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More than 1,000 Boston College students, faculty and administrators will display their artistic talents and interests at the University’s 13th annual Arts Festival April 28-30.
The festival, which last year drew more than 16,500 BC alumni and area residents, includes over 80 events — most of them free — that showcase performing, visual and literary arts programs. Professional artists, many of them alumni, also will take part.
Each afternoon, music, dance and theater events fill O’Neill Plaza, the festival’s hub; each evening there are several featured events. In addition, art exhibitions and demonstrations are open all afternoon, with exhibitions continuing into the evening; there also are daily literary readings.
This year’s special guest is best-selling author Chuck Hogan, a 1989 BC alumnus whose novel Prince of Thieves was adapted for the film “The Town,” directed by and starring Ben Affleck. Hogan will be presented with the annual Boston College Arts Council Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement from University President William P. Leahy, SJ, at an arts awards celebration and public reception on April 29 from 4-6:30 p.m. in O’Neill Plaza. Awards will also be presented in recognition of the artistic accomplishments of BC students and faculty.
Hogan’s public appearances during the festival will include a Q&A following a screening of “The Town” on April 28 at 7 p.m. in Devlin 008, and a panel discussion — sponsored by the Lowell Lectures Humanities Series — on April 29 at 7 p.m. in Devlin 008. The panel, “Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves and ‘The Town’: A Boston Crime Story as Novel and Movie,” also includes English professors Carlo Rotella and Chris Wilson.
Activities for families with children of all ages will be offered on April 30 from noon to 5 p.m.: a parade led by BC’s Marching Band, arts and crafts, story hours for children and teens, and an original theater production — most appropriate for 5th to 8th graders — on bullying, written by Theatre Department faculty member Luke Jorgensen and presented by students in his Creative Dramatics class.
This year’s festival, according to organizers, features a greater infusion of professional mentors beyond BC faculty and staff members. They include artists, among them alumni, who have been on campus this spring to work with students in various genres, including a cappella, dance, improv theater and fashion. Some mentors will return to take part in the festival. The goal of this initiative — dubbed the “Road to the Festival,” which has included workshops, master classes and other programs — is to enhance students’ creative preparation not only for the festival, which showcases this work, but for their ongoing artistic growth and development.
Examples of “Road to the Festival” this semester included a workshop on choreography for performance led by Betsi Graves Akerstein ’04, founder and director of Boston’s Urbanity Dance company; English faculty member and “slam poet” Susan Roberts’ sessions with student poets; and Boston-based rock band Five O’Clock Shadow’s mentoring of student a cappella groups BC Dynamics and BEATS.
The festival is organized by the Arts Council and sponsored with the offices of the President, the Provost and Dean of Faculties, and the Institute for the Liberal Arts.
For more information, including event locations and updates, see the festival website or call ext.2-ARTS(2787).
Note that the schedule is subject to change. Events with admission fees are indicated.