Coffee and music entice students to visit Museum

Freshman Brooke Smith said she already enjoys trips to the IU Art Museum, having last visited several months ago. But sitting at Starbucks at the IMU sipping a Strawberries & Cream Frappuccino, she said she might be even more likely to visit again if the museum offered attractions other than visual art alone.\nWhen the museum hosts a series of three “coffeehouse nights” in January, it will do just that.\nThe museum will be open to students and the public for three consecutive Thursdays, Jan. 10, 17 and 24, between 7 and 9 p.m., with each night focusing on one area of the museum’s collections, said Emily Powell, the museum’s manager of external relations. Powell also said every week will have a different theme with art and coffee from either Africa, Italy or India.\nEach night will also showcase different musical performances to serve as background music for the events. As with the choice of coffees, the art museum sought out performers whose sound would reflect the featured culture of the evening. On Jan. 10, musicians will perform on the mbira, a traditional instrument of Africa. An Italian vocalist will perform on Jan. 17, and a guitarist will perform on Jan. 24, according to an IU Art Museum press release.\nGuests at the event will also be eligible for raffle prizes, Powell said. Each evening will feature what she described as “scavenger hunts,” where visitors will be handed flyers with questions that can be answered by looking carefully at the art on display. Completed flyers can be turned in and will be entered into a drawing, and winners will receive items from the Angles Café and Gift Shop at the museum. In the past, Powell said winners have received gifts like coffee mugs and academic calendars, among other items, though she said prizes change with each drawing.\nThis will be the third series of its kind, Powell said. She said the previous two were been held in Septembers past, and that about 200 students showed up for each night. With that kind of turnout, Powell said the museum was looking for another way to attract students and the general public to its permanent exhibits and decided to try a coffeehouse nights series in January.\nNanette Brewer, a curator with the museum who is in charge of works on paper, helped choose some of the art to be featured on Jan. 17. \n“What we’re trying to do is highlight some pieces (of art),” she said, “just to give them a little freshness, draw people’s attention to them and make it a fun event.”\nJoanne Davis, the museum’s events coordinator, said the events take months to plan. She said the museum orders coffee well in advance of the evenings and has partnered with Bloomingfoods to provide complimentary cookies and sweets for the nights. Those things, combined with choosing art to display, booking musicians to perform and other tasks, make the coffeehouse nights different for each visit to the museum. \n“There’s definitely a nice deal of work that goes into it,” she said.\nStudents will be able to enjoy that work soon.\n“Coffee, candy, plus art,” said junior Mike Bowman, sitting next to Smith at Starbucks. “How can you go wrong?”