Springfield College Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA)

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Springfield College Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) This is the Official page for Visual and Performing Arts at Springfield College.

In 1962, Professor Emeritus William Blizard, an arts educator and professional artist, established the art department at Springfield College. In 1990, arts education was furthered at SC by combining and strengthening the existing art, dance, music, and theatre programs into the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. Today, the VAPA Department continues to grow, with well over 100 majors, spacious and attractive facilities, professional faculty, and high quality arts programming. In addition to preparing students for a career in the arts, the department offers coursework for the entire SC student population and serves the greater Springfield Community through outreach, exhibitions and performances. RECENT VAPA GRADUATES: We have started the process of collecting survey data for the Class of 2012. Please help us in our efforts by completing this short survery: http://studentvoice.com/sc/classof2012postgrad
Thank you!

Monday, October 26, 7:00 to 8:00 PMCleveland E. and Phyllis B. Dodge Room (B), Flynn Campus UnionAt this event, Nina Mac...
10/13/2026

Monday, October 26, 7:00 to 8:00 PM

Cleveland E. and Phyllis B. Dodge Room (B), Flynn Campus Union

At this event, Nina MacLaughlin will be reading from her published works. She is the author of Wake, Siren (FSG), a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Massachusetts Book Award, as well as Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice (Black Sparrow), winner of the Massachusetts Book Award. MacLaughlin’s first book was the acclaimed memoir Hammer Head (W.W. Norton). Her most recent book is the monograph Burning in the Eyes of the Maker (Phaidon) on the work of the artist Celeste Dupuy-Spencer.

Nina MacLaughlin has worked as a journalist and a carpenter. Her work has appeared in the Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, n+1, Orion, and elsewhere. She lives in Cambridge, Mass.

ETERNAL: ELEMENTSLIVE PAINTING + LIVE BEATMAKINGThursday, October 22, 12:15 to 1:05 PMWilliam Blizard Gallery*Join us in...
10/13/2026

ETERNAL: ELEMENTS

LIVE PAINTING + LIVE BEATMAKING

Thursday, October 22, 12:15 to 1:05 PM

William Blizard Gallery*

Join us in the William Blizard Gallery to experience Eternal: Elements, a collaboration between visual artist LESN101 and music producer NAGO as they compose paintings and songs alongside each other, showcasing their artistic processes in real time. Focusing on the classical elements for inspiration, LESN101 and NAGO demonstrate that the quality of composition is not governed by the complexity of materials, but by the strength of the cypher.

Eternal: Elements is part of the Wiggle Room art exhibit.

This performance is free and open to the Springfield College community and the public.

Cyanotype Workshop with Madge EversWednesday, October 1411:00 AM to 1:30 PMWilliam Blizard Gallery* Registration is requ...
10/07/2026

Cyanotype Workshop with Madge Evers

Wednesday, October 14

11:00 AM to 1:30 PM

William Blizard Gallery*


Registration is required. Studio capacity is limited to 15 participants and will be filled in the order registrations are received.

Join us at the William Blizard Gallery for a hands-on Cyanotype Workshop with artist Madge Evers, where you’ll create photographic images using sunlight, light-sensitive materials, and the shapes and textures of the natural world.



Evers is the author of Printing With the Sun (Storey, 2026), a book about the cyanotype process. Evers works with photographic techniques, mushroom spores, and painting to depict observed landscape details, plant life’s less visible processes, and imagined botanical forms. She has exhibited throughout New England and participated in residencies in Massachusetts, Virginia, Ireland, and New York. Evers lives and works in western Massachusetts.

The Cyanotype Workshop with Madge Evers is part of the Wiggle Room art exhibit.

The cyanotype workshop is free and open to the Springfield College community.

Thursday, October 226:00 to 7:30 PMSpringfield College Dance Studio (Facilities Building, Second Floor)29 Sheffield Stre...
10/05/2026

Thursday, October 22

6:00 to 7:30 PM

Springfield College Dance Studio (Facilities Building, Second Floor)

29 Sheffield Street, Springfield, Mass.


In this high-energy class, participants will learn fundamentals of house, including aspects of footwork, floorwork, and the importance of a freestyle approach to the dance. The cultural context in which this dance was created and where it continues to thrive will be underscored throughout the class. Get ready to enjoy the music, break a sweat, and connect to one another!

This class is free and open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members.


Asherie, a Bessie Award winner for Innovative Achievement in Dance, creates work for the dynamic group of multifaceted dancers in her company Ephrat Asherie Dance (EAD). Dedicated to honoring the ethos of New York City’s underground club community, EAD explores the inherently complex and dynamic qualities of various Black and Latine vernacular forms, including breaking, hip-hop, house, and waacking. Asherie’s singular way of creating “compact bursts of choreography with rapid-fire changes in rhythm and gestural articulation” (New York Times), brings forth work that is aesthetically innovative, physically rigorous, and unceasingly curious. EAD has presented work nationally and internationally and the company's newest work, Shadow Cities, had its New York City premiere at the Joyce Theater in December 2025. Asherie is forever grateful to New York City’s underground dance community for inspiring her to pursue a life as an artist. For more information please visit ephratasheriedance.com.

