With Oasis ‘23 around the corner, the Oasis English Press sat down with Adarsh Goel, the StuCCAn of the Department of Art, Design, and Publicity (ADP), for a quick chat about their preparation for the fest.

ADP is at the forefront of decorating the campus in accordance with the theme for Oasis ‘23 — Grimoire Galore. Adarsh said that since the theme is Halloween-inspired, decorations would include lit-up pumpkins, eerie skeletons, and structures with mystic and majestic themes.

He highlighted that ADP is trying out an advanced welding technique to build a side structure containing the tentacles of an octopus. He also mentioned that the four side panels of the Main Auditorium will feature paintings with different Halloween-related themes and added that some artistic features distinctive to anime would also be included in the pieces, owing to their popularity with BITSians. 

Regarding their workflow, Adarsh said that they had created a good timeline, ideating structures and panels before arriving on campus. Once they were on campus, they conducted their recruitment process for the new batch and made the structures. He said that they would first create a smaller version of the structure and then enlarge it if it matched their expectations. He mentioned that the panels went through many iterations before they were finalised.  

Adarsh said that his experience working as the StuCCAn of ADP helped him develop his managerial skills, because of the responsibilities he had to fulfil, including meeting different expectations, resolving differences in opinions, and creating a framework that would satisfy everyone. Additionally, he acted as ADP’s point of contact with other departments.

To address his challenges, Adarsh said that he stood by a set of core practices, like keeping the fest above everything else, trying to do what was best for it, and analysing everything logically. Finally, he said that everyone was excited about the upcoming Oasis and urged them to explore everything and try to stay awake for the entirety of the fest. He felt that this edition of Oasis was going to create a legacy.