The Crocker Art Museum is holding a University Night event, or “U-Nite,” for Sacramento State students, faculty, staff and alumni on Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the first time.

The event is free for anyone who provides a valid Sac State OneCard or presents his or herself as alumni at the door.

The U-Nite event will feature a showcase of artistic talent created by 40 of Sac State’s College of Arts and Letters faculty. There will be paintings, photography, live music, theater performances and other styles of artwork at the event.

There will be a special duet performance at the event by Sac State music department professors Robin Fisher and 2012 Grammy nominee Richard Savino.

Elaine Gale, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Sac State, is the creator of the event and said the Crocker staff expects 700 to 1,000 guests to attend.

“This event is all about showcasing the faculty arts talent we have at Sacramento State in our College of Arts and Letters,” Gale said. “It’s about formalizing a partnership with the Crocker Art Museum, our local world-class museum.”

Gale said she thought of the idea for U-Nite last summer, so this year is the first time Sac State is putting on the event and hopes to make it an annual occurrence.

“The purpose is to bring together two organizations that have a natural fit – in the arts and in education – and see what we could create together,” Gale said. “If we get good attendance this year, we are hoping to make it a yearly event.”

Gale said her goal is to bring together both the Sac State campus and the Crocker museum by holding the U-Nite event – and to highlight the talent of her Sac State colleagues.

“I was thinking about how the Mondavi Center and UC Davis have such great partnerships in this region and I wanted to bring that same sense of pride and collaboration to the Crocker and Sacramento State,” Gale said. “It just makes sense to collaborate more formally, and U-Nite is a very large-scale collaboration.”

Gale said the U-Nite event will feature more performances than the Crocker’s grand opening for their new art addition last October.

The Crocker Art Museum is located at 216 O St. in Sacramento.

More information on the U-Nite event can be found here.

Jessika Robertson can be reached at [email protected].