Arts Scholars

Established in 1998, the MIT Arts Scholars Program brings together students who are passionate about exploring the diverse array of arts available at MIT and in the Boston area, and interacting with fellow students, faculty artists, and other experts in the art world.  The program is structured around monthly excursions or workshops, with an expert in the relevant field of art in attendance.

Mission

To foster an active community of MIT students with an exceptional interest in the arts.  The community’s resultant role is that of an arts leadership group, cultivated through events and mentorship.

Apply to Become an Arts Scholar

Open to MIT freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors and masters students. The application deadline is October 1st and February 1st

1. Designate a nominating faculty or staff (preferably in the Arts)
2. Application process:
   • Fill out an application form.
   • Include a recommendation letter from nominating professor or staff, emailed pdf or word doc
     is preferred, send to sammagee@mit.edu
3. Interview with faculty / staff / and current Arts Scholar at panel meeting after application deadline.
4. Panel consists of Coordinator of Student Art Programs, current Art Scholars, MIT faculty and staff,
   and members of the Council for the Arts at MIT.

Benefits

• MIT sponsored excursions to local shows, exhibits, and lectures
• Self governed seed money for member art projects (1k)
• Priority admission to Graduate Arts forums
• Discounted classes at the SAA
• Mentorship from Grad Art Scholars (future plan)
• Funds for tickets to exhibitions for off-site student research
• 1 guest pass for a current scholar to host an Art Scholar candidate to an exhibition or event
• A lasting arts community that acts as a touchstone for MIT graduates

Mentorship

Arts Scholar membership provides the opportunity for mentoring from pre-professional and professional artists. With the assistance of the Coordinator, an Arts Scholars member can request a meeting with an artist in their field of interest. Meetings are arranged with an accompanying visit to either the studio or exhibit in the chosen field. Mentorship opportunities help Arts Scholar members gain a better understanding of the field through discussions and experiences with working artists and experts.

Calendar 2012-2013

• September 4th, Tuesday: Mandatory meeting, 5-7pm in Rothschild room
• September 8th: Peabody Essex Museum
• September 21st: World of Wires at the ICA
• October: Globe Theater performs Hamlet, Emerson Theater
• November: Abraham in Motion at the ICA, November 16
• January 24:Mixer with Brandeis SCRAM at the List
• January 30: Arts Scholars annual Art Share
  
• February 16 and 17, a weekend in the city: MOMA, BAM Powder Her Face and MET Carmen
• March 3: ICA show
• April: “Contemporary Art” lecture by Al Miner, Contemporary Art Curator MFA
  
• May: Dinner with MIT Visiting Artist Julia O
  
• June: Graduation!
• August: Annual trip to the Peabody Essex Museum

Calendar 2011-2012

• August 25th: Ferry to the Peabody Essex Museum
• September 27th: Q&A with artist Trevor Paglen
• October 18th: YoYo Ma performs Davorak’s Cello Concerto and Bartok’s The Wooden Prince at the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• October 26th: Arts Scholars and Council for the Arts at MIT dinner at Za’s 
• December: The Nutcracker, Boston Ballet
• January 31: Second Mandatory meeting
• February 6th, 4pm: A discussion on Opera by Professor Lowell  Lindgren
• February 10th,11th,12th: Wagner’s Gotterdammerung and Rossini’s Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City
• April 5th: Arts Scholars Art Share
• April 26th: Alvin Ailey,  Q and A with 2 company dancers
• May: Remembering HM, Central Square Theater
  

