"It's apparent that making a living as a painter or a sculptor or an independent filmmaker is a very difficult choice," says VES Visiting Professor Ross McElwee. "How do you advise that?"

Sometimes artistic hopefuls are guided toward graduate programs, he says.

"In film, we'll tell them that certain schools are good or else they try to get a job, " McElwee says. "But how do you become a filmmaker? You can't guide them. Its not like medical school or law school. There is no prescribed course for success."

Harvard's Job?

But some students and professors alike ask if it really Harvard 's job to guide students in the arts. Students who enroll at a liberal arts school like Harvard should not expect top-notch and strictly focused performing and studio art programs, they say.

Nothing at Harvard is professional," says David B. Blumenthal '94 who has taken many elective courses in VES. "The way Harvard treats the visual arts is as a liberal art. It's just not as rigorous as an art school."

The answer says music concentrator Eng, is for those interested in professional careers to find their training in graduate school."

"The goal [at Harvard] was not to produce professionals," Blumenthal says. "That's what grad school is for."

Some students also suggest that Harvard's lack of emphasis on the arts parallels an artist's struggle in the real world. Artists need tremendous self-motivation to succeed, and many think Harvard weeds out those who lack this quality.

"Mother Harvard doesn't coddle her young," Hertzman says. "If you want something you've got to go get it. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It trains Harvard students to be the best."

And for students not interested in professional careers, the relatively low level of arts instruction at Harvard can be a boon.

"I chose Harvard, in part, because it did not have a dramatic arts department," Rosenbaum says, "because otherwise I couldn't have excelled in drama unless I majored in it."

Not all faculty feel that high-quality artistic instruction conflicts with a liberal arts education. Guzzetti says VES is now planning to restructure its department to place a greater emphasis on studio arts.

"Next year we'll have more faculty and courses to offer," Guzzetti says. "We'll be able to more aggressively go after artists in high school who are considering art as a career."

But to those who do seek careers in the arts or who desire high-level instruction, the University as a whole does not seem to live up to its potential in teaching the arts.

"It is legitimate for students to want more, if Harvard calls itself a great university," Reiss says.