Performance of MIT professor Tod Machover's VALIS, a path-breaking opera directed by professor Jay Scheib and featuring Davóne Tines and Kristin Young. Credit: Maria Baranova.
Installation view of Arachnodrone at the MIT Museum. Credit: Sham Sthinkya/MIT.
Rendering of MIT Metropolitan Warehouse. Courtesy: Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
Hearing Amazonia performance in MIT Kresge Auditorium, November 2021. Image Credit: Danny Goldfield.
Installation view of Azra Aksamija's Memory Matrix, MIT Wiesner Building, 2016.
Rendering of new MIT Music Building. Courtesy: AboveSummit with Christopher Harting.
Installation view of Agnieszka Kurant's End of Signature. Courtesy of the List Visual Arts Center.

The Future of the Arts at MIT

The Future of the Arts Committee will advise the Institute on new ways to envision the place of the arts at MIT.

During the last forty years, MIT arts programs have expanded, driven by faculty and student interest, pioneering technologies, and fresh ideas in the art world. New campus facilities for the visual and performing arts, design, and the public display of MIT’s extraordinary arts and creativity have opened or will be completed in the near future. And, at the same time, a broader understanding of what constitutes the arts and who acts as an artist has evolved in recent years.

The committee will make a set of recommendations in response to a charge from Provost Cynthia Barnhart, which has been developed in consultation with Vice Provost for the Arts Philip S. Khoury; Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Agustín Rayo; and Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning Hashim Sarkis.

Contact us at futurearts@mit.edu

Committee Members

Peter Fisher (chair), Vice Provost and Associate Vice President for Research, Thomas A. Frank (1977) Professor of Physics

Azra Akšamija, Associate Professor and Director, Art, Culture and Technology program

Sandy Alexandre, Associate Professor of Literature

Paola Antonelli, Curator of Design, Museum of Modern Art

Marcel Botha ‘06 SM, Chair, Council for the Arts at MIT and Chief Executive Officer, 10xBeta

Martha Eddison, Special Assistant & Senior Communications Strategist, Office of the President

Paul Ha, Director, List Visual Arts Center

Caroline Jones, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, School of Architecture and Planning, Professor of the History of Art

Paul Joskow, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor Emeritus, Economics

Michael Kaiser ‘77 SM, Chair, DeVos Institute of Arts Management

Leila W. Kinney, Executive Director of Arts Initiatives and the Center for Art, Science & Technology

Keeril Makan, Associate Dean, School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Head, Music and Theater Arts, Michael Koerner (1949) Professor in Music Composition

Nicholas de Monchaux, Head and Professor, Department of Architecture

Nick Montfort, Professor of Digital Media, Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Suzy Nelson, Vice Chancellor, Dean for Student Life

John Ochsendorf, Class of 1942 Professor, Founding Director, Morningside Academy for Design

Daniela Rus, Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Director, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

Katharina Ribbeck, Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Biological Engineering

Jay Scheib, Class of 1949 Professor of Theater Arts

Susan Whitehead, Life Member, MIT Corporation, Founding Lifetime Trustee, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Isaac Tardy (staff to committee), Assistant to the Executive Director of Arts Initiatives