Current and past Arts Scholars Look-book

Lizzie George ‘G	I am double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Music and my favorite color is pink. At various times, I have been involved in MIT’s Symphony Orchestra, Muses, Musical Theater Guild, Concert Choir, Chamber Music Society, Chamber Chorus and Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and when not in rehearsals I enjoy listening (and singing along) to music by artists from Palestrina to Rihanna, reading and speaking French, baking, writing music, knitting and crocheting, watching Disney movies and giving tours of MIT!
Ashley Brown ‘G	I am an undergraduate studying Mechanical Engineering. I love reading novels and French and reading novels in French. I grew up in a beautiful part of Southeastern Pennsylvania, where I developed a appreciation for nature and exploring the outdoors. At MIT, I am involved with ultimate Frisbee, French House, Bible study, TAing physics, and UROPing. In my free time I like to ice skate, go to the movies, play bananagrams, and build go-karts.
Bruno Tambasco ’14	I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and moved to the United States in 2003. I am an undergraduate at MIT majoring in Management Sciences (MIT Sloan) and Comparative Media Studies. In high school, I developed a passion for film that has stayed with me over the years. My Comparative Media Studies curriculum is focused on film and I hope to one day work in the entertainment industry. I really want to find a way to incorporate my love for film into my everyday life. I am also involved with MIT’s on-campus movie theater (Lecture Series Committee) where I help out with staffing for events and planning the films throughout the semester.”
Linh Vuong ’13	I am Linh Vuong, currently a sophomore majoring in Biology. My love for Arts? Where to start! I am interested in many different kinds of Arts, for instance Architecture: I adore churches in Europe such as St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence or Berliner Dom in Berlin (A tiny secret: when I visited Berliner Dom, I was literally transfixed by the breath-taking architecture combined with the light and pipe organ music… for about 15 minutes). I also love paintings by the Old Masters (One can easily imagine my excitement about visiting museums when I was in Europe). Currently, I am somewhat obsessed with ballroom dance. My favorite dances are rumba, samba and tango, which are so full of energy and passion! I also have a penchant for learning languages ( English, Vietnamese, Chinese, German and French) as well as traveling (14 countries and counting!)Linh is studying abroad for the 2011-12 academic year.
Sarah Bindman ’14	“I love art!! I am interested in how art can be a form of self-reflection and expression. I think art provides an important forum for exploring ideas that are hard to verbalize.My primary interests are in metal fabrication and mixed media. However, I have also explored photography, dance, glass and architectural design. My artist crush is Andrew Goldsworthy. I love his semi-permanent art and the way he manipulates nature. I am inspired by his patience and creativity.”
Amelia Carver ’13	One cosmonaut in search of the beautiful; recent forays into the aesthetic universe have proven fruitful. She wears magnifying glasses, focii falling upon music and international development, carefully, dragon-like, gathering the tools and treasures that will allow her to build sonic rocketships for curious adventurers who want to help sew a pocket big enough to fit the world in. Listen, do you hear with your eyes? Look, do you see with your ears? Gather your paints, your pencils, your cameras, your motion. Don’t forget that everything is an instrument and even silence is a special kind of harmony. Synaesthetes share and let’s cross wires together, because I think you’ll like the way your fingertips can tingle.
Bianca Dumitrascu ’13	I am currently a junior majoring in Mathematics and Procrastination. I need Mathematics to find a structure for the world I live in. I need Poetry for the same selfish reason. As far as I can remember my life has been governed by this 3D structured web: tennis, literature/philosophy and math. I have been playing tennis for as long as I can remember and was considering doing it for a living, until I realized that my Modus Vivendi lies somewhere on the boundary between art and science. I have grown up reading Mircea Eliade which helped me discover the amazing world of myth and ritual of the history of religion, and the power of folklore.
Evie Adams ’13	I am an undergraduate studying mechanical engineering with a concentration in biomedical engineering. I love filmmaking/drawing/making music/crocheting. A few of my favorite things: sunlight, old movies, stream-of-consciousness novels, salads, the blogosphere, ultimate frisbee, the Freshman Arts Program, and making lists.
Katy Gero ’14	Once upon a time I decided that I wanted to be a novelist, and when the adults around me told me that I might not make much money that way, I told them that I’d just be a rocket scientist on the side then. Mechanical engineering is kind of like rocket science, and of late I’m veering more towards poetry than novels. I also love taking photographs and sketching, and find it fascinating to sketch from my own photographs and watch the image morph. I’m also starting to dabble in kinetic sculptures, because it lends itself to mechanical and electrical engineering really well. Also, things that move are fun.
Paulina Mustafa ’13	I’m a junior in Mechanical Engineering, and a self-certified Professional Dreamer. I love to sketch and draw, primarily figures and portraits. I love to travel, and I’m fascinated by different forms of art in different cultures. I’m originally from Colombia, and I dance to every latin beat, from salsa to vallenato. My biggest passion is making things, and whatever I end up doing in my life will involve creating.
