WestCo held its annual fall celebration this past Saturday with a new name and several other additions to its standard music festival formula. WestCo voted to rename the event “Loud Spirits Day” after complaints from Residential Life (ResLife) last year about the drug connotations of the festival’s traditional title, “Duke Day” (named for a character in Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury comics).
“I think it was a really cool success,” said Alex Chaves ’12, one of the presidents of WestCo.
Loud Spirits Day, which lasted from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the WestCo lounge, featured a number of musical performances. The headlining band was funk group Captain Coconut, the only non-student act at the event. The festival began with WestCo’s own music talents, featuring Ullman as DJ Bastille and Tom Brewer ’12 playing electronic music.
The eclectic mix of music continued with Cheshire, a pop rock group, and then the music of WestCo residents Charlie Horne ’11 and Harry Tokarz ’11, followed by a performance by the Wesleyan Ballroom Dancing Team. The end of the festival saw Thankfully Deceased, a Grateful Dead cover band, Captain Coconut, and The Last Minutes, an original rock band.
This year WestCo added a component to the gathering called the “Happening,” in which audience members took part in the celebration by creating art. A canvas was set up in front of the stage and students were encouraged to paint it throughout the day with their feet and bodies. Students danced and painted on the canvas, and the resulting painting will be displayed in the WestCo lounge.
“The concept of a ’Happening’ was introduced in the 1950s avant-garde art movement, with [people such as] John Cage and Merce Cunningham,” Chaves said. “We wanted participants to get to be a part of this event, and watch the space evolve into a space for experimentation and artistic exploration.”
Participants noted that the “Happening” added a new creative energy to the event.
“The live music and simultaneous visual art component went together well,” said Zach Valenti ’12. “I laid down and they covered me in paint. It was a really fun day. It had this incredible energy.”
Michael Ullman ’12 agreed, saying that the “Happening” added a different, artistically stimulating atmosphere.
“It was really cool to watch the mood evolve over the day,” Ullman said. “When the music changed, the art would change.”
Chaves also remarked on the interaction between the music and the art.
“The paint dance floor was popular and people were getting into it, and the music,” Chaves said. “Some people did interpretative dance. People were feeding off each other’s energy. It wasn’t just a spectator event.”
Loud Spirits Day and the Wesfest celebration Ze Who Must Not Be Named Day (formerly Zonker Harris Day) are two of WestCo’s signature events. The name change of Zonker Harris Day and Duke Day were part of an effort by the administration to change the image of WestCo and bring more diversity to its community, according to Vice President of Student Affairs Mike Whaley.
Whaley suggested that the traditional names encourage drug culture, and contribute to a misperception of WestCo that may deter applicants.
“Feedback from some students of color indicated that they were not interested in WestCo because it had a reputation of being an area with a lot of illegal drug use,” Whaley wrote in an e-mail. “The group thought that one of the ways to begin changing this perception was to change the name of some of the big events that WestCo sponsors. I see this as one of many things that can be done to reinvigorate WestCo, and am happy that the names are changing.”
The administration also hopes that these types of changes will help shift the reputation of the dorm.
“Since the administration does not (and cannot) support a living option that focuses on the use of illegal drugs, I hope WestCo will become better known as a place of creativity, artistic expression and activism and that all Wes students interested in such endeavors will want to live there,” Whaley wrote.
Jonathan Connary, WestCo’s area coordinator, suggested that the name “Loud Spirits Day” was still inappropriate.
“We believe Guidance [WestCo’s community government] chose a name for their event with good intentions and do not believe they were trying to sneak anything by,” Connary said. “It was unfortunate to later hear students referring to the day as ’LSD Day’ and to see it referenced that way on Wesleying.”
Donovan Arthen ’11, a current WestCo president who also served last semester, argued that WestCo is a vital part of the campus community and that the controversy over the festival names is missing the point.
“I think it’s inappropriate to say that minority students choose their housing because of the names of festivals,” Arthen said, “I think that’s a very limited perspective and it doesn’t address the real issues the administration has with WestCo… I think the administration undervalues WestCo and what it gives to Wesleyan: a really strong artistic community that fosters artistic expression and creative thinking, and creates a hub that spreads this kind of expression throughout the campus.”
Whaley also said that the effort to reinvigorate WestCo and define its goals was prompted by the declining interest of students applying to live there. However, last year the dorm received 149 applications for 60 available spots.
Many WestCo residents, however, felt that the name was unimportant, and that they were happy with the day’s events.
“It was great to see new ideas get integrated,” Chaves said. “It was a little more unique and more special than just a music festival.”
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