Release of "The Future of the Arts at MIT" draft report

Dear colleagues,

After more than a year of work, the Future of the Arts Committee is proud to release a draft of our report, "The Future of the Arts at MIT: Innovating Creativity.” Commissioned by Provost Cynthia Barnhart in partnership with Dean Hashim Sarkis of the School of Architecture and Planning, Dean Agustín Rayo of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Vice Provost for the Arts Philip Khoury, our report details the progress since the 1987 "Report on the Creative Arts at MIT," also known as the Joskow Report.

The Future of the Arts at MIT report also assesses the challenges and opportunities of MIT’s current artistic enterprise, developing guiding principles and recommendations to build upon the work of the past few decades, which has yielded an artistic constellation at MIT that is broad, deep, and integral to the Institute. In fact, this year Times Higher Education ranked MIT #1 in Arts and Humanities, and we hope our report reveals why.

The committee invites your feedback on our draft, and committee members will present the report to various stakeholders in the coming weeks. We hope you will join us at a special faculty forum on the draft report that is taking place on Thursday, May 15 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Room 3-270.

Additionally, if you would like to arrange a presentation or have comments on the report, please contact us at futurearts@mit.edu.

I am grateful to the members of the committee, listed below my signature, for their thoughtful approach and dedication to this effort. Please join me in thanking them for their service to the Institute.

Sincerely,

Peter Fisher
Chair, Future of the Arts at MIT Committee
Thomas A. Frank (1977) Professor of Physics