Kelli Rae Patton '94 has hand written her thesis hundreds of times.

A native of Tennessee, Patton wrote a 40-page book of poetry trying to capture the rhythms and cadences of Southern Speech.

Again and again, she painstakingly hand-wrote each poem because, she says, "I'd write a line and then I'd add to it and change it and then I'll have to rewrite it all over again."

Patton says this opportunity has allowed her to further her career interest in poetry. Next Year, she will enter a master's degree program in creative writing, and she hopes to make writing a permanent part of her life.

Harvard attracts many students like Patton who are interested in pursuing the arts--Whether in creative writing musical performance, drama or the visual arts--at Harvard and beyond.

But many students in these fields question whether Harvard is truly dedicated to fostering artistic achievement. Unlike Patton, many say they can't find the classes or encouragement they want.

Harvard officials point out that the University never promised future artists a conservatory.

"The stated purpose of the VES (Visual and Environmental Sciences) Department never said we wanted to take budding artists and make them competitive in the art world," says Alfred F. Guzzetti, who chairs the Visual and Environmental Sciences (VES) department.

But some students say that Harvard--which brags of its top-notch undergraduate musicians, artists and actors in admissions materials--could do more for them without violating its status as a liberal arts college.

"If I had known I would be so interested in painting, I probably would have gone to Brown or Yale," says Susie Reiss '95 a VES concentrator "I don't think artists are valued at Harvard in general."

Low Priority

One complaint Reiss and others offer about Harvard's arts curriculum is that, even where a department has classes in the arts, they are rarely the highest priority.

In the music department for instance the stress is on composition and theory not performance.

"Performance has never been the music department's main mission or even secondary mission," says Carl Voss '94 "I think the administration would agree."

Departmental literature states that the concentration "emphasizes the acquisition of a solid foundation in the theory analysis, history and literature of music....The program, while not primarily directed to performers, is of value in deepening the performers's understanding of the music to be played."