North Central is well known for its history- the school is over 150 years old and is located in the historic part of Naperville. While not everything on the campus is as old as the college, new organizations are starting to build their own history. One of these groups is The Union, a group that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
This small downtown Naperville venue is located at 129 W. Benton Ave., and is a place where you can expect to see a variety of musical talent and an organization that helps out the community.
The Union became “The Union” back in 2005. In May of that year, an event filled with independent music, film and short stories sparked the idea.
Whitney Roberts, the adviser for The Union, explains how this campus organization got their start.
“The original event was held in the old Comedy Shrine space on Chicago Ave. Jeremy Gudauskas, associate dean of students, is the godfather of The Union and had some connections with Calvary at the time. After a period of time, an agreement was reached that we could use the space, provided that we continued to be committed to our mission of social impact and kept up the building.” As a result, The Union was born.
One popular event The Union is known for organizing once each term is the Student Showcase. The showcase features the North Central College students, as they show off their talents through live music and spoken word.
Students involved in the showcase can share various talents, as long as it’s appropriate. The idea is to bring people together and share what they’re passionate about.
Following up with Roberts on the student showcase process she says, “We hold open audition times for students to come and share their original or covers with us the week of the showcase. Our goal is to always create a space for students to showcase their talents in a setting of their peers that is casual and fun. Our executive board serves as reviewers for the auditions and then help set up the performance schedule.”
She does say that generally everyone who auditions makes it into the show unless “we felt like the content was highly inappropriate for the audience. We don’t get a lot of that, thankfully. We think everyone should have the opportunity.”
[metaslider id=4132]Cameron Bihm, a junior and first-time performer at The Union, describes his experience of performing at the Student Showcase. “First, you have to email The Union to let them know you want to audition and the date you want to perform. After your audition you just let them know how many pieces you’re doing.”
Bihm chose to recite an original poem titled “Love Is.” Bihm chose to perform this particular piece because he said he is familiar with spoken-word performances and figured it was time for him to share what he had been working on. For Bihm, the most difficult part of the process occurred before he stepped foot on the stage. “The hardest part was probably the actual audition, it was really nerve-wracking”, says Bihm.
When The Union is not preparing for the Student Showcase, weekly performances are being booked. “We put together our schedules with a mix of artist management outreach, recommendations from students, other artists or agents and from our own reaching out to specific artists we think we be a good fit for the space and mission of The Union,” says Roberts.
She explains the difficult aspects to process, such as tight scheduling because the Union only hosts shows on Fridays. She also mentions, “We’re very committed to our mission of putting high-quality performers on the stage who understand that the Union is not just another venue, but a unique, student-run, social-impact-focused environment with people who actually want to listen and appreciate the artist’s work. That can be a very intimidating offer.”
The Union is not only home to musical talent, but also a place where the community can become involved in giving back. Roberts says, “Calvary does not use the space to hold church services, but they do still run a food pantry and clothing ministry. They’d love to have NCC students volunteer.” The Union is run by the Office of Ministry and Service at North Central College.
“We love the variety,” Roberts says. “In the past we had done more outside of solely music but it was hard to draw a consistent audience. We’re looking at ways to broaden the scope of The Union programming in the future.”
Posters and emails about upcoming events for every Friday night are available. All events are open to the public and are free for students with a NCC student ID. For more information visit The Union’s website at: http://www.theunionnetwork.com/
