Arts Initiative
The Arts Initiative at Columbia University was created in 2004 by President Lee Bollinger to promote "the role of the arts in the university, and the university's role in the arts". Part of the Office of the President, the initiative's Director is Gregory Mosher. The initiative's website of campus-wide and city-wide cultural resources is CUArts.
Mission
The Arts Initiative at Columbia University was created in 2004 by President Bollinger to re-invent the role of the arts in the university, and the university’s role in the arts. This effort now spans the campus, unconstrained by venue, department, field, or program, and reaches out into a diverse international culture. Among its aims are to make the arts part of the experience of every Columbia student's education and to promote a life-long involvement in the arts.
This enterprise rests on three pillars. The Initiative nurtures the vast artistic energy – nearly 150 groups, departments, and programs - on Columbia’s campus. It creates and strengthens links between Columbia and the wider culture. It connects the arts with other ways of understanding–and acting in-the world.
Current Programs
Ticket and Information Center (TIC)
The Ticket and Information Center (TIC) opened in January 2008 and dispensed over 30,000 free and discounted tickets to the Columbia community in its first fourteen weeks. Operating both in the Lerner lobby and online, the TIC features campus events of all sorts, NYC cultural events, and discount movies vouchers. By special arrangement with Telecharge and select Broadway producers, the TIC has at last created an alternative to student rush by selling student-priced tickets in advance. The Ticket and Information Center staff fields questions ranging from Carnegie Hall's address to when the Columbia Orchestra holds auditions. TIC operates in partnership with the Provost's office, with additional support from Columbia College and Student Services.
Passport to New York
Passport to New York is a program that grants student CUID holders free admission to 28 New York City museums and institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and more. Students only need their CUID with a valid sticker for that school term (i.e. Fall 2008) for admission. Passport to New York is one of the Arts Initiative's most popular programs.
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation Fund
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation fund, made possible by the generosity of Lord David (MBA '71) and Lady Susie Sainsbury, continues its extraordinary support for student arts projects. Grantees span Columbia's schools, with projects ranging from Project Bluelight, Columbia's first undergraduate film production company, to Follies, an original musical composed and performed by graduate students in the School of International and Public Affairs. Gatsby funds also support the CUArts website and subsidize student tickets. The Gatsby application form is now online at CUArts.
CUArts
CUArts, the University's web compendium of campus and NYC arts information and resources, is now accessible directly from the Columbia University homepage. Sixty thousand visitors a month visit the site to link to Columbia's major arts schools, programs, organizations and venues, the Ticket and Information Center, and the Columbia Alumni Arts League, as well as listings of jobs/internships, arts libraries, campus rehearsal and performance venues, and much more. Through CUArts, site visitors can sign up for the Arts Initiative's weekly newsletter, which goes out every Friday and provides a short list of on-campus and city-wide events for the upcoming week, normally for $20 or less.
The Columbia Alumni Arts League
The Columbia Alumni Arts League was established in late 2006 to make it possible for Columbians from all schools to stay involved in the arts – and with each other - after graduation. The Columbia Alumni Arts League provides member discounts and perks at fifty-five leading NYC cultural organizations, while CAAL Nights bring alumni together several times a month at a dazzling variety of arts events. Last year President Bollinger and Jean Magnano Bollinger began a tradition of presenting the graduating class with complimentary one-year memberships; the 2007 graduates joined nearly one thousand members from previous classes. CAAL also maintains a web listing of local arts events featuring alumni, and sends a weekly newsletter featuring exclusive and affordable cultural opportunities to over 10,000 members.
Columbia Arts Experience
With Center for Career Education, we now co-sponsor a new paid internship program, the Columbia Arts Experience, which recently placed 14 students with arts organizations including Carnegie Hall, Harlem Stage, New York City Ballet and the Sundance Channel.
Networking and Lunch with the Arts Initiative
Throughout the academic year, the Arts Initiative holds Lunch with the Arts Initiative sessions where students can network with other arts and culture organizations. Students are provided a free lunch, given a brief presentation on a particular arts-related topic (i.e. connecting with other groups or the Gatsby Charitable Foundation Fund), and then have the opportunity to converse with like-minded students.
