A panelist of performing artists, moderated by Rodney Miller, dean of the College of Fine Arts, will discuss the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the events industry at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23.
The performing arts industry was the first to close down and will be the last to fully open up. The
Rodney Miller
industry supports 11 million jobs and generates more than $1.75 trillion a year in direct, indirect and induced spending — greater than agriculture, broadcasting and telecommunications, auto manufacturing, truck and rail transportation, and computer systems design and related services.
The arts, particularly the performing arts, constitute a majority of this gross domestic product – more than 4.2% of the national GDP. In Kansas alone, the arts constitute around 3% of the state’s GDP ($4.2 billion), employing approximately 50,000 Kansans and representing $2.5 billion in salaries alone. When shutdowns occurred in March, this vital aspect of the nation's economy essentially ceased to exist. It ceased to exist on college campuses as well.
Rodney Miller will moderate this panel. Participants include:
- Marisa Santiago, arts administrator, program coordinator
- Matt Miller, lighting designer, author
- Danette Baker, program director for theatre, School of Performing Arts
- David MacDonald, assistant professor of music theory and composition, School of Music
The discussion will be delivered via Zoom at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 23. For more information about the “Perspectives on the Pandemics: Part II” series and how to join by Zoom, please visit: https://www.wichita.edu/Pan2
Wichita State University serves as the Kansas urban-based research university, enrolling more than 20,000 students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.
Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.
The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.
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