Committee on arts announced

Harvard University President Drew Faust today (Dec. 21) announced the formation of a University-wide advisory committee on the arts, the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).   Created at the suggestion of the Task Force on the Arts, the Committee is charged with making recommendations to the President and Provost to enhance the presence of the arts within the University.  The Committee will explore opportunities to develop the life of the arts on campus and to connect existing arts resources to the cognitive life of the University.

The Committee is composed of faculty, students, and administrators from across the University.  HUCA will be chaired by Robin Kelsey, the Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography.

“The arts abound at Harvard,” said Faust.  “Harvard already hosts exceptional artistic talent on its campus, and I am eager to find new ways of facilitating arts practice and of encouraging creativity within our community.  This new committee will play an important role in implementing key recommendations of the Arts Task Force and in providing broader guidance on the role of the arts at Harvard.”

“Through the active engagement of many of our faculty, students, and staff, the arts at Harvard are already vibrant,” Kelsey said.  “I am honored to be asked by President Faust to work with the Committee’s distinguished members to find ways to encourage artistic experimentation and collaboration on our campus.”

The Committee will meet this December and convene regularly this spring.

HUCA’s members are:

Robin Kelsey, chair, Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Homi Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Director of the Humanities Center at Harvard; Senior Adviser on the Humanities to the President and Provost, Harvard University

Svetlana Boym, Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Professor of Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Assistant Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies and of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Rheeqrheeq Chainey ’11, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, secondary field in Dramatic Arts, Harvard College

Federico Cortese, Senior Lecturer on Music; Music Director, Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Christina Davis, Curator of Poetry in the George Edward Woodberry Room, Harvard College Library

David Edwards, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Howard Gardner, John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Graduate School of Education

Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor, Harvard University

Lori Gross, Associate Provost for Arts and Culture, Harvard University

Evelynn Hammonds, Dean of Harvard College; Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Faye Hays ’12, Doctor of Design program, Graduate School of Design

Tanya Iatridis, Director of the University Planning Office, Harvard University

Shahram Khoshbin, Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Thomas Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director, Harvard Art Museum

Yukio Lippit, Harris K. Weston Associate Professor of the Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Jack Megan, Director, Office for the Arts at Harvard, Harvard College

Helen Molesworth, Houghton Curator of Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museum

Merritt Moore ’11, physics, Harvard College

Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean; Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design, Graduate School of Design

Sean Palfrey, Co-Master of Adams House, Harvard College; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health, Boston University School of Medicine

Diane Paulus, Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater; Professor of the Practice of Theatre, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Julie Peters, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Stephen Prina, Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

David Rodowick, Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Kay Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and Professor of African and African American Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Diana Sorensen, Dean of Arts and Humanities; James F. Rothenberg Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Hans Tutschku, Fanny P. Mason Professor of Music, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Charles Waldheim, John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture; Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Graduate School of Design

Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Harvard University Committee for the Arts

Charge to the Committee

In its December 2008 report, the Harvard University Task Force on the Arts recommended the establishment of a new, University-wide advisory body to be called the “Harvard University Committee on the Arts” (HUCA).  HUCA’s design was intended to bring together administrators and faculty leaders from all parts of the University where arts study and practice take place, and to increase the accessibility, visibility, and impact of the arts on campus.

HUCA is charged with advising the president and provost on developing policies and plans that will enhance the presence of the arts at the University and make the arts a central component of the University’s educational mission.  Building upon the recommendations of the Task Force on the Arts, HUCA will identify new opportunities to connect its existing arts resources to the cognitive life of the University and recommend emerging areas of future development in collaborative inter-disciplinary and inter-faculty arts projects and programs.  The Committee will ask its members, leading artists, scholars, and administrators to bring their perspectives to bear on generating new ideas for encouraging artistic activity and innovation on campus, increasing the profile of the arts on campus and beyond, and ensuring a diversity and balance of artistic genres and cultural representation.  HUCA’s deliberations will serve as a forum for discussion to ensure that future planning for the arts will be coordinated throughout the University.