Past Programs
Preview Screening of Li Yang's "Blind Mountain"
The Arts Initiative at Columbia University, the School of International and Public Affairs, and the Center for the Study of Human Rights presented a preview screening of Blind Mountain, a film by Visiting Columbia Artist Li Yang. The film, which drew standing ovations at Cannes and around the globe, explores China's problem of human trafficking due to the One Child Policy. Following the screening the filmmaker took part in a conversation with the audience which was led by Professor Carole Vance, Director of the Program for the Study of Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights, and Professor Andrew Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and former Chair of the Department. This event was part of the Arts Initiative's wider China project which seeks to enrich mutual understanding by linking China's vibrant contemporary arts and culture to a wide range of academic disciplines and professions within the Columbia community.
Metropolitan Museum Orientation Party
At the first annual Metropolitan Museum Orientation Party in 2008, nearly 1600 incoming students from Columbia College, Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science , Barnard, and the School of General Studies were welcomed to Columbia with exclusive access to the Egyptian, African, and Greek and Roman galleries for a reception and viewing. The Arts Initiative, Provost's office and New Student Orientation Program hosted. The event will take place again in 2008 and will hopefully remain an annual event.
Václav Havel at Columbia
At the invitation of President Bollinger, Václav Havel arrived at Columbia University on October 26, 2006, for a seven-week residency featuring lectures, interviews, conversations, classes, performances, and panels centered on his life and ideas. The visit was organized by the Arts Initiative at Columbia University.
Václav Havel's visit to Columbia focused on an exploration of the connection between art and citizenship. In addition to the events with President Havel, the Arts Initiative organized a series of symposia on specific art forms (theatre, msuic, architecture, art, film, literature) and citizenship. Each of these were moderated by Columbians; several were presented in partnership with some of New York's leading cultural institutions.
New Yorker nights
A series of events at Miller Theater in 2005-2006 featuring speakers like Joan Didion, Oliver Sacks, Malcolm Gladwell, Simon Schama, and others.
Peter Brook's production of Tierno Bokar
Renowned director Peter Brook and his company, the International Center of Theatre Creation (CICT), spent a month in residence at Columbia University in the spring of 2005. During their residence they mounted the U.S. premiere of Tierno Bokar, a theatrical exploration of the power of tolerance.
With this residence, Brook for the first time integrated his work into the life and culture of a large urban university. The company worked with the resources of Columbia University, Barnard College and the Harlem community and encouraged students, faculty, and the public to participate in an ongoing dialogue about the social, political, religious, and historical questions raised by performances of Tierno Bokar. Events included symposia, lectures, workshops, and class work. All programs were sponsored by the Arts Initiative in partnership with the Harlem Arts Alliance and Barnard College.
Upcoming projects
Discount tickets
Now available through the TIC!
Arts Link
For the past year, the Arts Initiative has been working with Columbia colleagues and leading New York City cultural institutions to create a program that will make NYC arts and cultural events available as an extension of the classroom, as accessible as textbooks or other teaching tools. In brief, here is how the program will work:
- Each semester, the Arts Initiative will provide all interested faculty with a list of events or exhibits, including detailed information, chosen from the NYC cultural season.
- The professor can assign an event simply by sharing the event's link from the TIC website, either in Courseworks or via email.
- Students will click to buy a discounted ticket online, and pick up the tickets at the venue or at the Ticket and Information Center (TIC) in Lerner.
Thus, professors will not have to negotiate with venues or buying and disbursing tickets.
The Arts Initiative will be testing this program in the Spring 2009 semester and launching in the Fall 2009.
Global Initiative
In the spring of 2007, the Arts Initiative established a cultural venture to support President Bollinger's effort to create "global literacy" at Columbia University. The Arts Initiative's program has begun with China, working with arts institutions, school, and individual artists in film, theatre, dance, music, fine arts, and architecture. This venture will link Chinese artists, students, and faculty with their Columbia counterparts to provoke an international dialogue through the arts. In the coming years, the Arts Initiative seeks to greatly expand this venture.