Follow Ephrat Asherie Dance on Instagram.

Cyanotype with Madge EversMonday, October 5, 11:00 AM to 1:30 PMWilliam Blizard Gallery*Join us at the William Blizard G...
09/29/2026

Cyanotype with Madge Evers

Monday, October 5, 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM

William Blizard Gallery*

Join us at the William Blizard Gallery for a hands-on Cyanotype Workshop with artist Madge Evers, where you’ll create photographic images using sunlight, light-sensitive materials, and the shapes and textures of the natural world.



Evers is the author of Printing With the Sun (Storey, 2026), a book about the cyanotype process. Evers works with photographic techniques, mushroom spores, and painting to depict observed landscape details, plant life’s less visible processes, and imagined botanical forms. She has exhibited throughout New England and participated in residencies in Massachusetts, Virginia, Ireland, and New York. Evers lives and works in western Massachusetts.

The Cyanotype Workshop with Madge Evers is part of the Wiggle Room art exhibit.

The cyanotype workshop is free and open to the Springfield College community.

Thursday, October 1, 7:00 PMAppleton Auditorium, Fuller Arts CenterCome join us for a screening of the film Mary Oliver:...
09/24/2026

Thursday, October 1, 7:00 PM

Appleton Auditorium, Fuller Arts Center

Come join us for a screening of the film Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World, followed by a Q&A with Sasha Waters, the film's director.

If poetry had a pop icon, Mary Oliver would be it. Celebrated best-selling poet, Pulitzer Prize-winner, lover of dogs and long walks in the woods, openly q***r but intensely private, Oliver was America’s unlikely contemporary mystic, stalking the ponds and forests of Cape Cod for nearly 50 years in order to open herself – and her readers – to the known and unknowable world. From a lonely childhood to literary fame, Oliver’s life was shaped by devotion to nature, paying attention, and the long journey toward learning to love and to be loved. Her poems inspire liberals and conservatives, atheists and believers, naturalists and urbanites, speaking directly to contemporary anxieties about attention, presence, and the human relationship with the natural world – issues that feel especially pressing in an era of climate crisis, digital distraction, and social fragmentation.

Featuring interviews with her close friends, including John Waters, never-before-seen personal photos, notebooks, and correspondence from her archive, and recitations of her work by Stephen Colbert, Lucy Dacus, Steve Buscemi, and Oprah Winfrey, Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World considers the poet’s long lifetime of work in context, capturing the uniqueness of her world and the natural beauty that inspired her.

ETERNAL: ELEMENTSLIVE PAINTING + LIVE BEATMAKINGThursday, September 24, 12:15 to 1:05 PMWilliam Blizard Gallery*Join us ...
09/23/2026

ETERNAL: ELEMENTS

LIVE PAINTING + LIVE BEATMAKING

Thursday, September 24, 12:15 to 1:05 PM

William Blizard Gallery*

Join us in the William Blizard Gallery to experience Eternal: Elements, a collaboration between visual artist LESN101 and music producer NAGO as they compose paintings and songs alongside each other, showcasing their artistic processes in real time. Focusing on the classical elements for inspiration, LESN101 and NAGO demonstrate that the quality of composition is not governed by the complexity of materials, but by the strength of the cypher.

Eternal: Elements is part of the Wiggle Room art exhibit.

This performance is free and open to the Springfield College community and the public.
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE DATES

Thursday, October 22, 12:15 to 1:05 PM

Tuesday, November 10, 12:15 to 1:05 PM

Wiggle RoomSeptember 23-November 18William Blizard Gallery*In this lyrical exhibition, artists LESN101 and Madge Evers p...
09/21/2026

Wiggle Room

September 23-November 18

William Blizard Gallery*

In this lyrical exhibition, artists LESN101 and Madge Evers position the gallery as an evolving site of creative inquiry. Emphasizing artistic freedom, they are given the option to test, revise, and reimagine their work over the duration of the show. Interactive elements extend this inquiry to the public, creating “wiggle room” — a generative space between intention and constraint where participation, experimentation, and unexpected possibilities can emerge.

Join us for the Closing Reception at the William Blizard Gallery on Wednesday, November 18, from 4:00 to 5:30 PM.

Tuesday, April 28, 7:30 to 9:00 PMMarsh Memorial ChapelThe annual Spring Concert will feature the music of the Springfie...
04/09/2026

Tuesday, April 28, 7:30 to 9:00 PM

Marsh Memorial Chapel

The annual Spring Concert will feature the music of the Springfield College Community Chorus and the Springfield College Band, along with selections from students involved in music studios across campus. Welcome the warmth of spring with some music that’s sure to get you moving in your seats!

This event is free and open to the Springfield College community and the public.

Address

263 Alden Street
Springfield, MA
01109

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 9pm
Tuesday 8am - 9pm
Wednesday 8am - 9pm
Thursday 8am - 9pm
Friday 8am - 9pm
Sunday 2pm - 6pm

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