Arts for black students at Harvard will soon receive new support, thanks to the Office of the Arts at Harvard and Radcliffe (OFA).

The OFA announced plans to employ an undergraduate student to study black artists and art groups on campus, and to possibly recommend a program of support for black artists.

One of the chief goals of the student research partner will be to survey the community of black artists on campus and see what kind of programs or organizations might best galvanize students and serve the community.

The OFA program is part of the Radcliffe Research Partnership Program, which funds the cost of the position. The program matches Harvard faculty and staff with undergraduate students for research and mentoring purposes. For the first time this year, with the merger of Radcliffe and Harvard, the research partnerships will be open to both male and female undergraduates.

"We will put the student to work with us as a full partner," said OFA director Myra A. Mayman.

Organizers said the OFA hopes to build on the recent successes of black arts programs with the new partnership.

The number of art programs designed especially for Harvard's black community has grown in recent years. The Black Arts Council, established in 1998, was created to make black artists on campus aware of the many artistic resources that the college provides. Also, Harvard's first annual Black Arts Festival was held in February 1998.

In creating the position, the OFA also wants to address perceived weaknesses within the campus black arts community.

"In some ways [the black arts community] is vibrant and in other ways it's lacking," said Adey K. Delbridge '00, president of the Kuumba Singers.