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You are invited! ASCC Fine Arts presents — music, drama, literature

Kuki Tuiasosopo (front, 2nd right) and members of his Drama Workshop (DRA 150) class

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA —  As stated in its Institutional Learning Outcomes, the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) strives to ensure that its students acquire skills and demonstrate proficiencies as effective communicators. 

The qualities of effective communication include the ability to effectively present information using a variety of modes and media, and adapt a method of presentation to suit specific audiences and convey an intended message using a variety of oral, written, and visual strategies.

As a means of conveying meaning by using the latter “strategies,” performance art gives students a showcase for their communication skills, and to celebrate this means of expression the ASCC Fine Arts Department invite the public to join them for two events next week.

On Friday, May 10, students from MUS 170 (Concert Choir), MUS 180 (Band), DRA 150 (Drama Workshop), DRA 170 (Interpretation of Literature) and ART 160 (Art Fundamentals) will showcase their end-of-semester work in the ASCC Variety Show.

This event will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the College’s Multi-Purpose Center. Admission is free and the public is welcome.

“The concert is a culminating event for the works our students have done in music, drama, and art classes throughout the semester,” said ASCC Fine Arts chairman Kuki Tuiasosopo. “It is equivalent to a written final exam.” 

Tuiasosopo explained that the Fine Arts faculty, which includes artist Regina Meredith-Fitiao and music instructors Poe Mageo and Loretta Pua’auli, has chosen the material the students will perform during the concert.

“Over the course of the semester, the faculty has provided an academic framework for the specific music, drama and art pieces, and has also coached the students on how best to interpret this material in live performance. The students have put in many hours of rehearsal and preparation, and in essence will be completing the work for their final grade as they perform. We hope anyone in the community with an appreciation for music, drama and art will join us as we celebrate these mediums of communication.”

Another feature of the Variety Show will be a display of visual art created during the semester by students from Meredith-Fitiao’s classes.

During the week prior to the Variety Show, the ASCC Fine Arts Department has collaborated with the Samoana Jazz & Arts Festival Board of American Samoa to present a celebration of International Jazz Day 2019 on Tuesday, April 30, beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Center auditorium.

The Festival Board will give a presentation titled “A Tale of Two Samoas – Our Samoan Jazz Story,” which traces Samoa’s involvement with jazz since World War II, and includes a discussion of Samoa’s first world-renowned jazz vocalist, the late Mavis Rivers. Following the talk, members of the Samoa Musika Foundation will provide a live musical performance.

“Our students, and the public in general, largely don’t have much exposure to jazz or an awareness of how it’s contributed to American Samoa’s own cultural landscape over the years,” reflected Tuiasosopo. “The Fine Arts Department supports the efforts of the Festival Board and the Samoa Musika Foundation to add diversity to the kinds of music our community has access to.”

The International Jazz Day event is also free and open to the public.

For more information on either of these events, call the ASCC main line at 699-9155 and ask for the Fine Arts Department ext. 329