Arts Program To Get Going In Fall Term

A full program of activities at the newly completed Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts will get underway next Fall, Dean Ford revealed Wednesday.

The program will include courses in architectural sciences and related fields, student workshops in the creative arts, and lectures and exhibitions by visiting artists. This Spring the Center is being used for several architectural science courses, and for Soc. Sci. 139.

Ford, who is acting chairman of the faculty committee to administer the VAC, said that the Center might serve as the basis for offering courses in the creative arts, something which Harvard has so far refused to do.

He admitted that such courses would be a break with tradition, but stated that "Le Corbusier's building is a monument to the end of tradition." The Carpenter Center is the first building in the U.S. designed by the French architect.

Ford suggested that ultimately the College's program in the creative arts might consist of "a fairly high level of give and take between House arts programs and the Center."

The VAC's design and location were defended by President Pusey. He conceded that people had criticized the Center's location on the grounds that it did not show off to best advantage the building's dramatic planes, and because the Center clashes with the architectural styles of the adjoining buildings. However Pusey said that the location was chosen because of its proximity to the Fogg Art Museum and the Graduate School of Design. He said that Le Corbusier had personally inspected and approved the site.

Forty-five members of the University community and the art world sent a latter to Pusey last week congratulating the Corporation on the new Center, and defending it against criticisms of its design.