The financial pressure of being a college student can leave students feeling priced out of recreational and creative activities. But due to the work of student leaders, whether you are a cinephile, artist, gamer or learning chef, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has many free resources for students to step back from academics and indulge in a hobby without breaking the bank.
WUD Film shows free movies every weekend, Cinemadison provides space for student filmmaking, WUD Cuisine teaches about the culinary arts and College Library distributes resources like sewing machines, games and more — all thanks to the student leaders who manage these programs.
Beyond making the arts more accessible, UW-Madison arts leaders say these organizations go further to cultivate community.
WUD Film
WUD Film is the perfect spot for diehard cinephiles or casual moviegoers. Located in Union South, the student organization is responsible for programming and hosting films at the Marquee Theater.
The biggest part of WUD Film’s weekly meetings is voting on what movies to screen next.
“We try to cater to every movie opinion on this campus,” WUD Film Director Emma Weishaar said. “We’re trying to be a movie theater for every student.”
Weishaar said she values the committee’s community aspect most.
“A lot of people come to the meetings and they do like movies, but they’re also just looking for a group of people,” she said.
Weishaar also noted that the community extends beyond committee members.
“Folks that aren’t in the committee, but attend screenings regularly, also stay and chat afterward or they’ll talk to us around campus,” Weishaar said.
Ultimately, the people are what make it worth it for Weishaar.
“Watching something alone seems solitary,” Weishaar said. “But when you’re in an auditorium watching and experiencing something with a bunch of people, that’s where the movie magic is.”
WUD Film Committee members meet on Mondays from 7-8 p.m. at Union South. More information on screenings can be found here or on their Instagram page @wudfilm.
Cinemadison
If you’re more interested in creating a film rather than watching it, Cinemadison brings student filmmaking to campus. A typical meeting includes discussing production, editing scripts, helping members with their projects and even creating impromptu one-minute films.
Vice President Stuart Frohna helps run meetings and oversees semester-long short film production. Frohna highlighted that members don’t have to be experts in film creation.
“Most of our members come in with little to no knowledge or experience with filmmaking, which is fine and we encourage that,” Frohna said. “We help people through workshops, and we get them active roles on sets.”
Frohna holds the stories that Cinemadison students tell through film close to his heart.
“Filmmaking is one of the best ways to tell stories. I’ve always been encapsulated by the stories told by the big screen and how they’ve affected changes in my own life and in the world,” Frohna said.
Similar to Weishaar, Frohna said it’s the people that bring life to student filmmaking.
“What I really try to go hard on is the collaborative process of filmmaking. You’re not just telling your story, you’re telling the story of everyone involved in it,” Frohna said. “Being able to see that and also interact with those people and build relationships with them has been my favorite part.”
Cinemadison meets on Wednesdays from 7-8 p.m. in Sterling Hall. More information can be found on their Instagram page @cinemadisonofficial.
College Library
College Library has the game-oriented students covered. The library provides a recreation collection of Playstation, Xbox and board games for students to rent, just like they would for a book.
Ian Benton, the user experience coordinator for Undergraduate Library Services, said college is not one-dimensional, and non-scholarly resources can be just as important as traditional ones.
“The experience of being a college student is not just academics,” Benton said. “We have a bunch of things that [influence] the complex existence of the average student and recreation is an important part of that. It ties into health, emotional wellbeing and just being able to have fun.”
In addition to the free rental games, College Library offers a tool library. Although they are not limited to design tools, the tool library features things like a glass cutter, wood carving tools and a popular sewing machine.
“Students need tools to do a lot of different things, but don’t necessarily have the money or space to have a big tool collection. The library brings equity of access to fill existing needs that aren't being met in another place,” Benton said.
Benton recognized that students drive the changes and additions to the collections.
“College Library wants to hear from you,” Benton said. “We absolutely want your purchase requests for all these collections.”
WUD Cuisine
Regardless of a student's current cooking ability, WUD Cuisine teaches students valuable lifelong cooking skills. The organization creates culinary experiences and workshops for students to enhance their understanding of food.
Associate Director for Cooking Demonstrations Hailey Stubler works to contact and recruit professional chefs to cook a recipe or specialty for students to observe. WUD Cuisine focuses on cultural immersion by finding a variety of chefs with different backgrounds to teach skills.
“Workshops are good for learning proper knife technique and specific recipes,” Stubler said. “We provide take-home recipes that can be easily replicated.”
Besides learning new culinary techniques, WUD Cuisine is another space to meet new people.
“Cuisine is a really good resource for finding people,” Stubler said. “Most people can connect over food. We help you get creative and express yourself while also forming connections.”
The organization sometimes deals with extra food from events. Their goal is zero food waste.
“I’ve gotten good at predicting attendance so I can order the correct amount of food,” Stubler said. “If we still have any leftover food or ingredients, we make sure it goes home with someone, especially if they need it.”
WUD Cuisine members meet on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Union South. More information can be found on their website. Events and signups can be found @wudcuisine on Instagram.
These organizations are just a few of an extensive list of creative resources offered at UW-Madison. Other organizations like WUD Art, Cinematheque and the Wolf Teaching Kitchen at the Bakke continue to skim the surface of easy, accessible ways for students to create.
As Frohna put it, “Art is something we fundamentally do as humans, and having access to all different types of arts at school is very important.”
