Stanford Arts Institute (SAI) promotes the arts as an integral element of education and research at the University through interdisciplinary curricula and programs. Our work centers the arts as a mode of inquiry, fosters a culture of creativity, forges connections across departments, and amplifies Stanford’s spirit of innovation.
Under the leadership of Denning Family Faculty Director Hideo Mabuchi (Professor of Applied Physics), Stanford Arts Institute works with a variety of campus partners to support innovative projects and bring world-renowned artists to campus for research, performance and student engagement.
During the 2024-25 academic year, SAI is working on a variety of activities aimed at articulating and fostering shared values of art and science. A highlight of autumn quarter was the premiere of the short film Questions as Tools in Art, Science and the Humanities: a rich archive of introspection on process by leading practitioners of wide-ranging fields. Other autumn events included a panel of artists and scientists working to make microbes, mushrooms, and their lifeways more visible through approaches ranging from microscopy to sculpture, and workshops with guest artists Amanda Curreri and Minga Opazo.
SAI administers two interdepartmental degree programs (IDPs) in interdisciplinary arts: the Inter-Arts Minor and Honors in the Arts. Both support undergraduate capstones that center research creation, combine two or more kinds of art practice, or blend art and research in some creative yet rigorous way. We welcome all forms of creative expression - from visual art to dance, theater to creative writing, game design to film, fashion, or multimedia installations. Both programs are open to students in any major. Their shared aim is to allow students across the University to deepen their understanding of the arts, to familiarize themselves with creative theory and techniques, and to make meaningful connections between their home disciplines and art practice.
Stanford Arts Institute also administers a series of Arts Immersion programs, in which undergraduate students participate in curated trips to creative hubs like New York City, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit and Venice. In addition to visiting a host of art and performance venues, the students meet institutional leaders, policy makers, and arts practitioners to gain an insider’s view on these cultural capitals.
Stanford Arts Institute is a unit within the Vice President for the Arts.
Institute Staff
Hideo Mabuchi
Denning Family Director,
Stanford Arts Institute
Professor of Applied Physics
hmabuchi@stanford.edu
SAI Advisory Group
The SAI Advisory Group assists the SAI Faculty Director in thinking about long-term strategy for Stanford Arts Institute. They may also be called upon to assist with the implementation and evolution of new initiatives.
Marci Kwon is Assistant Professor of Art History and co-director of Stanford's Asian American Art Initiative
Manu Prakash
Associate Professor of Bioengineering
(by courtesy) Oceans and Biology
Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
Elizabeth Schumann
Assistant Professor
Music
Billie Bennett Achilles Director of Keyboard Studies
Pfeiffer and Herold Families Professor, Professor of Biochemistry and (by courtesy) of Chemical and Systems Biology
IDP Advisory Group
The IDP Advisory Group assists the SAI Faculty Director and Associate Director in considering policy and implementation issues related to Honors in the Arts, the Interdisciplinary Arts Minor, and Arts Immersion courses.
Professor of Music and Director of CCRMA, Chris Chafe is a composer, improvisor, and cellist, developing much of
his music alongside research in network music performance, data sonification and new models for sound synthesis and music perception.
Gavin Jones, Frederick P. Rehmus Family Professor of Humanities, loves literature in all its forms, with a particular focus on the American tradition; on language politics and problems of social inequality; on the short story form; and on ways of bridging our critical and creative sides in the classroom.
Richard Nevle
Deputy Director
Earth Systems
Michael Rau
Assistant Professor
Theater & Performance Studies
Aileen Robinson
Assistant Professor
Theater & Performance Studies
Rose Salseda
Assistant Professor
Art & Art History
Current & Recent Capstone Advisors
- Georgina Beaty (Lecturer, Creative Writing)
- Terry Berlier (Professor of Art & Art History, and, by courtesy, Music)
- Paul DeMarinis (Professor of Art & Art History, and, by courtesy, Music)
- Michele Elam (William Robertson Coe Professor in the Humanities, English; Senior Fellow at HAI)
- John Evans (Lecturer, Creative Writing)
- Sarah Frisch (Lecturer, Creative Writing)
- Aracelis Girmay (Knight Family Professor of Creative Writing, Professor of English)
- Jackson Holbert (Lecturer, Creative Writing)
- Gavin Jones (Department of English Chair, Frederick P. Rehmus Family Professor of Humanities)
- Jarosław Kapuściński (Associate Professor, Music)
- Alex Ketley (Lecturer, Dance)
- Young Jean Lee (Denning Family Professor of the Arts, Theater & Performance Studies)
- Hideo Mabuchi (Professor of Applied Physics; Stanford Arts Institute Denning Family Director)
- Mark McGurl (Albert Guérard Professor of Literature)
- Sangeeta Mediratta (Lecturer, VPUE)
- Thomas Mullaney (Professor of History, and, by courtesy, East Asian Languages and Cultures)
- Alexander Nemerov (Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities)
- Michael Rau (Assistant Professor of Theater and Performance Studies)
- Cintia Santana (Senior Lecturer of Comparative Literature
- Nina Schloesser Tarano (Lecturer, Creative Writing)
- Dustin Schroeder (Associate Professor of Geophysics, of Electrical Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment)
- Stephanie Sherriff (Lecturer, Music)
- amara tabor-smith (Artist in Residence, IDA)
- Shimon Tanaka (Lecturer, Creative Writing)
- Adam Tobin (Senior Lecturer of Art & Art History)
- Lauren Toomer (Lecturer, Art & Art History)
- Jenn Alandy Trahan (Lecturer, Creative Writing)
Inter-Departmental Mail Code
#2250
Office
(650) 497-9905
Fax
(650) 723-8231
ADDRESS
Stanford Arts
Littlefield Center
2nd Floor
365 Lasuen Street
Stanford, CA 94305
