Arts Management Students Present at SURC Conference

Arts Management Students Presented at the 2023 Annual SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC).

Arts Management students Damon Chatas (’23) and Martin Capuano (’23) joined six additional Purchase College students from across the Liberal Arts and Sciences who presented oral papers at the ninth annual SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC) on Friday, May 14, 2023. Their participation marks the first time the Arts Management program has sent representatives to the SURC, which this year convened at the SUNY Maritime College. In ‘Tourist vs. Purist’: Virgil Abloh’s ‘Figures of Speech’ exhibition and What Happens to an Object not Produced for a Museum, Damon Chatas explored exhibition interpretation and the tensions between museum displays that render arts objects (in)accessible to knowledgeable arts connoisseurs vs. a lay public. Martin Capuano examined the destruction of material culture as part of the ongoing war in Ukraine in a paper titled An Analysis of Cultural Destruction in the Ukrainian War. Both presentations showcased the signature Senior Project, required at Purchase College, under the supervision of Dr. Melissa Forstom. The SURC oral presentation sessions were accompanied by three poster presentation sessions and a Purchase College dance presentation choreographed by Ma’ayan Kaplan and performed by Conservatory of Dance students – many whom double major in Arts Management.