Campus alternatives

Students looking for alternative ways to entertain themselves this fall needn’t travel further than the Marshall Center to find art, music and film entertainment.

The Centre Gallery, located on the ground floor of the Marshall Center, is the only student-run gallery in Florida.

The gallery shows a variety of exhibits throughout the year. Only USF students are allowed to show there, although students do not have to be fine arts majors in order to display their work.

This fall’s lineup of eight shows begins with “Cool Hands, Warm Hearts,” a multimedia solo exhibition by Nina Stoltz running through Sept. 3.

“I think it’s a really good gallery for students who are starting out,” Stolz said.

She said the staff at Centre Gallery is friendly, helpful and that they worked to alert the media about “Cool Hands,” which is her first solo exhibition.”It feels good to let everyone know,” she said.

November’s exhibition, “Avant et Apres,” displays student work from the 2004 USF summer art program in Paris.

The gallery’s highlight, the end-of-semester show, is open to submissions from all USF students as long as there is still open space to display their work.

“You just bring it in and we hang it up,” Piazza said about the open show, titled “Collage, Part 4.” “That’s actually the coolest thing about it, because you just bring your stuff in and we hang it.”

Centre Gallery also hosts Free Box Cinema every Tuesday night, an event showcasing culturally relevant independent, documentary and foreign films that usually bypass mainstream audiences.

Also situated in the Marshall Center are the headquarters of the Campus Activities Board, a group of students who organize a variety of activities including concerts and Movies on the Lawn.

This year’s upcoming concerts include neo-soul musicians Floetry and hip-hop group Mobb Deep, among others.

“Our music directors work with agents to see who’s available, and who’s in the area during certain times, and they take what they believe would be the interest of students and they go ahead and try to book those groups,” said Robert Herron, executive director of the CAB.

Now in its 13th year, Movies on the Lawn is a USF tradition. Every Wednesday night, students gather on Crescent Hill to watch a recent movie projected on the wall of the Special Events Center. This year’s lineup includes movies such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Kill Bill Vol. 2.

Patio Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by CAB in the Marshall Center. Past Patio Tuesday events have included tarot card readings, molding wax hands and live entertainment.

CAB’s Basement Band Series, a free weekly event, features regional musicians on Friday nights.

“It’s just a couple of hours of live music down here, just hanging out,” said Brian Joyce, graduate assistant for MC operations.

Most weeks, bands play alternative, rock or punk music, and this year Joyce plans to vary the acts with International Orange, a band composed of some former members of Ben Folds Five, and Jay Hansen, a young musician who is gaining popularity amongst college crowds across the country.