A Minority Arts Caucus will be held tonight to help interested minority students at Iowa State get involved with the arts on campus.

The caucus was called by Shirley Basfield Dunlap, director of the ISU Minority Theatre Workshop and assistant professor of theatre, and The Black Renaissance Movement, an African-American arts organization. It will be held at 7:30 pm. in the South Ballroom of the Memorial Union.

The inspiration for the caucus was the desire to see an increase of African-American students in the arts programs, said Frank Bell, minority liaison for the College of Design. Bell also will be facilitating the event.

There are many reasons for the need of a caucus of this type, Dunlap said.

“I’m noticing a great population of minority students who are interested in the arts but not comfortable participating in the mainstream activities,” Dunlap said.

The caucus will consist of a discussion between students, faculty and staff interested in gearing music, dance, visual arts and theatre programs toward minority students.

“Basically, we would like to broaden conversation and increase awareness,” Bell said. “Everyone is welcome to attend.”

Another goal of the caucus is to help minority students feel comfortable participating in campus events, Bell said.

“We want to help minority students help themselves,” Bell said.

The caucus also will answer questions about the future of the arts programs geared toward minorities.

“We need to answer ‘Where do we want to go from here?’ and ‘What do we want?’ in order to make progress,” Dunlap said.

She said culture unification also is a main goal.

“We hope to get interested people from this caucus; we want to consolidate all cultures of this campus,” Dunlap said. “We need to find out what it is that is absent from this campus and see how needs can be met.”

Bell said not enough minorities feel at ease in ISU’s arts programs.

“There have been complaints from minorities,” Bell said. “They may feel comfortable getting involved in the arts at home, but not at ISU, and we hope to change that.”

Some programs and events geared toward minority students have already been planned, including plays and an African-American pre-Kwanzaa celebration in December, Dunlap said.

“We will be planning more events at the caucus,” said Nathan Taylor, member of The Black Renaissance Board of Directors.

The Black Renaissance Movement meets on every Thursday at different locations. This week’s meeting is in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union at 6:30 p.m.

“Everyone is welcome to attend,” Taylor said.

The organizers of the caucus said they hope to provide a better and more positive environment for minority populations.

“We have a mission to bring more unity and love to this campus,” Taylor said. “The caucus is just to see how we can support each other.”