Happy 2015!

We are looking forward to everything 2015 will bring in the arts at Stanford – new exhibitions at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford Live performances at Bing Concert Hall and beyond, engagement with the Anderson Collection at Stanford University – and of course the enormous variety of performances, events, exhibitions and programs put on by our faculty and students across campus (look for both Hairspray and Evita spring quarter!).

More than anything we are looking forward to the opening of the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art & Art History in the fall! The Diller Scofidio + Renfro building will be an amazing new home for the department and an interdisciplinary hub for the arts at Stanford. Construction is well underway – you can watch the progress through a webcam! Stay tuned for more news about this incredible new facility as we get closer.

The building comes not a moment too soon: We are experiencing an explosion in student art-making. The latest evidence comes from the first-ever show of undergraduate work at the Stanford Art Gallery. The show, All Tomorrow’s Parties, blew through past attendance records at the gallery with an incredible 10,303 visitors (that’s more than twice the previous high point)! This was a juried exhibition selected by members of the Department of Art & Art History, Cantor Arts Center and SFMOMA. It featured undergraduate work from students of all disciplines. Forty undergraduate students submitted over 100 entries, and 23 students were selected to exhibit their work ranging from sculpture to paintings to film to photography. Congratulations to them and to the Stanford Art Gallery for an incredible show!

With so much student work to show, the Your Art Here (YAH) program is kicking into high gear. YAH is a program of student-run, student-focused gallery spaces around campus dedicated to training students of all majors and disciplines in the exhibition process. Students learn about exhibiting their work from the ground up, including how to curate, solicit work, install pieces, plan receptions and publicize the show. This past quarter, students took part in special workshops to build foundational skills needed to pull off future exhibitions. Students will put these new skills to the test this winter quarter at a variety of exhibitions to be held across campus in the YAH spaces. Check back soon for more information on future shows!

With this and so much more it’s an exciting time on campus and we encourage you to join with us in 2015 in moving the arts forward at Stanford and beyond!