“She told me she wanted to work with students to put up a piece in the Loeb [Experimental Theater],” Lee says. “I took a leap of faith.”

Paulus chose students through Common Casting and then Lee says she put together “the most amazing hip-hop opera…it was a magical environment.”

From collaborative books to public art projects to an original dance piece performed by a professional dance company, Lee says the projects that artsist and students create together are masterpieces—but he admits that he is concerned students don’t have enough time or energy to devote to them.

“I’m convinced at times this is oversaturation. What difference does it make if we bring them?” he says.

But Lee says the end result is still meaningful—for the artists as well.

“They say what a wonderful experience it is to learn about themselves and young people,” Lee says.

In addition to Learning From Performers, Lee has also contributed to other arts intiatives on campus. After working with artists and art professionals to raise awareness about AIDS in a project called Visual AIDS New England, Lee and OFA colleague Cathleen McCormick started the Harvard University Arts Committee on AIDS.

“It’s a cross-departmental group of administrators whose primary aim is to generate student, faculty and staff involvement in artistic projects addressing HIV infection and the AIDS pandemic,” Lee writes in an e-mail.

A founding member of the Committee on Arts Policy, Lee also works with other administrators to arrange panels and invite artsists to the Institute of Politics to make Harvard serve as a “catalyst in addressing the national need for a stronger relationship along policy makers, arts funders and civic leaders,” he says.

Lee has also focused attention on bringing cohesion to the black arts community. Two years ago, according to Lee, Philipp Goff ’99 founded the Black Arts Council out of fears that the black arts community was “splintered and divisive.”

In response, the OFA tried to help increase communication among ethnic-identified groups at Harvard and support their efforts.

A typical day for Lee involves answering “too much” e-mail, coordinating the schedules of visiting artists, and performing many tasks at the OFA, such as editing and producing the quarterly newsletter, Arts Spectrum.

Beyond the arts, Lee says with a grin that his other passion is food—and in an ideal world he could combine those two interests in a comprehensive project.

“I’d like to someday run a center where people can have fabulous meals and people can entertain and show off their creativity,” he says.

Other projects Lee would like to undertake include a play based on his childhood experiences.

“At one point, I’d like to write a play about someone who stuttered…but it would take six hours [to act out],” Lee says.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.