An Arts Wish List

Students, administrators and faculty respond to The Crimson’s request for gripes, wishes, suggestions and hopes for the Harvard arts scene of tomorrow

1. Space.

2. The pianos in the House Junior Common Rooms are there for student use, and no student should be barred from using them.

3. More theater space in which people don’t eat or check out books during the day.

4. You should be able to do a film thesis without taking a billion years of film first.

5. More commitment to the art of review-writing.

6. Remove Reiman from the chopping block, make studio art classes more accessible to non-VES-concentrators (fewer requirements, shorter hours), find a way to get the rest of the Harvard community to understand why it takes so many hours to create a production and the work that goes into it.

7. More training for actors of all experience levels.

8. More people involved with the technical side of things.

9. A completely renovated Hasty Pudding Theater, according to the Committee’s design.

11. Automatic paper extensions for anyone involved in a “tech week.”

12. More equal exchange between Harvard and Boston art’s colleges. Emerson, New England Conservatory, and Boston Conservatory all have students that take advantage of Harvard’s resources. They audition for our shows, get the Harvard credit on their resumes, and then leave without giving back to the theater community or becoming integrated into it. There should be some exchange; maybe Harvard students could audition for shows at these respective colleges, or dance classes could be open enrollment. There should be some reciprocity offered.

13. Three words: Dramatic Studies Concentration

14. More minority actors in theater.

15. First-years’ music practice rooms that are adequately sound-proofed for rock bands.

16. Fewer a capella groups.

17. More cutting-edge architecture and more public-art installations around campus.

18. I wish there was a greater interest in cultural things from members not of that culture. It would be wonderful if non-Latino students wanted to attend “Presencia Latina” and non-Asian students wanted to see Better Luck Tomorrow.

19. More adventurous music courses that take advantage of the electronic music studio.

20. More collaboration and less duplication between arts-related academic departments and other departments (ART, the Museums, the OFA, etc.)

21. The music community would greatly benefit from an academic music performance program. If that’s too much to ask, it would be helpful to bring top professional music instructors into the faculty to give private lessons. As it is, most musicians have to go to New England Conservatory or Berklee to find instructors. The extra time involved in going out to Boston to get music lessons can be prohibitive, and as a result the overall quality of musicianship suffers.

22. Harvard administrators shouldn’t wreck our SpringFest so that their 8-year-olds have fun; this includes getting good bands that we want. When their kids go here, they can have a say.

23. More opportunities to make art for credit.

24. Music lessons for beginners.

25. My biggest concern with arts at Harvard is that the theatre community does not really, as far as I can see, have any adult professional intervention. As I have observed, this has led to substandard productions, some safety issues, disorganization, and obvious unprofessionalism.

26. Harvard needs a quality, large space for concerts, movie screenings, and stage productions—one big venue that can be creatively used for many things including a rock concert. I’d also like to see more visits by alumni and programs where students can learn from artists—these should be open to everyone.

27. More coverage of dance in campus publications.

28. Boys—guys need to seriously step up the plate, dancing (no matter what kind) is fun, enjoyable, and not one of the cute girls in your dance classes/performances will laugh at you for being there with them—I promise.

29. More advertising for arts outside of Harvard.

30. A music performance major, or a joint program with a conservatory.

31. Our music facilities are shameful for a institution of our size and wealth!

33. As much as doing a million things is the best way to learn, the culture of overcommitment is not good. Too many people double book themselves and say yes to things they don’t have time for. If you commit to something, come to all the rehearsals and don’t flake out. It is better to say no up front than to be a flake.

34. A handbell choir.

35. The reason the quality of so many Harvard shows is so awful is that there are too many of them. Why does the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club assume Harvard students can’t act, but any Harvard student with a pen and an application can direct? ...It’s nice to tell touring prefrosh that Harvard produces 80 plays a year, but if we get away from this ugly number-trumpeting we can really revive Harvard theater.

36. A proper e-mail list or website so that different groups know when others are rehearsing, and we can avoid double-booking, as well as look for open rehearsal space.

37. Somewhere to store costumes and props, especially over the summer.

38. Adequate creative professional support in the performing arts, and adequate grant funding to allow artists to concentrate on creating good art, rather than spending excessive time working around limitations.

39. Harvard prides itself on having the best, the brightest, and the most talented. However, the most talented will be forced to go elsewhere if Harvard does not step up its support of the arts community in its actions and not simply its words and prove that the arts are important.

40. More creative writing opportunities, and less creative writing elitism.

41. More rehearsal spaces suitable for orchestras.

42. Good practice rooms available at allhours of the day.

43. A real concert hall.

44. I would like to see more collaboration among the different arts, esp.combining live music, dance, and theatre, and not just of the Ex-Rated revue variety.

45. More student-directed opera.

46. Greater availability of photo classes.

47. A Chinese brush painting class.

48. I’d like to know how many students have ever attended a student film screening, art exhibit, concert, dance show, play or literary reading on this campus. I have done all of those things, as have most of my friends. I fear we’re too insular. We are each other’s audience. But we don’t do art only for other artists, and at our best we don’t do it only for ourselves.

49. I wish students would treat the experience of putting up a play as a privilege and not a right.