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Art from all corners
The Harvard University Band performing for the Office for the Arts 50th birthday celebration at Sanders Theatre.
Photos by Niles Singer/Harvard Staff Photographer
Office for the Arts celebrates 50 years with storytelling, music, dance, poetry, and more
As a first-year, Tiffany Onyeiwu ’25 was excited to learn about the ceramics studio in the Quincy House basement. Onyeiwu had loved art in high school, but sacrificed taking classes in favor of rigorous courses that she felt would strengthen her college applications. The idea of creating again was irresistible.
“As I nestled my hand onto a neatly kneaded lump of clay on the potter’s wheel, chaos ensued,” Onyeiwu told an audience at Sanders Theatre. “Slip started moving everywhere, splattering across my limbs. But finally I found my center and got everything under control. I danced with the clay in that moment, directing it but also listening to its energy, spinning and turning and moving in a continuous rotation.”
Now an Art, Film & Visual Studies and Social Anthropology joint concentrator, Onyeiwu has spent hours honing her skills in the Ceramics Program through the Office for the Arts (OFA).
President Alan Garber shared how his early interest in photography expanded his world.
With support from the OFA, Maranatha Paul ’26 produced a short film.
Professor of the Practice of Theatre Diane Paulus ’88 and Karina Cowperthwaite ’19 discussed their parallel career trajectories that brought them to the American Repertory Theater.
Actor Courtney Vance ’82 and his daughter, Bronwyn Vance ’28, told their stories.
Kate Vandermel ’25 performed an operatic rendition of the Harvard College mission statement.
African dance troupe Omo Naija X Wahala Boys brought action to the stage.
Many students had similar experiences to share at the OFA’s 50th birthday celebration this month, an evening filled with storytelling and performances in music, dance, poetry, and more. Students, administrators, and alumni took turns reflecting on their involvement with the arts on campus.
“The OFA is an idea and a promise,” said Office for the Arts Director Fiona Coffey. “The OFA is a declaration that the arts are not ancillary, but vital to a Harvard education. The OFA is confirmation that knowledge and pedagogy are produced in traditional academic classrooms and also in art studios, in music rehearsal rooms, and on stages.”
Maranatha Paul ’26 said he was awestruck the first time he read Shakespeare’s “Othello” in high school — a moment that inspired him to pursue writing seriously. Paul is now an English and Theater, Dance & Media joint concentrator, and has worked on student-written theater productions and produced a short film with support from OFA funding.
“When you read a short story or a poem or you go to see a film or watch a play, what you’re effectively witnessing is someone’s perspective of the world,” Paul said. “Not a single human being has ever seen your perspective on anything. There’s no telling who you might inspire, who might be seen by you. So just write it, get out there, and see what happens.”
President Alan Garber spoke about how his childhood interest in photography expanded to a love for films after he got a job working at a movie theater in high school while saving up to buy a camera.
“I think that’s something that art does for all of us,” Garber said. “The aperture, once open, tends to widen, tends to let in more work done in more ways, to include more artists. Each encounter causes us to see and appreciate the world in a different way, and to see and appreciate people in different ways.”
Professor of the Practice of Theatre Diane Paulus ’88 and Karina Cowperthwaite ’19 discussed their parallel career trajectories from on campus theater involvement to the American Repertory Theater. Actor Courtney B. Vance ’82 spoke about getting his start in theater at Harvard, while his daughter Bronwyn Vance ’28 spoke about first hating, then loving, the piano.
The event also featured performances by Harvard Bhangra, African dance troupe Omo Naija X Wahala Boys, 2023 National Youth Poet Laureate Salome Agbaroji ’27, Mariachi Véritas, and others. Former OFA directors Jack Megan and Myra Mayman were recognized for their leadership, and Kate Vandermel ’25 and Henry Wu ’25 performed an operatic rendition of the Harvard College mission statement on voice and piano.
At the end of the show, Coffey invited audience members who saw themselves as “champions of the arts” to switch on tiny flashlights they had received on entry. In an instant, Sanders Theatre transformed into a shimmering galaxy of twinkling lights.
“Artmaking is born from courage, the courage to be vulnerable, to expose your soul, to see others and to be seen, to step into somebody else’s shoes, her voice or perspective, with compassion, openness, and humility,” Coffey told the students. “Be brave, work hard, dream harder, and let your light shine. We need more of your light in this world.”
