Arts Administrator Finds His Voice

When Thomas S. Lee was in middle school, he never thought he’d make a living introducing students to world-renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma ’76, Mandy Patinkin and Whoopi Goldberg—in fact, he says he was too insecure to even imagine himself involved in the arts.

Once quiet because of a childhood speech impediment, Lee is now vocal about his love for the arts. He spends his days bringing celebrities to Harvard, fighting AIDS with art and pushing policymakers to consider arts in decision-making.

The ever-smiling and enthusiastic Lee, who directs the Office for the Arts (OFA) Learning From Performers program, was himself an actor before he turned to arts administration.

But in seventh grade, he says he’d never even considered theater, although his aunt took him to plays often in their hometown of Philadelphia.

“I had a dehabilitating stutter,” Lee says. “It was really difficult for me to express myself.”

But his teacher convinced him to try out for Oliver, so Lee mustered up his courage to audition. It was a an experience that transformed him into more than just the “artful dodger.”

“When I got on stage and acted a role, I didn’t stutter,” Lee says. “The arts saved my life. Theater brought me out of my shell and made me more confident.”

Lee points out that many other artists—James Earl Jones, Richard Burton and Carly Simon—have undergone similar transformations.

Although he devoted himself to theater throughout high school and at Pennsylvania State University, Lee says he lacked the “stuff” a professional artist needed: “There was a struggle for me in finding a career…whether I would be an artist or an arts administrator.”

“Ultimately, I didn’t have the ‘stuff,’ the drive to pursue a career as an artist...[I didn’t have] that fire in my belly,” he adds, wiggling his fingers to illustrate those flames.

So Lee decided to become a behind-the-scenes motivator.

“I can be a person…who gets things done,” he says. “A person who makes things happen by introducing people.”

After graduating college with a degree in English and working in public relations for two years, in 1985 Lee became a journalist at Boston’s South End News, where he edited, reviewed films and wrote about arts and lifestyle.

“I came from a newspaper family. There was ink in my blood,” Lee says. But he decided that journalism made him feel “a little too much on the outside looking in.”

“I wanted to be a part of the art-making process,” he says.

About a decade ago, Lee joined the Cambridge-based New England Foundation for the Arts as development and communications coordinator. The organization’s mission was to create programming that “furthered the arts” in the region, he says.

“[I worked on] ways to connect artists to underserved communities,” he says. “I had a big immersion in arts administration…I was fundraising and doing PR and providing grants for artists. I wanted to get in even further.”

So Lee interviewed for manager of the Learning From Performers program at Harvard, which brings in guest artists for lectures, seminars and master classes with students.

“I hadn’t set foot in an academic environment since college,” Lee says.

But when he was offered the job, he says he thought the position would let him influence and inspire a world of students by exposing them to the work of famous artists.

“My belief [is that] artists have the power to transform our lives, to galvanize communities [and] to help us reach an understanding of ourselves and our relationship with the world and each other,” he says.

Lee signs all his e-mails with a quotation from Gina “Sha-Sha” Ang ’97 that reflects this conviction.

“‘There cannot be true intellectual development without the development of the a sense of self; and this, among other important and practical things, is what art that is well-taught and well performed can unveil,’” his e-mail signature reads.

To this end, Lee has brought in many artists—including Marisa Tomei, Mel Gibson, Bonnie Raitt, Jack Lemmon and the Blue Man Group—to perform and collaborate with Harvard students. Since July 1994, the program has sponsored 175 events featuring about 300 artists.

He says there’s no standard protocol for asking artists to come to Harvard. Instead, Lee listens to feedback from students, faculty and alumni, combining their thoughts with his own interests to decide which artists to invite.

When artists accept, Lee arranges the details of their visit. Each Learning From Performers program is individually tailored, and the artist chooses his or her interactions with students in classes and other activities.

Lee says he loves when artists sit down and eat an informal meal with students and other community members.

“I love the lunches. Despite disparate backgrounds, [all attendees] have a common interest in the artist,” Lee says. “Breaking bread with people is a great way to facilitate interaction and conversation.”

Lee loves to tell personal anecdotes about famous artists—he knows so many that he exclaims, “Oh, my memory!” when trying to remember the most intriguing ones.

He recalls a time a few years ago when theater director Diane Paulus wanted to create an ambitious theater piece with a group of student actors, singers, dancers, composers and designers, but gave him little specific details about her plan.

“She told me she wanted to work with students to put up a piece in the Loeb [Experimental Theater],” Lee says. “I took a leap of faith.”

Paulus chose students through Common Casting and then Lee says she put together “the most amazing hip-hop opera…it was a magical environment.”

From collaborative books to public art projects to an original dance piece performed by a professional dance company, Lee says the projects that artsist and students create together are masterpieces—but he admits that he is concerned students don’t have enough time or energy to devote to them.

“I’m convinced at times this is oversaturation. What difference does it make if we bring them?” he says.

But Lee says the end result is still meaningful—for the artists as well.

“They say what a wonderful experience it is to learn about themselves and young people,” Lee says.

In addition to Learning From Performers, Lee has also contributed to other arts intiatives on campus. After working with artists and art professionals to raise awareness about AIDS in a project called Visual AIDS New England, Lee and OFA colleague Cathleen McCormick started the Harvard University Arts Committee on AIDS.

“It’s a cross-departmental group of administrators whose primary aim is to generate student, faculty and staff involvement in artistic projects addressing HIV infection and the AIDS pandemic,” Lee writes in an e-mail.

A founding member of the Committee on Arts Policy, Lee also works with other administrators to arrange panels and invite artsists to the Institute of Politics to make Harvard serve as a “catalyst in addressing the national need for a stronger relationship along policy makers, arts funders and civic leaders,” he says.

Lee has also focused attention on bringing cohesion to the black arts community. Two years ago, according to Lee, Philipp Goff ’99 founded the Black Arts Council out of fears that the black arts community was “splintered and divisive.”

In response, the OFA tried to help increase communication among ethnic-identified groups at Harvard and support their efforts.

A typical day for Lee involves answering “too much” e-mail, coordinating the schedules of visiting artists, and performing many tasks at the OFA, such as editing and producing the quarterly newsletter, Arts Spectrum.

Beyond the arts, Lee says with a grin that his other passion is food—and in an ideal world he could combine those two interests in a comprehensive project.

“I’d like to someday run a center where people can have fabulous meals and people can entertain and show off their creativity,” he says.

Other projects Lee would like to undertake include a play based on his childhood experiences.

“At one point, I’d like to write a play about someone who stuttered…but it would take six hours [to act out],” Lee says.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.