Annual Arts First Turns 10

The Crimson Dance Team grooved to music ranging from Frank Sinatra and Britney Spears in front of a packed Lowell Lecture Hall crowd last night, marking the end of the 10th annual Arts First festival at Harvard.

Over the weekend, Harvard played host to more than 200 music, theater, dance and visual arts exhibits designed to “celebrate students and faculty in the arts,” according to Arts First’s promotional website.

The festival, which is sponsored annually by the Harvard Board of Overseers, started Thursday and featured events that ranged widely in their target audiences.

“Wild Rumpus,” a collection of children’s stories performed through interpretive dance and music, was designed to entertain the crowd of toddlers it attracted in Dunster House, while the dance team’s performance was geared toward Harvard students.

Arts First also included both acts familiar and unfamiliar to Harvard undergraduates.

The Immediate Gratification Players, a well-known improvisational comedy group, performed Friday in Adams House, and the Din and Tonics sang a cappella at the Sackler Museum on Saturday.

Paul A. Kwak ’03 and Andrew Park ’01-’02 played a Rachmaninov piano duet Saturday afternoon before a crowd in Paine Hall.

“Andy and I have been wanting to do this suite for a long time and Arts First really made the space available to us,” Kwak said.

Students said they valued the opportunity to see the work of talented classmates.

“It’s great to get a chance to see things that don’t usually make it out [to the public],” said David J. Giovacchini ’05 during the dance team’s performance.

Arts First also called attention to a number of Harvard museum collections that often go unnoticed, including one exhibit titled “Dodos, Trilobites, and Meteorites: Treasures of Nature and Science at Harvard.”

This exhibit featured the world’s largest Goliath frog, a nine-foot-tall boa constrictor skeleton and other natural art that usually remains filed and preserved in the collections of the Museum of Natural History.

The most visible components of Arts First were the outdoor events, including dramatic performances, outdoor concerts and sculptures, all centered in and around Harvard Yard.

These events benefited from the weekend’s sunny weather.

“It was beautiful out,” said Graham L. Beatty ’05. “It was great to experience all the different art and music, even when we hadn’t really planned on during the dance team’s performance.

Arts First also called attention to a number of Harvard museum collections that often go unnoticed, including one exhibit titled “Dodos, Trilobites, and Meteorites: Treasures of Nature and Science at Harvard.”

This exhibit featured the world’s largest Goliath frog, a nine-foot-tall boa constrictor skeleton and other natural art that usually remains filed and preserved in the collections of the Museum of Natural History.

The most visible components of Arts First were the outdoor events, including dramatic performances, outdoor concerts and sculptures, all centered in and around Harvard Yard.

These events benefited from the weekend’s sunny weather.

“It was beautiful out,” said Graham L. Beatty ’05. “It was great to experience all the different art and music, even when we hadn’t really planned on going.”

Arts First was first organized in 1992 with the help of Emmy Award-winning actor John A. Lithgow ’67.