Ryan Keating ’13	Ryan is a Biological Engineering major in the class of 2013 who is also pursuing a minor in Chinese. He is a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and loves his home state of Maine. Outside of class, he enjoys experiencing arts events and exhibits at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the American Repertory Theater. In his free time, he likes to learn piano pieces by Chopin and hopes to get involved in photography classes next semester.
Kristen Railey ’13	Kristen is a junior in mechanical engineering pursuing product design at MIT. Although an engineer at heart, she loves drawing, sculpture, photography, fashion design, and painting. Kristen is also a member of the MIT crew team, cycling team, Sigma Kappa sorority, and the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program.
Noah Arbesfeld ’13	I’m a junior studying mathematics. While I enjoy observing and dabbling in all areas of art, much of my involvement in the arts has been through improvisation; at MIT, I perform improv comedy as a member of Roadkill Buffet, and I took jazz saxophone lessons throughout high school. I’m involved with French house at MIT, and enjoy learning about French art and culture. I also particularly enjoy reading poetry, watching theater and opera, and attending the BSO, among numerous other activities.
Xenia Antipova ’13	As a young girl, Xenia built Lego block kitchens, sewed outfits, and constructed furniture for her toys. Always curious and wanting to try new things, she went on to make jewelry, write stories, paint, act, play cello, and sculpt. She loves to travel and absorb various cultures, especially through dance: from watching impromptu flamenco in Parc Ciutatdella, Barcelona to learning samba with the natives in the dance halls of Rio de Janeiro. Santiago Calatrava’s work had long been her inspiration for phenomenal architecture, and Xenia used to want to follow in his footsteps until she found her true calling in product and industrial design, which she is pursuing at MIT through a degree in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on design and the arts!
Stephen Serene ‘G	I’m a senior majoring in physics and computer science. My academic interest lies somewhere in the intersection of biology, physics, and computation. I’m also a cellist and occasional singer who likes music written outside of the 19th century at least as much as music written during it. I like modern visual art that’s clever enough to make me laugh, and, as a distance runner and musician, I’m jealous of dancers, who get to do art and athletics at the same time.
Anna Ho ’14	In her earliest stages of cognitive development, Anna Ho was exposed at great length to music from My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, and all the Disney movies, which explains why all of the above are now hard-wired into her neuroarchitecture. Nearly two decades later, she is trying to perform similar feats of memory and learning here at MIT, where she is a sophomore majoring in physics. In an ideal world, she would become all of the following: astronomer, writer, teacher, neurologist, traveler, musician, education-and-healthcare-policy-reformer. Outside of class, Anna spends her time playing with little kids at the Massachusetts General Hospital and teaching people about space and brains – and blogging about this and more on the MIT admissions site. She plays the trumpet and the piano, loves to sing when no one is listening, and lives in London, England.
Yuliya Preger ’13	‘ello! I am a junior in chemical engineering who enjoys glass mosaicing, old book sniffing and devouring cheese (unofficial turophile). I’m readily fascinated by any installation which combines incongruous elements to create a unified whole (e.g. Arthur Ganson’s kinetic sculptures). Latest artist obsession = Ryan Woodward.
Sarah Don ’13 but sticking around:)	I’m an undergrad in the nuclear engineering department and I love to be creative! I grew up in Australia and arrived at MIT for college two years ago, but I’ve already lost my accent. I play piano and flute, compose tonal music and conduct the MIT Marching Band. I also like to paint in watercolor, build furniture, sew and cook. More recently I discovered my interest in nature by growing veggies in the summer, and keeping a couple of pet Mexican walking fish who recently had babies, so now I feel like I have a whole ecosystem in my dorm room! I believe that constructive fun and creativity is necessary to balance out the serious of my nuclear engineering studies.
Miriam Prosnitz ’15	Miriam Prosnitz is unsure of whether to write this bio in third person, hence it will be written in third person. Miriam originates from Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.  She is majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.  In her spare time, Miriam particularly enjoys making large messes (usually involving paint, tie-dye, or cookie dough).
Peter Godart ’15	Hello fellow arts enthusiasts (and/or people who accidentally stumbled upon this page)! I am a freshman in course 2 with a love for Thelonious Monk, fine dining, and videos of cats. I can be found playing jazz piano at odd hours in building 4 or playing the organ Sunday mornings at a church in Ashmont. In my copious free time, I play piano in the Festival Jazz Ensemble, take piano lessons at Berklee as an Emerson Scholar, compose music for several of the groups I am in, and listen to a near unhealthy amount of Earth Wind and Fire. I also do schoolwork once in a while.
Angelique Nehmzow ’14	Half-Japanese, half-German, I grew up in New York, London and Hong Kong, and have a deep love of travel and learning about different cultures. This encompasses a passion for the arts, and I enjoy admiring architecture, spending hours in art galleries, watching films, attending dance and musical performances, and reading novels and short stories. At MIT, I am a resident member of No. 6, a co-ed literary fraternity, and I write for the Arts section of The Tech. It gives me great pleasure to experience the arts, and to share my enthusiasm of them with others, by writing or engaging in heated discussions about them, and by attending or organizing different events with friends!
