Eastern Michigan University’s student organization Amplifying the Arts is inviting artists to star in the school’s own reality show: “Clash of the Creators.”
“Clash of the Creators” will be very similar to reality TV shows like “Project Runway” and “Next Great Baker.” There will be teams of artists competing to create forms of art in a given time with given materials to be judged.
Emily Fromm, secretary for AMP! said, “This is an art management based group. We’re taking different types of art and making them work together.”
The show will be comprised of three episodes, each based off different types of art such as music, architecture, design, painting and drawing. Each episode will offer a different challenge that allows two groups of artists to create a piece to present to the judges. The winners, of course, will win lavish prizes. Because the creators of the show want to incorporate such different styles of art, they’re looking for roughly 30 different artists (ten for each episode) to participate.
Heather Mapstone, president of AMP!, said the organization came up
with the idea for “Clash of the Creators” because, “One thing we found about the arts on campus is that there’s very little cross collaboration between fields. So we wanted to change the paradigm and create something where people would have to work together.”
The show isn’t just about having different types of artists competing; it’s also about different types of people putting the show together.
“You don’t have to be a major in the arts to do it,” Mapstone said. “That’s part of why it’s important that AMP! is doing this as a student organization. We’re not associated with any of the specific schools, so we’re welcoming anyone with artistic talent or who wants to help out.”
While “Clash of the Creators” is being hosted by AMP! and isn’t focused on any specific school of discipline, the EMU students working hardest on it are getting class credit. EMU’s applied learning class (CTR 313) is a special topics course.
“We’re doing ‘book work’ still, but we’re doing something greater,” Fromm said. “How you’re being graded is by doing work [on ‘Clash of the Creators’].”
There’s more to get out of the show than just an A; there’s also an opportunity to compete in the Emmys. The classic award has a section specifically for college television.
“We’ve already garnered some nationwide interest from other schools’ art programs, so if we do it well, they might pick up our model,” Mapstone said.
“We want the artists to know that it’s not just about being in the show,” Mapstone said. “It could be résumé building. They’d have a tangible thing to show employers what they’ve created.”
AMP! is really looking for artists who are willing to put in their all and show off their talents.
“I think that this is a fun engaging project that I really hope that Eastern’s artists embrace and become a part of,” Mapstone said. “I really hope that Eastern as a whole, and the county, get behind us and watch the show and share it.”
Interested artists can go to www.emuamp.com to audition for the show. Auditions are requested to be in by Jan. 31, but may be
turned in until Feb. 8 according to Fromm, since they are very much in need of artists and do not want applicants to be discouraged by the deadline.
