Schneider and Viens talk about their experience in the fashion industry.
Brianna Colletti ’21/THECOWL