Arts Student of the Week: Marik Magginetti

Marik Magginetti, a senior at Niwot High School, represents a side of the art world rarely seen but greatly enjoyed. Magginetti’s dedication to technical theater resulted in his nomination for Art Student of the Week.

Magginetti’s art background comes from running things behind the scenes. He said, “I'm on the technical theater crew so my business is all in the technical. I am on the ‘how’ part of creativity, not the ‘what.’ It's still an absolute honor to help these shows succeed because I love the art form, but I do want to get more on the creative side of the world.”

“I have worked six theatrical shows for the school, three plays and three musicals, with the most recent two, my role being that of ‘Student Technical Director’ and ‘Technical Director’ for ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ and ‘Footloose’ respectively.”

“I like to try everything. I'm very much a jack of all trades person. I like to learn and think and that kind of guides the hobbies I try. When I'm not doing something tech related or craving novelty, I play video games a lot, my favorites being the Dark Souls series and similar. I like how in those games, you are only mildly affected by stats or armor, the biggest part of success is determination. Dying against one boss 100 times only makes it all the sweeter to win. That idea of dedication and persistence is what I live by.”

Magginetti has gained a lot of that dedication and persistence from his parents. He said, “They met at a call center at rough times in their lives, but they were able to lift themselves up from a bad place into a much better one I'm happy to call home.”

His advice for fellow artists is applicable in most aspects of life. “Comparison is the thief of joy,” Magginetti said. “If you can't find the joy in creating for yourself, you won't find it in creating for others.” Magginetti said he believes “Art is a personal expression of vulnerability, it comes from you. Art is beautiful not because it lines up with artificial rules we made for beauty, but because it's yours.”

Magginetti will miss working on the technical crew at NHS, but has big plans ahead. “It's been an amazing honor to be a big brother figure to all my little techs and I'm so so proud of all of them. It's a joke but when they call me “Dad,” I always try to earn the title,”he said.

As for the future, he said, “I'm looking forward to hopefully joining the stage craft union and working at the DCPA in Denver, along with taking some college courses.

“I plan to live loud. Whatever I do, I think I've led a very quiet life thus far, and I want to be heard and seen. Whatever I end up doing, I hope I can still live loud and with gusto.”