The year 2005 is no longer just that of the chicken. According
to the School of Arts and Architecture, this year is the
“Year of the Arts.”
The Year of the Arts project began in the School of Arts and
Architecture and also includes the School of Theater, Film and
Television, as well as the music and art history departments, said
Christopher Waterman, the dean of the School of Arts and
Architecture.
The idea for a yearlong celebration of everything art began as a
way to mark the opening of two new arts buildings, and took off to
bring together all of UCLA Arts. The newly renovated Glorya Kaufman
Hall will welcome back the world arts and cultures department this
winter. And in fall 2005, the Edythe L. and Eli Broad Center opens
and will unveil a sculpture by Richard Serra.
Dan Froot, an adjunct world arts and cultures professor, is the
director of WAC is Back, the official opening of the building to
the public. The event, one of 40-planned Year of the Arts
festivities, will include performances, lectures and exhibits.
“We want to show what we do inside of it. It’s a way
of connecting with the L.A. community at large with this watershed
moment,” Froot said.
Waterman said among U.S. universities, UCLA has a preeminent
arts program, which he is hoping the Year of the Arts will showcase
to the community.
He hopes the Year of the Arts will show people how all of the
acclaimed arts programs, like UCLA Live or the nationally ranked
art department, are connected.
“I find myself wondering if people who come to something
like the Hammer and Fowler Museum might not even know that it is
one university that offers all this to the community,” he
said.
The Year of the Arts is initiating 40 flagship events to unify
the arts at UCLA and showcase UCLA as the epicenter of the arts.
The combination of Los Angeles as a technologically cutting-edge
city and its diversity makes it and ideal location for the arts,
Waterman said.
“(With the Year of the Arts) we hope to draw all people
who not only come to Westwood to go to Royce Hall or a film series,
but to reach out beyond that, and let them know what a center of
the arts UCLA is,” said Waterman.