The Penn State Performing Arts Council (PAC) held its first annual “Celebrating Student Leaders in the Arts” conference Tuesday evening at the Palmer Museum of Art, and aims to bring arts-focused student organizations together and showcase ways they can cooperate and collaborate.

Erin Coe, director of the Palmer Museum, opened the event by thanking PAC for its commitment to student arts awareness. She then introduced a handful of new programs at the museum: the Palmer will open from 6 to 10 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month to encourage more students to visit and participate in new activities and programs. The museum will also launch the Palmer Student Association for students dedicated to helping the museum further its reach into the community.

Follow opening remarks from Coe, PAC advisor Hope Falk welcomed this year’s PAC Board of Directors and George Trudeau, Director of the Center for the Performing Arts. Trudeau began by thanking the PAC members for having him and extending his appreciation of the energy to all those in attendance.

“That’s the thing about Penn State,” Trudeau said. “We don’t let things get in our way — we go out and get them.”

He talked about his experiences as director and some of the center’s biggest goals: to become one of the top three reasons potential students want to attend Penn State and to provide every student with at least one meaningful arts experience during their time at the university.

PAC President Marissa Works and Vice President of Community Relations Connor Pardoe then gave a short presentation on the history of the organization and its theme for the year: “Promote, Unite, Collaborate.” The pair also discussed the org’s spring showcase, a cappella group auditions, and the new PACalendar app, which they hope will unify student arts organizations with a common calendar showcasing all their scheduled events. PAC also announced the Student Performance Form, with which any student organization can request performances from arts groups on campus.

PAC’s Vice President of Production Jason Schwartz then joined Pardoe and Works on stage to survey the audience on successes and failures in the arts community and how any issues can be remedied. Schwartz explained how PAC hopes to provide student groups with a network to develop solutions and a platform to further their org’s involvement on campus.