Bloomington Indiana University Musical Arts Center / opera / closing (#0273)

A surprisingly ugly building for IU, the Musical Arts Center which opened in 1972 and is very appropriately considered to be an example of Brutalist architecture. Despite the horrors of the exterior (or maybe because of them), it has a very spacious auditorium, with excellent acoustics and a large back stage.

It was here that I discovered opera, a taste I never expected. I enjoyed the opera itself, but I expect part of what was special was the whole event of an entire evening with breaks every hour or so where you go out in the lobby, have a drink, and chat with people – a community experience. When I lived in SF I continued going to the opera because the SF opera sold very affordable tickets for standing room, which was fine with me. Elsewhere it has been too expensive, though I’ve been to the opera in Europe where it’s more affordable.

….

Using this to wrap up my thoughts on the years in Bloomington, it really was a remarkable time. While the intellectual development through the school and fellow students was important, I think that there was more value in finding the various channels available for being free and open about my politics and sexuality in an environment that was generally much more conservative and considered by many to be unwelcoming. The connection to IU has been a good reminder in recent years to not be as judging as many are of life in the ‘fly over’ states.