Fall Arts Festival Returns for 2023 With Theme “Healing with the Arts: Creating for a Just Future”

Every fall, students, faculty, alumni, staff, members of the local communities and guest artists gather for one of Adelphi’s most popular events: the Fall Arts Festival. On this day, various departments come together to create, perform and celebrate the arts and demonstrate the power of art as a tool for social justice. Events include sculpture and art displays, music, dance, drama, spoken word performances and the beloved Chalk Up! activity in which students and faculty members use chalk to draw images on Adelphi’s walkways.

Some highlights from the festival include:

• Art students from Professor Christopher Saucedo and Adjunct Professor Samantha Dominik’s sculpture workshop classes displayed their work on the campus grounds.
• Guest artist Trebbe Johnson worked with students and faculty from Artivism (Professor Stephanie Lake, PhD, Director of Adelphi University’s criminal justice program, Argie Agelarakis, MA ‘00, adjunct professor of criminal justice, and Carolina Cambronero Varela ‘09, arts administrator) and other areas to create a mandala on campus in order to promote environmental awareness.
• Sidney Boquiren, PhD, professor of music, and Jan-Henry Gray and Maya Marshall, assistant professors of English, collaborated on a program of music and spoken word performances.
• Students, mentored by Jaizi Abedenia, adjunct professor of art, and theater alumna Marlee Koenigsberg ‘11, performed Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed exercises.

The Fall Arts Festival was originated by Carson Fox, professor of art and art history. Professor Kellyann Monaghan, chair of the art and art history department, has coordinated the event in the past few years. Adelphi thanks her and co-coordinator Maggie Lally ’82, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, for bringing this year’s festival to fruition.