The arts are a fundamental component of MIT's core curriculum and community, reflecting and enhancing the Institute's creativity, innovation, and excellence while advancing the self-discovery, problem-solving, and collaborative skills needed by leaders meeting the challenges of the 21st century.
More than half of all MIT undergraduates enroll in arts courses each year—over a third of them in music classes—and many major or minor in arts-related subjects. MIT's arts faculty includes eminent artists such as Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison and writer Junot Díaz, as well as writer Alan Lightman, video and performance artist Joan Jonas, and conceptual artist Krzysztof Wodiczko.
Each year MIT's performing groups and outside artists present over 300 music, theater, and dance events. Productions range from chamber music to electronic "hyperinstruments", from Shakespearean plays to improv comedy, and from ballroom to modern dance. MIT's world music program features Boston's only Balinese gamelan, a Senegalese drumming ensemble, and an acclaimed South Asian performance series.
At MIT, students can now pursue a concentration in dance, also known as "Physical Imagination," where students are exposed to movement composition and theory, history and literature, and performance. Extracurricular dance activities at MIT are sponsored by the Folk Dance Club, Tech Squares, Ballroom Dancing Club, Dance Troupe, and various international student groups, providing regular opportunities for dancers at all levels of ability. Access their websites via http://web.mit.edu/arts/dance/.
MIT's Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies offers courses in fiction, nonfiction prose, poetry, science writing, and digital media, taught by award-winning faculty. The Writers Series, Poetry@MIT series, and the Artist-in-Residence Program frequently present readings and lectures by renowned writers. For more information, call 617-253-7894 or visit http://web.mit.edu/humanistic/www/. The Literature Section maintains a level of excellence and innovation as it remains responsive to MIT's distinctive intellectual environment. Its Pleasures in Poetry session, during IAP, meets each weekday, bringing together faculty, staff, students, and others from the community who share a love of poetry. It also sponsors readings by visiting authors which are open to the MIT community as well as the public. Literature, along with the MIT Libraries, sponsors the MIT Literary Society, an undergraduate reading group that focuses on literary discussion outside the classroom. Students may contribute their own writings to a variety of campus publications, as well as compete for annual writing prizes awarded in several categories. For more information, call 617-253-7894 or visit http://lit.mit.edu. Also see http://web.mit.edu/arts/literaryarts/.
An international leader in the development of innovative digital media and information technologies, MIT's Media Lab is a uniquely flexible organization where faculty members, research staff, and students from numerous, seemingly unrelated disciplines work together "atelier style," doing the things that conventional wisdom says can't or shouldn't be done. The goal is to develop technologies and concepts that foster creativity—empowering people of all ages, from all walks of life, in all societies, to design and invent new possibilities for themselves and the communities around them.
Researchers in the Media Lab, with backgrounds ranging from computer science to psychology, music to graphic design, and architecture to mechanical engineering, see a future where machines not only augment human capabilities, but also relate to people on more "human" terms—a future where our devices not only respond to commands, but also understand them. Research opportunities for students are available through the Program in Media Arts and Sciences, based in MIT's School of Architecture and Planning, and through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. For more information, visit http://www.media.mit.edu and http://web.mit.edu/arts/mediaarts/.
MIT's music faculty includes internationally acclaimed composers, performers, and musicologists. Students can take private lessons with financial support from the Emerson scholarship program; music subjects in theory, composition, history, jazz and world music; or participate (for credit or not) in faculty-led performance ensembles. These include the MIT Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Festival Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Music Society, Concert Choir, Chamber Chorus, Balinese Gamelan Galak-Tika, and Rambax MIT (a Senegalese drumming ensemble). In addition to ensemble performances and student recitals, concerts are also presented as part of the MIT Faculty, Affiliated Artists, Guest Artists, MITHAS, and Thursday Noon Chapel series. Artists of national and international stature frequently come to perform at MIT and to interact with students in and out of the classroom. For more information call 617-253-3210, or email mta-request@mit.edu. In addition to the performance opportunities offered by the music program within the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, there are many student-directed ensembles and a capella groups that perform on campus as well. Visit http://web.mit.edu/arts/music/.
MIT's programs in Theater Arts afford opportunities for serious study and training in acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, stagecraft, and design. Classes are small, and students work directly with renowned faculty and guest artists, or initiate independent student workshop productions. A wide variety of theatrical performances are presented by MIT Dramashop and Dance Theater Ensemble, the co-curricular student-producing group of MIT Theater Arts. These productions, directed by professionals in their fields, often offer interested students opportunities to further develop their work in professional settings. Extracurricular student organizations such as Shakespeare Ensemble, Musical Theatre Guild, Gilbert & Sullivan Players, and the improv group Roadkill Buffet offer additional performance and production experience.
An annual Theater Arts Open House on Registration Day in early September allows students to meet the people who produce theater events and to learn more about opportunities to get involved in various productions. For more information, call 617-253-2877, or visit http://web.mit.edu/arts/theater/.
