The student-curated museum acts as a mobile art gallery with a community-‘driven’ purpose

By EMME DUNNING — features@theaggie.org

The UC Davis Unitrans system is notorious for turning heads as it does its rounds through town. From their iconic double-decker buses, their cherry red color and employing student drivers, Unitrans does anything but play by the rules. 

This fall, Unitrans turned heads once again with a completely new project. Through a collaboration with ASUCD and Aggie Arts, Unitrans has revealed its new bus that is already gracing the streets of Davis — The Moo-vin’ Moo-seum. The Moo-vin’ Moo-seum, complete with a cow-themed pun, is a mobile art gallery showcasing the work of UC Davis students and community members alike. 

The idea for the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum came from Jonah Messinger, a third-year food science major. As a Unitrans sales representative, Messinger and his friends noticed extra space where advertisements typically go and saw the opportunity to showcase something else entirely. 

“Rather than sell ads, we decided that we wanted to put art inside the buses,” Messinger said. 

The project sprouted from humble beginnings, starting with the Unitrans interior art project. The project enlisted community members and students to send in their art to adorn the inside of Unitrans buses in place of typical ad carts. The project was successful, and Messinger’s team began to set their sights on a larger project — the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum. 

The completed Moo-vin’ Moo-seum is a fully functioning Unitrans bus with a twist. The outside of the bus has been wrapped in a colorful mural depicting iconic spots in the Davis and the UC Davis community, along with bubbly letters reading “Moo-vin’ Moo-seum” on one side and “ASUCD” on the other. The inside of the bus showcases art in place of advertisements, creating an immersive experience for riders.

The art on the inside of the bus was not created by one artist alone but instead through the collaboration of over 400 students and community members. At the recent Sunset Fest, as well as a Saturday at the Davis Farmers Market, Moo-vin’ Moo-seum curators invited attendees to contribute to a collaborative work of art with a theme centering around Davis. The result is a mural truly representative of the Davis community.

The Moo-vin’ Moo-seum has four overarching goals — to build community, support local artists, promote ASUCD and, finally, to maintain sustainability. 

The sustainability goal is particularly important to the organization, which insists that it goes deeper than just environmental sustainability.

“We wanted to think of sustainability not just in environmental terms but in an economic and social model as well,” Messinger said. “We want this to be a sustainable project that doesn’t just end when I graduate or when someone else graduates, but something that really becomes central to Davis.”

Although Messinger played a major role in coming up with the idea for the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum, he asserted that the project was extremely collaborative. 

“There’s a whole team of people behind the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum, it’s definitely not just me,” Messinger said.

Another key player in this team has been Mitchell Borges, the current director of marketing for ASUCD. Borges was approached by Messinger about the project and saw an opportunity to blend the goals of ASUCD and Unitrans to create the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum.

“Going into this year, ASUCD really wanted the focus to be reminding students and the community that our main goal here is support,” Borges said. “We wanted to be able to promote ASUCD and how we align with this vision.” 

Borges also expressed that he enjoyed watching the community bond over this project, as well as seeing the ideas of his and others come to life. 

“We ended up having a lot of students really excited to share their story through art, and now it’s riding around Davis and everyone gets to be a part of it,” Borges said.

Madison Seeman, a third-year design major at UC Davis, was also an integral part of bringing the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum to life. As the Aggie Arts chairperson, Seeman has been closely involved with art projects across campus. These projects have ranged from small-scale community crafts to large events like the Aggies in Wonderland craft and music fair, which took place this past spring. The Moo-vin’ Moo-seum was a natural next step for Seeman and Aggie Arts, who hope to overall bring the Davis community together through art. 

For Seeman, the collaborative nature of the project has been one of the most impactful parts. 

“One of my favorite things about this project is that it has been a multi-organizational collaboration,” Seeman said. 

This collaboration occurred across departments throughout the university and involved input from Unitrans, Aggie Arts and ASUCD. Seeman also asserted that the project was not just a collaboration of student organizations, but rather of the community as a whole.

“We wanted to make sure the community wasn’t forgotten,” Seeman said. 

In order to ensure this, organizers of the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum took special care to cater to the perspective of the community at each step of the process and, most importantly, included the community in the creation of the art itself. To keep the project community oriented, the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum will be holding an Open Curator Meeting on Nov. 19, which community members and students are encouraged to attend. 

Although the Moo-vin’ Moo-seum has already hit the road, it is far from complete. The current exhibit inside will hopefully be the first of many, and all will include students or the community in some way. The museum is one example of many artistic initiatives to keep the Davis community involved, creating and collaborating for years to come.

Written by: Emme Dunning — features@theaggie.org

UC Davis students share their excitement for Halloween, recommendations for staying responsible and safe

By GRACIELA TIU — features@theaggie.org

Halloween season in Davis has officially begun, and students across campus have been preparing costumes and getting ready for their celebrations. Although it’s a national holiday, Halloween at UC Davis feels particularly special for students.

“Since Davis is on the quarter system, our midterms usually fall right before Halloween,” Kayleigh Harrast, a second-year economics major, said. “This gives people the chance to not only celebrate the holiday but also celebrate the end of midterm season, at least for most students.”

Being a relatively small town filled with a lot of college students, the sense of community in Davis feels very strong during Halloween.

“I also love Halloween at Davis because it’s such a college town, so on [Oct.] 31, everywhere you go you’re gonna see students biking or walking around in costume, which feels very festive,” Harrast said.

UC Davis students especially enjoy the group aspect of putting costumes together with their friends and getting ready with one another. Maddy Coppersmith, a fourth-year human development major, enjoys this collaborative aspect and appreciates the creativity showcased through people’s costumes during the holiday.

