Fries Arts Building Opening Celebration [NEW TIME]
Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 2:00pm
Fries Arts Building, 56 Hamlin Street, Middletown, Connecticut
Free and open to the public.
Celebrate the opening of the new Fries Arts Building (FAB) at Wesleyan University with an afternoon of arts activities, concerts, and community gathering. Programmed by the Director’s Council, a student leadership team advised by CFA Director Joshua Lubin-Levy '06, the festivities will give campus and community alike a chance to tour the new building and participate in the rich interdisciplinary nature of the arts at Wesleyan, a range of activities that bring out the artist in all of us.
Building activations will include a series of faculty concerts that will showcase Professor of Music and Director of the Electronic Music and Recording Studios Ron Kuivila '77, Jazz Piano Instructor and Director of the Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble Noah Baerman, Ebony Singers Conductor Marichal Monts '85, and Assistant Professor of Music John Dankwa PhD'18; and a novice-friendly “Make As You Are” art making activity, drawing costumes displaying Wesleyan students’ dress and attire through the ages.
Named in honor of Mike Fries ’85, a longtime supporter of Wesleyan, the FAB houses new performance, teaching, practice, and studio facilities, and is designed to combine formal and informal areas that will encourage students to collaborate across the arts.
The afternoon will also include an exhibition of artwork by Wesleyan faculty and students, and a cupcake toast to the new building. The afternoon culminates in a WesGrooves dance party, featuring a West African dance lesson with Associate Professor of Dance Iddi Saaka, and Wesleyan’s African Pop Music Band, directed by Assistant Professor of Music John Dankwa PhD ’18, part of a new series of social dance events hosted by the CFA that create community connection through rigorous play and creative movement.
All Wesleyan students and faculty are invited to submit up to three works (space permitting) to be installed at this event. This exhibition aims to represent the whole breadth of the arts on campus, from the faculty that shape student practices to the emerging artists in faculty-led classes, and the diverse perspectives and media of the Wesleyan community. Participation is open to all media and themes.
To submit, please fill out this form by Sunday, August 31, 2025.
Organized by the Directors Council: Chloe Duncan-Wald '26, Emerson Jennisch '25, Vansh Kapoor '26, Kyra Nielson '27, Jake Rekrut '26, Samia Segal '25, and Matty Shield '25.
Read more about the Fries Arts Building in The Wesleyan Connection.
The Director’s Council is a student collective, advised by the Director of the CFA, that participates in setting the vision for the CFA of the future. Working to reach new audiences and integrate arts across the campus, council members serve as ambassadors and agents of arts engagement that draw together different disciplines and various forms of study at Wesleyan University through creative making. The Council is governed and operated by the students who, each year, set the collective’s agenda. Students interested in joining the council will apply through Handshake and may direct questions to Joshua Lubin-Levy at jlubinlevy@wesleyan.edu.