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arts & culture
KANSAN.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016
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Advancement on long-term projects seems slowed or suspended. Revise professional plans over the next five months, with Pluto retrograde. Explore new workspace options. Imagine a delightful future. Hold yourself to high standards.
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The next five months are good for healing old wounds, with Pluto retrograde. Let go of worn-out baggage. Review personal desires and alter course to suit. Launch a dream project later this year.
Kelcie Matousek/KANSAN
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Refine health and well-being practices over the next five months, with Pluto retrograde. Curtail speculation and risk. Stick with the team you've got. Enjoy a spa or retreat. Launch into motion later this year.
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Prepare for a community effort later this year. For the next five months, with Pluto retrograde, secure what's already been achieved.
Keep the current team roster. Do what worked before. Line up the pieces.
Jamie Venzian, a junior majoring in music therapy at the University, plays the piano and guitar and has learned several other instruments for her major including the uulele, the recorder and several percussion instruments.
From Thailand to the U.S., music therapy major uses musical talents to impact others
▶ SEAN COLLINS
@seanzie_3
You could hear a pin drop in the run-down orphanage in Bangkok, Jamie Venzian said. Eighty children with cerebral palsy filled a room in the dilapidated orphanage with two or three children to a crib, quietly staring at the University students who had come to play music for the orphans
To break the silence, Venzian, along with several other University students, picked up her instrument and began playing. The music filled the silence, soothing the children.
In this modest setting, Venzian wasn't performing for fame, but for her passion: music therapy.
Venzian, a junior from Parkville, Mo. knew that she wanted to go into music therapy since she was a freshman in high school. A study abroad program gave her the opportunity to go to Thailand last summer to use music therapy to help children with cerebral palsy. It was an experience that would never leave her.
"It was really emotional to go in there, but after an hour of working with them we had some clients turn in their bed, verbalize for the first time ever and express themselves through smiling or eye contact, which were all new things to them." Venzian said.
Music therapy is an unusual major for the class of 2017 at the University; only 12 people will graduate with the degree.
Music therapy uses musical ideas or activities, such as playing instruments or singing, to stimulate motor skills. Venzian, who now has plenty of hands-on experience, has seen her talent help patients, which brings her immense joy.
"It's great when you have a client and see them achieve their goal." Venzian said. "For me to be able to see some of the children move a part of their body that they couldn't before the session is really special."
Her love for music began early in life. She learned to play the piano in kindergarten and the guitar in fifth grade. As a requirement for the music therapy major, Venzian has learned to play the ukulele, recorder and a few percussion instruments. She's even developed her voice for singing.
Venzian has made it far in a rare major and has become a versatile musician in the process.
Her decision to go into music therapy happened when one of her friends was in the hospital.
"She had leukemia," Venzian said. "She always had a music therapist come in to lift her spirits as well as work on physical skills."
Venzian was touched by this and found not only a passion but a future.
Like Venzian, her fellow music therapy majors recognize the pleasure in helping others and are energized by the technique in the way music is used.
"We are using music to solve specific problems and issues," Kolby Kozanowski, a fellow music therapy major said. "It's not a systematic process or one answer; it is
different for every setting."
Venzian also works with detained teenagers in juvenile detention with Douglas County Youth Services and helps them with their behavioral issues through calming music.
Venzian is determined to make sure other people are aware of music therapy and the positive impact it has on the sick, disabled or troubled.
"A big part of being a music therapy major and going into a profession that is so unknown is knowing that any chance you get you need to advocate for your profession in order for it to grow in the future," Venzian said.
Peers say that Venzian's skill and passion hasn't gone unnoticed among the other students in her major. Venzian has built a reputation for being a talented and dedicated individual.
"Her musicianship skills and her ability to play guitar along with her ability to know how the music should sound makes her unique," said Katie Schroeder, another music therapy major. "She is an
*Baxter Shanze/KANSAN Sarah Bishop, Director of Grants and Special Projects for the Lawrence Arts Center, talks to students during the Talk Arty to Me series on April 14th.*
amazing person and is very passionate about what she does and that's what makes her so good."
As Venzian and the other students left the orphanage, the nurses stopped to thank them as tears of joy streamed down their faces, she said. They exclaimed that the children moved and reacted in ways they'd never seen before the music therapy.
Thailand was life-changing not only for Venzian, but also for the dozens of children she was able to help. When college is over, Venzian hopes to use these experiences to help those who find comfort in the music she is so passionate about.
"After I graduate I hope to start a private practice and work with children with special needs," Venzian said. "I want to have music therapy be known in every household as well as help as many children and adults in the community as possible."
- Edited by Garrett Long
"Talk Arty to Me" series focuses on personal branding and promotion skills for art students
▶ SAMANTHA SEXTON
@Sambiscuit
The School of the Arts began its "Talk Arty to Me" series April 7, focusing on everything from resume-building to self-branding. The event is a series of sessions throughout the month of April on professional branding and promotion.
Baxter Schanze/KANSAN ks to students during the
Noticing a lack of representation at the University's career fairs for students of the fine arts, Heather Anderson, the marketing and communications coordinator in the School of Arts, proposed a plan to help propel art students into the professional world after graduation. She proposed the plan along with Sarah Sahin, the senior administrative associate for the Department of Film and Media studies. "This is just a way for the department to give the students a little more exposure to professionalization methods and especially some methods that [are] probably outside the realm of what we see in the arts curriculum," Sahin said. "These are techniques that I think all students should be familiar with, but many go through their time here without learning
how to promote themselves for the next step."
The sessions to follow are "Write grants like a pro," on April 14, a session focusing on tips for writing grant proposals; "Apply today!" on April 21 teaches how to write covers letters and resumes; and "Look, ma! I'm a brand!" on April 28 discusses the importance of self-promotion and branding.
To help promote students' participation, the series has been split into four sections with lunch provided. The first session, "How your art and business co-exist," was held last Thursday, April 7, with what Anderson called a successful turnout.
These are techniques that I think all students should be familiar with."
Sarah Sahin film & media senior administrative associate
"We're getting speakers who have worked in these fields that the students are hoping to get into, which I think is also really important for the students who are on
Sahin, who was an arts major when she was an undergraduate, said she wishes she had a similar opportunity when she was graduating in 2009. Despite having a strong background in language and writing, Sahin said there was more to professionalizing than she had realized.
"Writing a cover letter or a resume is really a kind of art in itself," Sahin said. "And with the heavy presence of social media today, it's incredibly important to know how to brand yourself online, especially as an artist. When I was starting out, I was kind of
the cusp of graduating to see men and women who've gone out and done what they hope to do," Sahin said.
lost. I really wish I had known how to brand myself."
Anderson agreed that the students definitely needed more of a platform to push off when getting out of the college setting and into the professional world and, while she concedes that the career center on campus is a great resource for students, art students can be forgotten.
"There are a lot of careers that someone with an arts degree can have and be successful at that I don't think many students know about or think they can do with their degrees," Anderson said. "I think that this series will help them to think out of the box on how to apply what they've learned outside of the classroom."
Anderson said that she hopes the students feel as though the University cares about them and their success out of the college setting, especially the art students the events will be held for.
"I think this program really speaks to the University's drive to see the students succeed even after they leave and are on their own." Anderson said. "We care about our students, and of course we want them to succeed while they're here, but what's the end goal if not to go out into the professional world and thrive?"
- Edited by Skylar Rolstad
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