Community members gathered yesterday to listen to Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Music Cristle Collins Judd chronicle Bowdoin's arts programs in her talk, "The Arts in the Bowdoin Curriculum."
The College's engagement in the arts can be traced back to 200 years ago, when James Bowdoin III donated his collection of masterpieces.
Judd highlighted the moments in the College's history when the arts became integrated into the curriculum, and remarked on the upward trajectory of incorporating the arts into education.
The recent addition of the visual and performing arts requirement, for example, reflects the Offer of the College: "To count...art as an intimate friend."
"Every student now at Bowdoin takes for granted that the visual and performing arts are integral parts of his or her education," said Judd.
Major capital campaigns, the most recent of which is included last year, provided funding for the addition of more, visual and performing faculty positions in the arts, as well as the acquisition of buildings that cater specifically to the arts. Judd believes that Bowdoin will benefit from the addition of one building that would centralize the arts at the College.
"We're in a terrific place right now in terms of the arts," Judd proclaimed enthusiastically.
-Compiled by Karoline Dubin.