From large-scale public art to film and photography, the visual arts are celebrated in innovative ways at MIT. Excellent opportunities exist for members of the MIT community to view and create art in a variety of media (see List Visual Arts Center, MIT Museum, and Student Art Association below). MIT students can take classes in traditional fine arts at Harvard, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Wellesley College through the Cross-Registration Program (see http://web.mit.edu/arts/learn/visualoffcampus.html). Opportunities for on-campus coursework in the visual arts can be found by consulting the Visual Arts Program of the Department of Architecture, the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and the Comparative Media Studies Program, or by visiting http://web.mit.edu/arts/visualarts/.
A flourishing Artist-in-Residence Program complements the curriculum, allowing students to engage with distinguished visiting artists, including novelist Margaret Atwood, poet and novelist Chris Abani, composer Tan Dun, cartoonist Art Spiegelman, video artist Bill Viola, visual artist Zanele Muholi, action architect Elizabeth Streb, filmmaker Michel Gondry, graffiti artists Tats Cru, and architect/engineer/artist Santiago Calatrava.
Arts Initiatives works with the associate provost, Philip Khoury, on strategic planning, communications, development, and cross-school coordination in the arts.
Just as MIT pushes the frontiers of scientific and intellectual inquiry, the mission of the List Visual Arts Center is to explore contemporary art in all media. Each year, the center presents a challenging exhibition program that looks beyond art's traditional aesthetic functions to examine the cultural, social, political, scientific, or economic contexts that inform the work. Exhibitions are presented in three galleries on the first floor of the I. M. Pei–designed Wiesner Building (Building E15), the Media Test Wall in the Whitaker Building (Building 56), and the Dean's Gallery in the Sloan School (Building E52). All are free and open to the public. Nationally distributed catalogs, gallery talks, symposia, and films accompany the exhibitions.
The List Center also manages MIT's permanent collection of artworks, including a student loan art program that enables students to borrow original works of arts, such as prints and photographs, for up to a year, and a sizable collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, and photos sited throughout the MIT campus.
For more information about the List Center's exhibitions and programs, call 617-253-4680, or visit http://listart.mit.edu/.
The MIT Museum's broad range of exhibitions and programs for children and adults provides unique public access to what the Institute has always done best: the application of innovative research to the solution of real-world problems. On a yearly basis, over 100,000 people visit the museum and its galleries.
The Innovation Gallery features interactive displays from a variety of research labs at MIT and a popular program space which complements exhibitions on the history of MIT, artificial intelligence, holography and spatial imaging, and the kinetic sculptures of Arthur Ganson.
In addition to the main collection at 265 Massachusetts Avenue, the MIT Museum oversees the Hart Nautical Gallery in Building 5 and the Compton Gallery in Building 10. Visit http://web.mit.edu/museum/ for an in-depth look at the museum's collections, exhibitions, public programs, and services to the community.
The Office of the Arts oversees, coordinates, supports, and facilitates arts activities under the direction of the associate provost. The office's branches include the Council for the Arts and Student and Artist-in-Residence Programs. For general information on arts programs and activities at MIT, call the office at 617-253-4003, or stop by Room E15-205. Also be sure to visit Arts at MIT at http://web.mit.edu/arts/ and see the arts calendar at http://artscal.mit.edu/.
The council is a volunteer group of alumni and friends established in 1972 by MIT president Jerome B. Wiesner to support the visual, literary, and performing arts. Appointed by the president of MIT to three-year terms, council members are major donors to the arts at MIT and serve as advisers to the associate provost. The Council for the Arts recognizes distinguished artists from all disciplines with one of the most lucrative prizes in the arts, the McDermott Award. In addition, the council, since its inception, has awarded over 2,300 individual grants and administers annual student prizes in the arts, including the Sudler Prize, the Laya and Jerome B. Wiesner Student Art Awards, and the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts. See http://web.mit.edu/arts/about/office/council/index.html. Council programs directly benefit MIT students by providing free tickets to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Chamber Music Society, the Radius Ensemble, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, as well as free admission to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Photographic Resource Center, the Harvard Art Museum, and a number of performances and concerts throughout the year.
The Council for the Arts' Grants Program encourages the dreams and talents of the MIT community, providing the opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to apply for funding for arts projects in all disciplines. Grants range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. For more information, visit http://web.mit.edu/arts/do/funding/grantguide.html.
There are many programs helping students find community in the arts. Freshman seminars led by MIT faculty and staff encourage participants to discover the arts resources at MIT and in the Boston area and share their art experience with one another through an Arts Share and hands-on workshops. The Arts Scholars Program enables students who are active in the arts to meet and converse at dinners and excursions and opens opportunities for them to collaborate in workshops or on independent projects. The Art Rep Program is a network of students in each dorm, living group, and graduate department linking students to arts events at MIT through weekly communications. The Grad Arts Forum encourages interdisciplinary communication among graduate students in the arts through a series of forums centered on themes connecting their artwork. Promoting the Arts Through Design, a seminar, provides students with a hands-on opportunity to learn design through the completion of a project for a local nonprofit community arts organization client. Student Programs also administers the annual mural competition for currently enrolled MIT students. For more information, visit http://web.mit.edu/spair/.
The Student Art Association offers noncredit classes and facilities for many visual arts activities including ceramics, photography, painting, and drawing. For more information, call 617-253-7019, or visit http://saa.mit.edu/.