EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Leah Talatinian
Director of Communications
Dear colleagues, I am pleased to share the news that Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch will become the next executive director for the arts within my office, effective November 2, 2026. Kathryn joins the Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts … Continued
The Laya and Jerome B. Wiesner Student Art Awards are presented annually to up to four students (undergraduate or graduate), living groups, organizations or activities for outstanding achievement in and contributions to the arts at MIT. An endowment fund provides … Continued
The Louis Sudler Prize is presented annually to a graduating senior who has demonstrated excellence or the highest standards of proficiency in music, theater, painting, sculpture, design, architecture or film. An endowment fund provides a $2,500 award to the honoree. The … Continued
The Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts was established in 1996 through an endowment from Harold and Arlene Schnitzer of Portland, Oregon. Schnitzer, a real estate investor, graduated from MIT in 1944 with a degree in metallurgy. … Continued
When people think of the clarinet, they may conjure images of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Pete Fountain or Sabine Meyer. On Friday, May 11, 2018 however, audiences will be treated to the talents of MIT’s own Ini Oguntola, who will … Continued
On April 30, MIT’s yearlong suite of opportunities for student arts entrepreneurs culminated in the sixth annual Creative Arts Competition, a $15,000 prize for the most promising arts-focused startup at the Institute. Eight teams were selected as finalists (from 23 … Continued
Robotics and Jazz “In high school I was always flying to robotics tournaments and then to jazz festivals in the same day,” says Garrett Parrish, the 2017 recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. Over time, his engineering … Continued
The Schnitzer Prize was established in 1996 through an endowment from Harold and Arlene Schnitzer of Portland, Oregon. Harold Schnitzer, a real estate investor, graduated from MIT in 1944 with a degree in metallurgy. The prizes—a first prize of $5000, … Continued
There is common misconception that all MIT students prioritize psets over practicing piano, performing Shakespeare, drawing, painting, dancing or designing lighting cues. The 2017 recipients of the Wiesner Student Art Awards—Jacob Gunter, Nathan Gutierrez, Rachel Osmundsen and Hallie Voulgaris—counter this … Continued
On May 1, MIT’s yearlong suite of opportunities for student arts entrepreneurs culminated in the fifth annual Creative Arts Competition, a $15,000 prize for the most promising arts-focused startup at the Institute. Eight teams, comprised of undergraduate and graduate students … Continued
MIT Theater Arts professor Jay Schieb directs Bat Out of Hell, a new multimedia musical, which premiered at the Manchester Opera House in March 2017 and ran in Manchester through April 8, 2017. It moved on to the London Coliseum … Continued
Gwenneth Boelens: At Odds List Visual Arts Center, February 17, 2017 – April 16, 2017 Trained in photography, Gwenneth Boelens (b. 1980 in Soest, NL) is concerned with processes of perception, memory, and time; throughout her work she aims … Continued
It’s a hard slog in the studio, battling with materials, suppressing self-doubts, cultivating a vision, destroying false starts and ultimately creating something new. To emerging artists, seeing work outside the confines of their studios and in a gallery setting is … Continued
After cruel April’s deluge of exams and critiques, May brings showers of praise. Now is the jubilant time in the academic calendar when the Council for the Arts at MIT recognizes the achievements of the Institute’s student artists with the … Continued
MIT Museum Exhibition Highlights What Was New About the New Tech You have probably stared at a blank screen, a white canvas or an empty stage and felt some mixture of anxiety and exhilaration over the prospect of beginning a … Continued
CAST presents a variety of workshops, exhibitions and lectures this Spring, and we hope you will join us for some of these scintillating events! McDermott Awardee David Adjaye will visit campus for a series of discussions on “The Future of the Library,” “The … Continued
Ellen T. Harris, MIT Music and Theater Arts Class of 1949 Professor of Music Emeritus and President of the American Musicological Society, received The Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography in the concert music field for her book George Frideric Handel: A … Continued
Tod Machover, Muriel R. Cooper Professor at the MIT Media Lab, has been named 2016 Composer of the Year by Musical America, the prestigious classical music publication. Joining the ranks of such illustrious composers as John Luther Adams, Meredith Monk, William Bolcom, Osvaldo Golijov, Arvo Pärt, George Crumb, … Continued
Award includes $100K prize, artist residency, gala and four public programs at MIT Architect David Adjaye OBE receives the 2016 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT. The $100K prize awarded at a gala in his honor also includes an … Continued
The Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts is awarded annually to undergraduate and graduate students at MIT for excellence in a body of artistic work. The Schnitzer Prize was established in 1996 through an endowment from Harold … Continued
Combined grants provide 8 years of funding, among largest gifts received by the arts at MIT Cambridge, MA, April 22, 2015–The MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) has received $1,500,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in support … Continued
Amna Ansari ’12 and Marcus Martinez ’12, co-founders of Alloybuild, won an Honorable Mention/‘Best Unique City Infrastructure’ for their entry ‘Float House’ at reGEN Boston; they also presented their research ‘Shuffle City’ at the Architecture Boston Expo in November. Ann … Continued
MIT startup SoundSpark wins $10K Creative Arts Prize
The Council for the Arts at MIT is pleased to announce that Olafur Eliasson is the recipient of the 2014, 40th anniversary Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT. Renowned for the multi-faceted practice of his studio in Berlin, Eliasson creates ambitious public art projects, large-scale installations, architectural pavilions, major art exhibitions, spatial experiments, sensory experiences and a distinctive art and social business enterprise — Little Sun, a solar powered lamp that is “a work of art that works in life.” Eliasson’s creative practice above all reveals that art shapes life in a way that transforms reality.
