Salem State University has the only accredited theatre department among state schools in New England. Kathleen McDonald, Associate Director of Advancement Communications, received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Salem State and remains invested in the school. The theatre department is working to renovate the Mainstage Auditorium and raise $3.5 million. They also offer grants for students to pursue private art projects in the summer to further their experience and benefit other students. The Center for Creative and Performing Arts at Salem State offers dance, music, theatre, art and creative writing and its accreditation is well deserved according to McDonald.

1. Salem State & its associates rise to the occasion
By: Courtney Denning
12/5/11
Salem, Mass. -- The North Shore’s rich arts culture makes for a perfect home for the only
state school in New England with an accredited theatre department. Associate Director of
Advancement Communications Kathleen McDonald has special interest in this topic, but
not only because her previous title was Staff Associate for the Center of Creative and
Performing Arts (CCPA) at Salem State University.
Kathleen’s interest comes from her investment in the school itself. McDonald received her
bachelor’s degree in English at Salem State after growing up in Lynn and choosing to stay
close to home for college. She then went on to earn her master’s degree in gender and
cultural studies from Simmons College. McDonald did make her way back to Salem State as
she now works in the Alumni House on South Campus, writing proposals to produce more
fundraising for the university. Prior to her promotion to associate director, McDonald
handled much of the publicity writing, blogs and social media for the CCPA.
“We have a person starting this month who will only have the responsibility of running our
Facebook page,” she said. “It’s up and coming and hopefully having someone on the social
media full-time will allow for more updates and more involvement from alumni and
donors.” The plan is to promote Salem State’s CCPA to prospective students as well as the
surrounding area, and in recent years, the department has been using downtown Salem’s
fall activities and tourists to their advantage. McDonald said that there have been a few
activities they’ve participated in, although time is not on their side considering the hectic
schedules that include rehearsals, studio hours and other commitments.
“We have done the Mass Poetry Festival, a yearly Dance Workshop at the Boys & Girls Club
in Salem, as well as the floating sculpture exhibit behind the House of Seven Gables that (a
professor) had his students work on three summers ago,” she explained. “We’re trying to
get our name out there while having a positive impact on the community.”
The department is also working on a fundraising project to raise $3.5 million to renovate
the Mainstage Auditorium into a fully functional theatre with loge boxes, a balcony,
handicap accessibility, new sound and lighting equipment as well as a catwalk to make
things easier for the crew. These new additions will completely change the way that an
audience can view the shows that the department puts on throughout the school year.
Along with fundraising for the huge Mainstage project, there is also the fund for the
department’s grants and scholarships program that opens up money for students to pursue
a private art project of their choice over the summer to further their experience. This way,
they can return to the school and teach other students some of the things that they have
learned.

2. “The way we see it, it’s nice to spread the wealth a little bit,” said McDonald. “We give one
student the opportunity to have the experience and then others can benefit from it as well.
Harvard has a similar program that we modeled ours after.” The grant is specifically for
upperclassmen that have, as McDonald put it, “really learned about their craft, built some
skill and have had some experience working at it.” It recently allowed one particular
student and his film crew to attend a major movie festival in LA this past summer, offering
great networking opportunities and a well-deserved reward for winning the campus’ Movie
Fest.
The CCPA at Salem State has a lot of different things to offer within each department,
including dance, music, theatre, art and creative writing. With many confident and
experienced professors, it’s easy to see that the accreditation of the department is well
deserved.
“We are not only the flagship of the arts North of Boston, but we represent every state
school in New England as the best,” said McDonald, with confidence. “This is where it’s
happening.”