In five six-hour sessions, most of which will consist of studio work interspersed with lectures, Hays hopes to give students a sense of the ways in which architectural ideas fit into a liberal arts education. “It’s sort of our position that architecture is more than just designing buildings and objects. You can think through architecture about being in the world,” he says.

The three-week performance intensive, the second iteration of the A.R.T.’s January offerings to undergrads, has a more challenging task ahead. Balancing complete newcomers with seasoned hands is vital in ensuring the artistic development of all students.

Bianca F. Okafor ’13 is one such newcomer. “I just want to learn something new. I didn’t want to stay home for all of break because I would just get really bored. I don’t really see theater as a career for me,” she says. Her attitude stands in stark contrast to that of Hecht, who will use the upcoming J-Term for thesis work and auditions for theater companies in the area.

Lerman has spent some time thinking about this problem, especially since student artistic pursuit tends to happen more in the realm of extracurricular activities than through organized instruction at Harvard. “It’s true that Harvard has a lot of students who have a lot of artistic background, and they’re hungry,” she says. “The dancers that I met at Harvard on my last visit—I really got a feeling that they’re looking for an intense opportunity to really stretch themselves. It’s a challenge to figure out how to embrace them both.”

Despite these concerns, however, the vast majority of students involved in the intensives will probably already be artistically involved. Advertising for the intensives has not been widely disseminated, focusing primarily on students connected to the OFA via the email subscription list, classes related to the intensive offerings, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) email list. “We’ll just keep beating the drums as much as possible,” says Thomas Lee, Program Manager of “Learning From Performers” at the OFA and coordinator of the OFA’s intensive offerings, in speaking to the intention to advertise programs more broadly in the future.

BUILDING MOMENTUM

There is a pervasive feeling of excitement among the artists and administrators planning the intensives, as well as from students who hope to participate. “It is gratifying to see the quantity of applications received and we are pleased to be able to accommodate a majority of the students,” writes Lori E. Gross, Associate Provost for Arts and Culture, in an email. “It is wonderful to see such excitement and enthusiasm from the undergraduates to make art and learn from professional artists.”

If excitement is already high about the intensives, the growth and sustainability of these programs are serious issues to consider for the future. “We’re not trying to undertake massive new programs right now that can’t be funded,” says Megan. “Instead, we’re just making a beginning. By focusing on January and a narrow set of opportunities, it becomes more bite-sized and achievable, and we hope that it creates momentum.”

As it stands, planning and funding for the programs has been cobbled together in the collaboration between the Office of the Dean for Arts and Humanities, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, and the Office for the Arts. If the momentum that Megan hopes to achieve takes hold, a more streamlined and centralized administrative, funding, and planning organization for these intensives will most likely be necessary.

Questions will likely arise concerning student admission into the intensives as time goes on. Limited enrollment maximizes the benefit each student gains from the programs, but it comes with its own disadvantages. Newly interested students may have to compete for admission with previous participants hoping to continue their artistic development.

Continuity is another potential challenge that planners have already started to consider. There may be tension between offering tried and tested programs that students enjoy and new, riskier programs from different artists available to work on campus.

“Our thinking is that it will be expanded upon and we will be figuring out a kind of mix of things that have worked or will be working hopefully for this January,” says Lee. “We might repeat them but we might add some new ones for subsequent years. Some will draw more than others and we’ll just have to evaluate how that goes.”

DIVERSION TO DEDICATION

Subtly broadcasted messages can be lost in the shuffle of planning and implementing new programs. Harvard has built its reputation on academia; using J-Term to create intense artistic experiences in a time when the vast majority of the university is on vacation runs the risk of casting artistic practice as activity outside the non-academic sphere, whereas the Task Force specifically called to integrate the Arts into Harvard’s academic arena.

Okafor, Hecht, and Katherine M. Agard ’13, another applicant, admit to the fact that a large part of their decisions to apply for and participate in the intensives had to do with the monotony of being at home for too long. “I didn’t want to be at home for five weeks. I knew I would jump out of my skin with nothing to do,” says Hecht. “I was just kind of at home and was like, I need to do something,” adds Agard, in reference to her last J-Term.

Megan asserts that this is not in any way the intention of the intensives. “I haven’t thought of it in that way, because we are not de-emphasizing support for arts initiatives during the academic year. Indeed, we’re investing more,” he says. In particular, he says, the OFA is currently conducting an international search for a new dance director, and recently hired internationally regarded professionals to conduct the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and direct choral activities at Harvard. “I think it’s about taking advantage of a unique window of time to make something important happen,” he adds.

“GIVE IT TIME”

The January Arts Intensives can potentially revolutionize the ways in which art-making happens on campus by leveraging Harvard’s ability to draw the best and the brightest from all disciplines, including the arts. There is a buoyant sense of hope in the air, despite the long and winding road from pilot to full potential. “What I hope is that these will excite the student body, will energize them, will teach them new ways of thinking about art-making, and will infuse their creative work when the semester starts up and they undertake their own projects,” says Megan.

Those involved in the programs also caution against over-thinking so early in the process. The college has planted a fragile seed in offering these intensives, and now watching and waiting is the only way forward. “We just have to give it time, give it time to organically grow and develop. This is just a little tiny slice of what could be possible,” says Lerman.

­—Staff writer Araba A. Appiagyei-Dankah can be reached at aadankah@fas.harvard.edu.