DART weekend right on target

As a liberal arts school, Duke, until very recently, has missed out on the “arts” part of this equation.

Take a look around. Where are the artists at Duke, and why is it that they must hide in the farthest corners of campus? They are relegated to trudging the muddy dirt road to get to the Smith Warehouse, that sketchy looking brick building behind the graffiti bridge. They are welding metal with a blowtorch in the sculpture studio on Central Campus, dodging bits of red-hot shrapnel. On Saturdays, they are painting in a windowless room in the basement of Edens 3B, the most removed dorm on West Campus, in a cleared-out storage closet.

Instead of camping out in K-ville, they are camped in the studio in the basement of Old Chem. On many nights, in addition to cheering on basketball players, they root on video files that struggle to finish loading.  

Recently, however, it seems that Duke finally acknowledged their existence. For DART weekend, as part of Duke Student Arts Initiative, the University, under the guidance of Vice Provost for the Arts Scott Lindroth and an idea proposed by senior Andrea Coravos, has encouraged these artists to come out, given them space to display their work in the Bryan Center and connected them with accomplished Duke alumni working as filmmakers, painters, digital artists and more.

Meeting Adam Collis, the director of “Sunset Strip,” Amy Unell, an NBC producer and Steve Lehman, a documentary photographer who first broke the Tibetan protest story in China—and who continued to cover political crises in India, Chechnya and other tumultuous areas for magazines like TIME and Newsweek for 15 years—was a breath of fresh air.

As I listened in on the panels, I found that what made these individuals and their stories of success so compelling was their deviation from the mainstream path. Although some had coincidentally fallen into their field, the majority of these alums exhibited great persistence and courage. What I admire most about the arts and entertainment industry is the passion that drives it; the people who work in the industry are the ones who really want to be there. Why else would one endure being the lowlife intern or mailboy with the hopes of getting a foot in the door? It is a meritocracy based on who wants it more. No matter which university you come from or what credential you have, everyone starts out in the same place, and it is up to you to make yourself stand out.

Although Duke has a long way to go before its level of art education and programming rivals those resources available at comparable schools such as Yale, with a distinguished graduate arts program, or Cornell, which has an undergraduate arts school, the University has made significant strides to promote the arts. In the past three years, Duke has launched a visual studies major, remarketed what was known as the Film/Video/Digital Program and even added a Saladelia to the Smith Warehouse, which I am convinced means that Duke actually cares if “starving artists” literally starve, at least until 2 p.m.

But the progress should not stop here. The University should continue to have more periodic displays of student artwork, screenings and competitions. Revamping the neglected gallery space in the Bryan Center, which hundreds of students pass by every day, to make it more open and accessible would greatly increase its visibility. Replacing or supplementing the work of local artists, student artwork should be displayed in this prime piece of real estate as well.