Arts Leadership

Boston University Establishes Arts Leadership Circle Led by Dean Harvey Young

The new University-wide advisory group’s mission is to further elevate the profile of the arts at BU.

This announcement was first published on the BU Office of the Provost’s website on March 15, 2023.

From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer

I write to announce the establishment of a new University-wide advisory group whose charge is to further elevate the profile of the arts at Boston University.

Chaired by College of Fine Arts Dean Harvey Young, the Arts Leadership Circle will comprise senior University arts leaders and convene regularly to identify and develop strategies for promoting BU as a regional, national, and global leader in the live, performing, and visual arts. Leading internal conversations and enhancing our external communications about the arts at BU is central to the group’s charge. The Arts Leadership Circle serves in an advisory role to the University Provost. The circle’s membership is listed below.

The Arts Leadership Circle will build on a strong foundation of artistic engagement at Boston University that includes, among a wide range of offerings, the degree granting academic programs of our College of Fine Arts; the BU Arts Initiative; the Department of Film & Television in the College of Communication; the History of Art & Architecture, Playwriting, and Creative Writing programs in the College of Arts & Sciences; the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre; the Wheelock Family Theatre; the BU Tanglewood Institute; the BU Bands; the BU Art Galleries; and more than 50 student-led programs such as BU Bhangra, BU on Broadway, BU Treblemakers, as well as arts-centered study abroad sites in Los Angeles, London, and Venice.

It will also build on significant investments BU has made in the arts in recent years, including construction of the new Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre, revitalized spaces at both 855 and 808 Commonwealth Avenue, the development of new degree programs, and the recruitment of dynamic new arts leaders. In these areas and more, the arts figure prominently in BU’s future. As we work to create new exposure and impressions for students, faculty, and staff and to raise BU’s stature as a destination for artistic study and creation, our ability to enhance our internal communications and expand our reach outside the University will be increasingly important. The BU Arts Leadership Circle will figure centrally in this effort.

I thank Dean Young and the members of the BU Arts Leadership Circle for their willingness to serve and look forward to working with them to advance excellence in the arts at Boston University.

BU Arts Leadership Circle

Chair:
Harvey Young, Dean, College of Fine Arts

Members:
Jason Campbell-Foster, Associate Provost and Dean of Students ad interim

Mariette DiChristina, Dean, College of Communication

Ty Furman, Managing Director, BU Arts Initiative

Sandro Galea, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, School of Public Health

Victoria Sahani, Associate Provost for Community & Inclusion

Stan Sclaroff, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

Jake Sullivan, Vice President for Government & Community Affairs

Willis G. Wang, Vice President and Associate Provost for Global Programs

Nicole Wendl, Executive Director, BU Tanglewood Institute