Holy Cross Awarded $600K For Arts Initiative

Worcester’s College of the Holy Cross is getting a boost in its efforts to grow its fine and performing arts curriculum and strengthen its ties to the area’s cultural institutions through a $600,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The grant will help fund the college’s initiative, “Re-Centering the Arts,” and will be used to fund a new visiting artists program within the departments of music, theater and visual arts. The program is expected to encourage collaboration across disciplines and introduce artists and performers to the experience Holy Cross offers its students. Artists will be invited to the college for periods of two months to a full semester to examine a specific theme through workshops, master classes, public lectures, performances, and other opportunities for interaction and learning, Holy Cross said.

“Now, in addition to exposing our students to world-class artists, the collaborations among the arts departments and between the arts departments and other departments on campus will highlight the importance of creativity in responding to challenges from a variety of disciplines,” said Margaret Freije, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of Holy Cross. “With the support of the Mellon grant, we expect that the new curricular opportunities will foster a depth of imagination in our students, allowing them to become creative and innovative leaders of the future.”

The first visiting artists are expected to arrive at the school in the fall of 2014 and will be chosen from a range of fields including photography, dance, painting and music, the school said. Each year, Holy Cross will select a theme that will address through the residency of the artist and the works created with students and faculty. That theme will guide faculty in arranging classes, speakers and other events.

Read more

Holy Cross Grad Makes $25M Donation

Q&A With Holy Cross President Rev. Philip L. Boroughs