Parade Kicks Off Arts First

The streets teemed with noise Saturday morning, as students, faculty and locals lined up to kick off a weekend celebrating the arts at Harvard.

Representing a diverse demographic of student artists, the parade kicked off not one, but roughly 100, student performances and screenings, all part of the 12th annual Arts First festivities—four days celebrating undergraduates’ creative and performing prowess.

Led by the Harvard University Marching Band—which set the pace with a rousing rendition of the Harvard Fight Song—dancers, jugglers and student performers wound their way down Mass. Ave. and through the Yard, finishing their lap before a make-shift stage set up in front of the John Harvard statue.

“We love Arts First! We love the band!” a group of garishly-dressed cross-dressers from the Hasty Pudding Theatricals chanted over the drumbeat and cheering spectators.

A group of Harvard deans and overseers, identifying themselves with banners, were all smiles as they marched close behind and gestured towards the Pudding’s hot pink banner that aptly read “Performance Today.”

Director of the Office for the Arts Jack C. Megan closed the parade, inviting the hundreds of spectators who had gathered around the John Harvard statue to “sit back and relax on the lawn chairs,” blocks of sod sculpted by a group of undergraduates.

“As you know, the arts are about expression and freeing oneself from the binds that tie us down,” Megan continued, as President of the Magic Society Anshul A. Shah ’04 and Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71, each tied up in 100 feet of rope, climbed the stage behind him.

Gross and Shah then raced to see who could first accomplish a Houdini-like escape from their restraints, to the amusement and laughter of the onlookers.

After Gross emerged victorious, Megan joked that the dean would now have to fund a new center dedicated to the arts.

A highlight of the Arts First weekend, Saturday’s performance fair offered nearly four hours of student music, dance and other entertainments at 12 locations across campus, from the Fogg Museum courtyard to Memorial Church and the Phillips Brooks House Parlor.

But before the performances could begin, Megan introduced University President Lawrence H. Summers, who climbed the stage in his purple Arts First t-shirt.

“This is a wonderful tribute to the tremendous energy that arts generates on campus,” Summers said. “We celebrate this energy this weekend, but it is a feature of every weekend, and every day here at Harvard.”

After a brief thanks to the performers and audience, Summers called for the parade to resume and march “to lunch.”

The trumpets and tubas of the University Band struck up, and the parade was off again- on its way to the signature kick-off lunch under the yellow-and-white striped tent on the Science Center lawn.

—Staff writer Kimberly A. Kicenuik can be reached at kicenuik@fas.harvard.edu.