Abby Rooney

The sound of a neuron’s crackling electrical activity resounded in the auditorium as the monkey came to a decision.

Bacchanal almost didn’t happen this year. At least, that’s the narrative the Bacchanal Committee propagated in the weeks leading up to the music festival, which was later revealed to be an elaborate prank on the student body.

Ballet tights are pink, Broadway is the Great White Way, and artwork by white men dominates the walls of the Met. It is no secret that the arts have long marginalized women of color. On Monday night, five women of color pursuing careers in the arts, four of them Barnard alumnae, came to Barnard to discuss how they are making space for themselves in the field—and how aspiring WOC artists can do the same.

On the stage where Yo-Yo Ma, Billie Holliday, The Beatles, and other musical titans have performed their masterpieces, the Columbia University Wind Ensemble premiered three compositions and played a fourth showstopper at Carnegie Hall on Monday night.

It is no secret that the film industry is a historically male-dominated field. However, decades of efforts by filmmakers of all genders, working in all genres, have led to incredible strides in representation across the industry.

As Ivy League students and first-rate musicians, the students of the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange are formidable double threats, but they do not aim to intimidate. In the intimate chamber of the Maison Francaise, where there is no stage, they stood on even footing with their audience. They introduced themselves with friendly waves and chatted about each piece of music before performing it, creating a concert that felt like a conversation.

In the cozy echo chamber of Lerner 573, the mellow groove of Khalid and Normani’s “Love Lies” slips into a less familiar but immediately infectious tune, later identified as “High On Love” by Indian-American R&B singer Sid Sriram. As Columbia’s South Asian fusion a cappella group, Columbia Sur performs music that bridges the South Asian and American identities of its members.

Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” is not about a lovestruck Boy Scout—at least, not traditionally. The Columbia University New Opera Workshop, however, is not afraid to stray from tradition. In NOW’s re-imagining of a scene from the classic opera, the lonely birdcatcher Papageno was clad in a khaki sash covered in badges, awkwardly wooing his Girl Scout crush, and it was nothing short of delightful.

Nuns who Juul, frisky ferris wheel escapades, sorority squabbles, and the patriarchy—no topic was off-limits at the Columbia Women in Comedy Showcase. Sourcing their material from audience suggestions, current events, and their Columbia experiences, some of Columbia’s finest female comedians performed pre-written sketches and improvised scenes, filling the Lerner Party Space with uproarious laughter.

Singer and composer Kate Soper, SoA ’11, floated onstage in an evening gown, took her place behind a screen, and paused. After a moment of thought, she emerged from behind the screen, assumed center stage, and began to sing. The words of her song probably sounded familiar to Columbia students and anyone else acquainted with the names engraved on Butler Library’s façade.