The DPU Contemporary Ensemble is a student-led group committed to providing opportunities for all DePauw students to express themselves musically as performers, composers, improvisers, and curators. Since its founding in 2019, CE has organized a concert every semester showcasing the music of today — including many premiers by student composers — regardless of genre or style. CE also hosts several fun events each semester: Improvisation Sessions, Student Composition Readings, Collaborative Composition Events, and Musical Game Nights.
In the depths of the pandemic in 2021, the Contemporary Ensemble responded to a lack of live performance opportunities by creating the Art Walk Festival, an interdisciplinary arts festival that showcases the incredible creativity of the DePauw and greater Greencastle community. Art Walk continues to grow each year, and gives DePauw students the invaluable experience of organizing and leading a complex arts organization and multi-day festival.
For the DPU Contemporary Ensemble, "Contemporary Music” doesn’t just refer to a time period or a genre but to a more general artistic attitude of agency, inclusivity, and radical creativity. This is why CE is and always will be entirely student-led and organized. It is a group that allows students to collaboratively shape their creative practice in their own image and to build a model of the kind of creative and inclusive institution they hope to be a part of in the future.