Frosh Opportunities

This semester, freshmen who signed up for a music theory seminar have been dancing to tunes from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” In another freshman seminar, a normally discussion-based course found itself wrist-deep in calligrapher’s ink. In a contemporary Muslim literature seminar,  Garage Band, Apple’s do-it-yourself recording studio software, was used to overcome Islamophobia. Regardless of previous experience in the arts, students and professors alike in the Freshman Seminar Program are taking advantage of new funding to experiment with non-traditional arts-making in the classroom.

Increased support for the arts began last year with funds provided by President Drew G. Faust. A donation from Louis G. Elson ’85 for $100,000 a year for the next five years has and will continue to support this initiative.

“It is not just freshman seminars that have been targeted by this funding,” says Sandra A. Naddaff ’75, Director of the Freshman Seminar Program, regarding the Elson Family Arts Initiative. “But this type of class was certainly seen as a place where the kind of teaching and learning that investigation of the arts supports could happen in a productive way.”

The initiative covers costs for excursions and guest artists for Freshman Seminars, where the small class size provides a prime venue for facilitating arts appreciation. Emily Gallardo, a freelance graphic designer in Boston who runs a hand-made greeting card business, recently visited History and Literature Lecturer Phoebe F. Putnam’s “Painting with Words” seminar. Gallardo gave a demonstration of her trade and passed out calligraphy pens and ink samples so that each student could practice calligraphic techniques. Lily R. Glimcher ’14, a student in the seminar, says, “You hope for these kinds of chances in college. To work with a professional in the arts is exciting.”

With the Elson Family Arts Initiative, Carol J. Oja, Professor of Music, brought a guest instructor to her seminar on Leonard Bernstein for the past two years. This instructor facilitates one class where students can discuss the musical theory of “West Side Story,” and then get up and dance to its compositions.

“With this initiative, I sat back and thought, ‘What could I do that I never imagined as possible before?’ I am a music historian, I don’t dance, but in the context of this class, understanding the body and the physical sensation of moving to Bernstein’s music is crucial,” Oja says.

“Dancing is a revealing lens. It has not been a fluffy add-on. It has turned out to be deeply fundamental to the class in ways I hadn’t anticipated,” Oja continues, expressing the opinion that the initiative is a progressive step for the university to take in times of fiscal constraint.

Naddaff believes that seminars supported by the initiative have demonstrated how artistic endeavors can be naturally integrated into any classroom. “This funding, for which we are very grateful, serves to foreground the possibility of this kind of innovative pedagogy and learning throughout the program,” she says. “It is not just limited to the ones deemed arts-centric.”

Professors of traditionally non-artistic courses recognize the multifaceted power of the arts. Daniel L. Shapiro, Associate Director of the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School, aims to bring arts-making into his seminar, “Negotiation and Conflict Management: Dealing with Emotions and Identity.”

Shapiro says, “I am more and more struck by the power of art. It allows us to create symbols or images that stick in people’s heads for longer than when conveyed in the jargon of academia.”

Allowing student agency during the artistic process has been a key element in an ongoing project in Shapiro’s class. The professor arranged for Romero Britto, a renowned Brazilian-born neo-pop artist, to visit his seminar and help the class produce a series of painted canvasses that illustrate points of study in the course. Britto’s work has been featured in the Louvre Museum. However, he is also known for running a coexistence workshop that brought together Israeli and Palestinian girls. Britto was inspired by the idea that cooperative art-making could represent a step towards conflict resolution and mutual understanding.

Apart from initiating contact with Britto, Shapiro is letting his students do the planning for the artist’s visit. Eric M. Hendey ’14, a student in the seminar, says, “It is refreshing to be able to choose on our own how we will approach the experience.”

According to Shapiro, Britto’s office supported the students’ proposal, and the artist himself expressed excitement at the prospect of working with such an intimate group. Harleen K. Gambhir ’14 is looking forward not only to mixing paints, but also synthesizing viewpoints during the visit. “People in our class are coming from a lot of perspectives, and art will be a way to merge those perspectives,” she says.

History professor Ali S. Asani ’77 also attests to the new dimensions that arts can bring to academic discussion. He says, “I combat fear and prejudice with arts education. I just find that the arts are such a powerful tool to humanize cultures that are dehumanized in the media and politics.”

Asani’s seminar, “Muslim Voices in Contemporary World Literature,” requires that students create a portfolio of artistic responses to particular topics covered in discussions of literature. Students can use any artistic medium they choose, and the Elson Family Arts Initiative foots the bill for the materials.

One of Asani’s students, Cote K. Laramie ’14, recorded an original musical piece in Garage Band after reading about the importance of sound in Islamic religious practices. Laramie says, “I would rather record a song than write a very formulated response paper. These projects allow us to work for ourselves, which I believe is the essence of this seminar.”

Asani, a member of the Harvard community for over thirty years, says, “This initiative was a breath of fresh air. There is a prejudice against the arts. The arts are seen as marginal or recreational or extracurricular. At times when you think you have to defend your curriculum from those who marginalize the arts, the fact that Harvard endorses an arts curriculum makes a difference.”