{"id":9,"date":"2025-08-11T11:12:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T16:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/rayvin\/?page_id=9"},"modified":"2026-05-20T00:44:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T05:44:59","slug":"individual-major","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/rayvin\/individual-major\/","title":{"rendered":"Individual Major"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Design for Community Events and Engagement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An Individual Major at St. Olaf College, created by
Rayvin Gierwatowski ’26.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This major integrates leadership, management, and Design Thinking principles- specifically, the practices of understanding what’s already working within a community and designing in direct conversation with the people being served- to support effective event design. It incorporates media production and visual branding to support meaningful, two-way community engagement. The program emphasizes the cultural impact of media and art, recognizing that awareness of context strengthens the connection between an event and its community. Through coursework in event design, planning and production, media creation, and audience engagement, the student develops tools to create events that are both culturally responsive and community-driven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Click here to learn why I chose to pursue this Individual Major.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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R.I.P. Lair <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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see @r.i.p.lair<\/strong> on Instagram<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
A pop-up community concert series in partnership with campus organizations to demonstrate that campus creativity is everywhere, it just craves a venue, and some community support.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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What is R.I.P. Lair?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

R.I.P. Lair is a pop-up concert series that uplifts student talent and makes the case for informal, student-led creative programming on campus. It invited campus musicians to perform in unconventional venues: the Flaten Art Museum and the Shop 1500 barbershop in Buntrock Commons. Hosting events in unexpected spaces was both a practical response to the absence of an informal performance venue on campus and a deliberate nod to the now-closed Lair, which once served that function in La Pause. The series produced two concerts in April 2026, drew approximately 140 attendees, and showed that students will show up when someone makes it happen. R.I.P. Lair is named for what was lost. It is also an argument for what should exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Skills and Approach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Producing R.I.P. Lair required coordinating across a wide range of disciplines simultaneously. It involved designing an artist application and submission process, managing over a hundred emails to venues, collaborators, facilities teams, and campus safety, and meeting individually with every artist about their technical needs, set vision, and availability. It also meant coordinating drum sharing across two venues, building a brand kit, creating posters and social media content, managing soundcheck for multiple acts across two nights and two stages, overseeing live audio, lighting, and filming, and serving as the single point of contact for everyone involved, often at the same time. Documentation is ongoing. The project also drew on a core design thinking practice: talking directly with the people being served, rather than designing around assumptions about what they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Connection to Coursework<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project serves as the capstone for my Individual Major in Design for Events and Community Engagement, bringing together skills from coursework in project management, visual storytelling, media production, intercultural collaboration, leadership, and community-centered design. It also put two specific design thinking principles into practice: looking at what is already working within a community before proposing something new, and staying in direct conversation with the people the work is meant to serve, in this case, our student artists and campus audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Long-Term Vision<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

R.I.P. Lair was not designed as a one-time event. The goal was to demonstrate that this kind of programming is possible and wanted- and to leave behind enough documentation, branding, and institutional knowledge that a future student could continue it without starting from scratch. Whether that happens through a dedicated student organization, a partnership with La Pause or the Office of Student Activities, or as part of a broader investment in informal creative infrastructure like the planned Innovation Hub, the hope is that R.I.P. Lair becomes a starting point rather than a conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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