“For me, I like collaborating with my roommates in making joint costumes and taking fun pictures before going out,” Coppersmith said. “It’s cool to see how creative people are during Halloween and how interesting their costumes are. Also, I think it’s fun to try to guess what others’ Halloween costumes are and then reveal them after.”

Similar to many other college campuses, UC Davis students typically celebrate Halloween the weekend before or after the holiday, depending on what day of the week Oct. 31 falls. Different groups usually host themed parties and events for students during one or both of these weekends.

“We have plenty of clubs and social groups that throw parties,” Thomas Glatt, a fourth-year political science major, said. “Planning starts well in advance of Halloween, and everyone kind of knows what they’re doing and tries to figure out what other groups are also doing so you can plan something fun. It’s mostly parties, but people over 21 often go to bars and bar crawls in costume.”

Halloween weekend, colloquially known as “Halloweekend,” can bring a lot of excitement and amusement to students, especially the younger ones.

“These incoming freshmen and sophomores dealt with a lot of high school in [COVID-19], so this is the time to mix socially for them,” Glatt said.

If you’re new to Davis parties and don’t know what to expect, Glatt, who also is the vice president of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Membership Conduct at the fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon, provided a rundown on how fraternity parties are typically set up.

“If you’re walking in for your first time, there’s going to be a check-in at the door, with a person looking at the list [of people invited], making sure only students are coming in,” Glatt said. “We also are making sure people aren’t bringing in open containers of alcohol. You’ll walk in — there will probably be a walkway to keep the front from getting congested — and then you’ll have a party floor, an outside area and you’ll probably have a DJ and DJ stand.”

At schools across the country, Halloweekend usually is one of the biggest weekends of the year in terms of crowd sizes at social functions. 

“Halloween is definitely one of the bigger weekends,” Glatt said. “One way that we manage the scope of the parties that are bigger than normal are some small things that we run. We make sure we have a list going into it so we know who to expect, and we make sure that everyone coming knows to show [their] student IDs. We also always have a safe room at every event, not just big parties.”

Some organizations on campus provide safe rooms in their houses, which provide people with help and support at parties if necessary.

“We always have a dedicated room free of drugs and alcohol, at least at our fraternity house,” Glatt said. “It generally has a dog in it too, but it’s free of drugs and alcohol, it has Narcan, Fentanyl test strips, first aid kits, waters, juices and snacks if we can find some.”

Along with a safe room, organizations throwing parties also typically have some kind of student security or sober monitors that can assist partygoers if needed.

“Another thing you can expect is to see active security, who makes sure that no one is exhibiting signs of incapacitation and that no one is displaying signs of discomfort, being cornered or in an uncomfortable situation,” Glatt said. “We’re checking in with everyone around us and making sure that things are as safe and stable as they can be. It’s not like you can control everything in your environment, but our job is to mitigate as many risks as possible.”

Although Halloween celebrations can feel particularly exciting, the most important part of the holiday is staying safe and protecting yourself. If you are of age and plan on consuming alcohol, there are several ways to do so safely and cautiously.

“Hydrate and eat meals before — breakfast, lunch and then dinner,” Coppersmith said. “Make sure that you’re always with at least one other person, but go to a party with multiple friends just in case. If you’re driving, make sure you have a designated driver and you’re not drinking and driving. And drink responsibly; don’t accept drinks from anyone you don’t know.”

When going out to any parties or events, especially at night, it’s also very important to have a safe transportation plan to and from the event.

“Always make sure that you’re with people that you trust when you’re drinking and that you’re in a safe environment,” Glatt said. “When people start to sway and lose their balance, that’s the time for your group to figure out a ride home to make sure that everyone gets home safe, which is always a priority. Please don’t ride your electric bike or scooter to a party, planning on drinking and then taking it back. Make sure there’s always a walkable plan.”

If you and your friends don’t plan on walking, Glatt warns to never get in a car if the driver is intoxicated, and instead to find a sober driver or utilize campus transportation resources. 

“We have our safe ride centers on campus,” Glatt said. “They’re a little bit of a wait, but if you put in your request ahead of time, you will be prepared, so make a plan for that.”

Along with Safe Ride, UC Davis also has many additional resources that promote student safety and wellness. UC Davis Health Education and Promotion (HEP), a branch of Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS), promotes different health-related initiatives such as the Love Lab, which provides support for sexual well-being and Safe Party, which provides information about staying safe at events with alcohol or other substances. The Student Health and Wellness Center also provides HIV/STI testing if you make an appointment through SHCS Health E-Messaging. 

Coppersmith also mentioned other resources students can use in case of an emergency.

“Health 34, UC Davis Police and UC Davis Fire Department, along with 911, are numbers that you can call in case you need them or you feel unsafe for any reason,” Coppersmith said.

Even though Halloweekend is a unique and exciting experience compared to other weekends, it’s unnecessary to overdo it and put yourself or others at risk.

“The main thing is just to make sure that you’re only taking steps that you would also take [sober],” Glatt said. “Don’t let the enormity of the situation consume you. Don’t think that, ‘Oh, it’s Halloween. I have to go crazy.’ The name of the game is to do it responsibly. Only drink what you can control, don’t succumb to peer pressure and stay within your limits. If you’re new to campus, please just know that it’s not about how intoxicated you can get; it’s about how much fun you can have and how many memories you can retain, not lose.”

Overall, Halloween and all of the celebrations it brings can be a fun reason to dress up, get creative and bond with your friends.

“For me, the best parts about Halloween are the experiences I have with my friends and the people close to me,” Harrast said. “I love having fun times to look back on throughout the rest of the year.”

Written by: Graciela Tiu — features@theaggie.org