Laboratory for the Performing Arts
An astute visitor once said of the feeling you get from the MIT campus, “It crackles.” And it surely does, with path-breaking innovations, ideas, and discoveries emerging day and night from its labs and classrooms.
The Institute’s music and theater arts program, too, is a fast-changing and vibrant creative presence on campus. The change and growth are partly about our amazing arts faculty, which includes figures recognized both nationally and internationally. They’re also about our students, whose ranks include ever more-talented and motivated achievers in the arts. (One indicator: two-thirds of entering undergraduates report having been deeply and successfully involved in the arts as high school students.) Now, we plan to give those focused on music and theater arts a new and unconventional resource: the MIT Laboratory for the Performing Arts.
Why the need for the Laboratory? The arts have undergone a tremendous expansion on the MIT campus—as witness the fact that the number of theater courses offered has quadrupled in less than two decades. And while there are selected venues for episodic theater, dance, and musical performances, like Kresge’s two auditoriums, there’s been no dedicated space for superb student groups like the MIT Symphony, the MIT Wind and Jazz Ensembles, and the MIT Concert Choir.
The Laboratory will be built on Massachusetts Avenue near student residential areas that are themselves fast-evolving. And, like any facility devoted to creativity, it will be as much about the learning process and trying new things as about presenting finished works. Thus, key features include:
- “black box” theater
- large instrumental rehearsal room
- additional rehearsal rooms for choral, chamber, theater, and dance groups.
The Laboratory will be a dramatic embodiment of MIT's commitment to the arts. That commitment is no secret to the campus community. But for the Institute to give concrete and highly visible expression to that commitment will tell artists and arts enthusiasts everywhere that yes, MIT-style creativity does, and always will, encompass the arts.
The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences seeks supporters for this exciting initiative. One sure way to make an impact on its success is to direct your gift to the Laboratory for the Performing Arts Fund.
Laboratory for the Performing Arts Fund
Gifts to support the construction of a new performing arts facility, with performance and studio spaces for music, theater, and dance.
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You may wish to search or browse for other specific giving opportunities within the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences or its departments, or make a gift now to any of the School’s initiatives using our secure online giving form.
Or, if you wish to speak to someone about a special gift in support of the Laboratory for the Performing Arts, please contact Anne Marie Michel, assistant dean for development, at ammichel@mit.edu or 617.253.4075; or Glenn Billingsley, director of arts development, at rglenn@mit.edu or 617.253.8494.
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