Wearing a dark green Florence shirt, Rocco Grassi reflects on his time studying abroad in Italy: “You learn a lot more about who you are and how your life is. It's really cool to go to another country and get to experience their lives and how they act and how they do things, and they kind of become a part of you.”  He continues, “you have your whole foundation in your whole life, like in one country, and then you go to another one and it doesn't change anything, it just adds on. You learn things and you add on things, and that kind of becomes a piece of you.” Rocco, who is a psychol...

For an industry that exists to create, entertain and bring people together through shared experiences, the pandemic gave a particularly brutal blow to those in the business of the Arts, including the Performing Arts Center at Kent State University at Tuscarawas. For 17 long months, the doors were closed, the seats were empty and the stage was without entertainment. This hiatus – no Broadway shows, musical acts, family experiences and educational outreach programs – resulted in not only a decline in community engagement and economic development but in revenue. “The Performing Arts Cent...