More than 1,700 faculty, staff, students and members of the Sacramento State community joined together at the Crocker Art Museum for the first U-Nite on Thursday.

U-Nite, which stands for University Night, was the kick off to the Festival of the Arts. The event showcased more than 40 faculty artists from Sac State.

The faculty arts showcase included live music, dance and theater performances, photography, design, art, film presentations and improvised haiku poems written on the spot.

Creator of U-Nite and assistant professor of communication studies and journalism Elaine Gale said the purpose of the event was to showcase the faculty arts at Sac State and to build a strong collaboration with the Crocker Art Museum.

“I’ve been really taken lately with a West African proverb: ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,’” Gale said. “That quote was the seed of this event. U-Nite is the embodiment of that idea.”

Gale said she has worked with the Crocker Art Museum for more than a year through its One Book program and taught a writing class through its public studio classes.

“My vision was to create a partnership where we could showcase and highlight the arts and bring our organizations together in a really powerful way in the community,” Gale said.

Director of the Crocker Art Museum Lial Jones introduced Gale along with Sac State Dean of College of Arts and Letters Edward Inch and President Alexander Gonzalez, for the opening remarks.

“(Gale’s) ‘crazy idea’ turned into something absolutely remarkable,” Inch said in his speech. “On top of that I had the privilege of working with department chairs and faculty members and staff members who could get behind a vision like that and be energetic about it.”

Gonzalez told the crowd it was great to see everyone come together for an event to support the program.

“This should be the first of many, many U-Nites,” Gonzalez said.

Many Sac State students and alumni were at the event to cheer on the professors’ artworks and performances.

“It was a hugely successful event and we were so excited to see so many Sac State students in attendance,” said the museum’s public program’s manager Rika Nelson. “We hope that this event will let more students know that the museum has lots of programs that are geared toward their demographic and that the Crocker is more than just a school field trip destination.”

The first floor of the museum held a large portion of people with an open bar, café and stage area where faculty members performed. Behind the stage, people caught a glimpse of dancing through the second floor ballroom windows of the old Crocker building across the courtyard.

“I was in the ballroom watching dance professor Lorelei Bayne’s dancers moving in the windows, the light spilling into the room behind them and the amazing Terra Cotta warrior exhibit in the background,” Gale said. “It was quiet and hushed in there – very reverent. You could almost feel people worshipping art.”

One of the most talked about performances of the night was associate professor in the Art Department Andrew Connelly’s show, “Storm.” With dramatic music playing in the background, Connelly’s students danced on red lighting while splashing water with their movements.

“It was so robust and vital, the water splashing around and the narratives woven into the movement,” Gale said. “And it looked like so much fun.”

People at the event hurried to find a spot to see out through windows while others stood outside in the rain to witness the show.

Bad weather did nothing to stand in the way of attendance. Gale said she and the other organizers were thrilled with the turnout because they were hoping for around 400 people.

“But when I left my house for the event and got clobbered on the way to the car with a bunch of hail, I got very nervous about the attendance,” Gale said. “So it was very exciting.”

Sac State music professor Laurel Zucker performed a flute solo while assistant professor Stephen Blumberg described the piece he wrote for her.

“(Zucker) is one of the great flute players in the world and I’m very happy to be able to write for her,” Blumberg said.

At the end of the performance the two showcased a preview of Blumberg’s newest piece, “Colibri,” for the first time.

Gale and Ramirez said they hope there is another U-Nite in the future.

“(U-Nite) is a great way to bring student artists of all mediums together to enjoy each other’s company and artistic visions,” Ramirez said. “It is also a great way to get new Sac State students exposed to the Crocker. I talked to many people while I was there and some told me that this was their first visit to the museum.”

Alyssa Sanguinetti can be reached at [email protected].