By By: Alyssa Foster
Editor-in-Chief
IU South Bend recently welcomed a new club on campus: New Media Creatives.
The club is geared toward students focusing on a new media major of study, though any students with an interest in new media are welcome to join.
“New media is a very broad category of art that essentially includes any art created digitally,” Nathan Gibson, club president, said. “This could be students working with video, audio, photography, digital drawings and paintings, 3D modeling, etc.”
Gibson is a sophomore new media student with a concentration in 3D modeling and animation. He said the idea for the club was introduced to students by Professor Mark Sniadecki, who is currently acting as the club’s unofficial faculty adviser.
“I had a personal interest in seeing a new media club revived on campus, having helped found a previous club back in 2011,” Sniadecki said. The previous club was called Arts Codec.
Sniadecki thought the club would be a great way for students to have opportunities to meet with other new media students, allowing them to discuss their experiences and ideas.
“One of the biggest things we talk about as new media students is the idea of community and how much that can benefit us as creatives and as students,” Gibson said. “The idea of having a place where we can share our art, learn from each other and grow as a community and major is incredibly exciting.”
The New Media Creatives club allows students to share their art outside of the classroom. It provides an opportunity for students to create work freely without focusing on being graded. One of the main ways the club does this is through screening events where students bring works-in-progress or finished pieces for others to see and give feedback on.
Gibson says they are also looking into hosting workshop nights where professors and students teach about creating art in various programs and mediums.
“This will give students of different concentrations and majors opportunities to learn skills that they wouldn’t have exposure to otherwise,” Gibson stated.
The idea of “open studios” is also in the works. These opportunities will allow students to meet in a laid-back environment while they work on their own projects alongside other students.
While the New Media Creatives club does not meet on a specific day each week, their first few events have been successful, and they are interested in growing their members in order to expand their events.
Students interested in more information about the club can reach out to Gibson at gibsonnt@iu.edu.
