A past musical tradition from the Student Engagement and Leadership Office is looking to make its way back in the coming months, with hopes of more involvement from the campus community.
The Loper Programming and Activities Council has made its mission this school year to get students to engage more with the UNK community. “Noon Music: In The Union” is one of their ideas to help them achieve their goal.
“We want this to be an event where the student community can connect with really talented students on campus, as well as allowing others to get their name out there by performing in a non-traditional environment,” said Walker Gullickson, the co-president of LPAC.
LPAC and the Student Engagement and Leadership office are planning for “Noon Music: In the Union” to happen once a month in the Nebraskan Student Union. They hope it will showcase the musical talent on campus.
This idea didn’t just appear out of thin air, though. Live music in the Union was a popular event just five or six years ago. Renae Zimmer, the director of student engagement, was part of the last time live music featured artists from all over campus.
“I loved the live music that we had in the Union before COVID kind of shut it down,” Zimmer said. “It really brought the Union alive with some local talent that was undiscovered at UNK.”
Zimmer said she is excited to see what untapped talent on campus is found while also being able to do it in a popular spot on campus.
“I’ve always seen the Union as the ‘campus living room,’” Zimmer said. “It’s a hub of activity that we can utilize for music, since music is such a powerful way to bring people together.”
LPAC leaders plan to make this a monthly event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with new music each time. As of now, “Noon Music: In The Union” is still in the planning stages, but Zimmer and the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership are currently trying to gauge interest.
Jason Robertson, a music major, has already signed up to perform a jazz combo with a mix of popular music, rock tunes and classical melodies.
“People are kind of in their own bubble in the Union, so with some live music, hopefully it’ll inspire them to take off the headphones and tune in for a bit,” Robertson said.
Robertson also participated in the last segment of live music on campus in 2022.
“When I first started going to UNK in 2022, they had the opportunity for us to participate in something similar to this, but there was no promotion or organization behind it,” Robertson said. “With the advertisement pushing this, I’m excited to see how it can help us musicians on campus.”
“Noon Music: In The Union” is only the tip of the iceberg for Zimmer and LPAC leadership, though. Eventually, she’d like to turn the Union into an overall more creative space. Ideas of displaying student art or hosting poetry slams and readings are other things Zimmer has started to investigate as well.
LPAC leadership and Zimmer are encouraging students to fill out the surveys, share their opinions and ask questions to see who would be interested.
