Arts@Tech Infuses Joy and Engages Students Through #GTJoy2015 Initiative Spanning Georgia Tech's Campus

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By Nicholas Wolaver

A new campus-wide initiative at Georgia Tech is engaging students in conversations about what brings them happiness.

Through the spring photography project GTJoy2015, graduate and undergraduate students at the Georgia Institute of Technology are invited to consider their personal answer to one brief question:What Brings You Joy?

Participating students who write their answers on an eraser board and strike a pose are photographed and receive a free digital image for personal or professional use and sharing in social media with the hashtag #GTJoy2015.

“We believe that in our students’ active and busy lives, their creativity brings moments of joy that may be fleeting as self-doubt or external criticism kicks in,” said Madison Cario, director of the Office of the Arts at Georgia Tech. “Through GTJoy2015 we seek to help students take a moment to recognize and honor that joy while nurturing and inspiring creativity.”

Organizers from the Office of the Arts at Georgia Tech (Arts@Tech) engaged Alli Royce Soble, an award-winning photographer from Atlanta who earned several “best of …” honors from Atlanta Magazine, Creative Loafing and Georgia Voice, as the official GTJoy2015 photographer and facilitator.

She quietly kicked off the project during spring break (March 16-20) and completed the first of many daily photo sessions on March 23 in the Georgia Tech Student Center. Her mission is to capture 365 faces of joy during 15 days on campus.

In a few days, Royce Soble captured several dozen images of students sharing their joy and smiles for the camera. Anyone may track daily updates in social media channels including Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, Yik Yak or other sites as the image-gathering phase and sharing of #GTJoy2015 continues through April 17.

In addition to curating the photographs captured by Royce Soble during the next few weeks, Arts@Tech will brighten the campus with GTJoy2015 in a location to be unveiled on April 20, when one building on the Midtown Atlanta campus will feature oversized projections of all the faces and statements of joy.

“We wanted to engage students in a new and positive conversation while celebrating the many faces of Georgia Tech,” said Cario. “In just a few days of collecting student responses, we can already see that – like Atlanta pollen or spring fever – joy is everywhere around us and contagious at Georgia Tech.”

GTJoy2015 is a free-for-students initiative. For updates on Royce Soble’s daily locations for students to participate, visit arts.gatech.edu or call 404-894-2787.