Grace Young ’14	Grace is majoring in Mechanical/Ocean Engineering. Growing up she was fascinated by all the machines in her family’s chocolate factory; so it’s not surprising that she now enjoys designing, building and driving robots. She also likes the water (MIT sailing team, certified master SCUBA diver), and is looking forward to building UAVs for oceanographic surveying this summer at Woods Hole. Last summer her job at CERN allowed her to indulge in another passion: travel, especially exploring European museums and historical architecture. She also loves the performing arts, especially dance and theater. Prior to MIT, she was a member of a pre-professional ballet conservatory and danced with both classical ballet and contemporary dance companies. Now, she and another Arts Scholar friend enjoy writing dance reviews for The Tech.
Jing Jian ’13	Jing Jian (JJ) was born in China and moved to Long Island, New York at age 13. She studies Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science. She obsesses over Marvin Minsky’s society of mind theory and Junot Diaz’s fiction. She plays the classical guitar, the cello, and the Chinese zither. She applies artificial intelligence ideas to literature, and daydreams about story writing during AI classes. She cannot choose between engineering human-like intelligence and writing fiction as her dream career, and secretly thinks they might be the same deal.
Dan Parker ’15	I’m interested in philosophy and political science. I’m a classical singer (baritone) and a classical and jazz pianist. I’m a glassblower, as of January 2012! I had an exchange year in Cairo, 2010-2011, that ended with the revolution. At MIT I’m very involved with my dorm, The Senior House. I’m a peer educator for sexual assault awareness for Violence Prevention and Response (VPR) and an arts writer for The Tech. I love food, calligraphy, pipe organs, cathedrals, song, climbing mountains in the winter, chocolate, languages, beautiful English words, beautiful combinations of English words, and something else new every week. I’m going to be a freelance writer someday, maybe.
Denis Bozic ’15	I am Denis Bozic, an avid Nutella fan from Bosnia and Herzegovina majoring in Biological Engineering. I have always been involved in various forms of art, from painting and competitive ballroom dancing to theater, film and music. I can’t play any instruments, but I am a huge music junkie – I love collecting music CDs and playing them while eating delicious food.  My greatest wish is to become good at rapping and get that acceptance letter from Hogwarts. Generally speaking, I think it’s very sad that Nutella and Coca-Cola don’t go together because the world would be a better place if they did.
Leslie Chan ’13	I’m an undergraduate studying chemical engineering with a minor in music. I love music, and have been involved on campus as an Emerson Scholar (piano), in MITSO (violin), and as a studio accompanist. I also love photography, spontaneous haiku-writing, and traveling as a means of exploring art in different cultures. My favorite local excursions include the SoWa Artists Guild, the BSO, and the MFA (though the Chicagoan inside of me will always be biased toward the CSO and the Art Institute). One of my lofty goals is to tour around Europe playing the organ in large churches.
Paelle M Powell ’15	When she is not building robots, Paelle enjoys re-purposing all kinds of materials into colorful collages, dolls and book covers. She started out as a 2D artist, but the canvas was never large enough. This being the case, she began to sculpt human figures and glue everything in her room together. Ironically, she has now confined herself to four panels in The Tech, where she draws the adventures of her cartoon-friends in We Do Calculus. Paelle hopes to share with others the challenges and joys of math and engineering through art, using various mediums to encourage others to explore their creativity when solving problems.
Timothy Yang ’15	Timothy Yang (Tim) is a software engineer building applications, friendships, and 7-foot-tall spark machines. Tim currently studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Undergraduate, 2015) for a B.S. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He is particularly interested in digital design, web design and user interface design. Tim draws “The Tim”, a weekly comic in “The Tech”, MIT’s school newspaper. Tim also enjoys playing piano, guitar, ukulele and violin.
Mitali Kini ’15	I am an undergraduate studying Biological Engineering and aspire to be doctor. I express myself through creative media including writing, music, and dance. I spend most of my time choreographing and dancing with my MIT Mocha Moves, MIT Ridonkulous, and MIT Dancetroupe families. You can find me dancing at any given time (just walking is not an option), or playing the guitar and singing. In my free time, I love writing poetry and short stories, or shooting hoops at the gym. I look for the perfect balance between artistic vision and academic pursuits– the heart of innovation.
Ruby Ma	“I would love to see the beauty at every corner of the world. My name is Ruby Maa and I love to travel. I am also currently a junior studying Biological – Chemical Engineering and in the process of minoring in “Arts, Culture and Technology”. I’m from Palo Alto, California and before living there I’ve lived in Taiwan, Shanghai, and the other side of California before. I grew up playing the piano and although I stopped playing around middle school, my love for listening to music died. I love to draw and sketch with my free time, especially in charcoal. The engineer in me loves to create things with my own hands, beautiful things that is.”
Jeffrey Sperling	Coming soon.
Sam Magee	Sam Magee was a long time art teacher and for the last few years, coordinated MIT’s Student Art Association. His love of art extends from visual arts to music, performance, sculpture and beyond. He feels it is his duty to help advocate for the arts at every turn and along the way, do his very best to involve students in arts experiences they may not have had a chance to participate in before. He can be reached at sammagee@mit.edu