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CFA Summer Institute part of rich palette of summer programs
By Robert O’Neill
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High school juniors participating in a portfolio preparation course last year at the College of Fine Arts. Photo by Melinda Horsey |
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A few creative high school students from across the country will spend their summer break in an unusual way this year — drawing, sculpting, and painting on the banks of the Charles River, as part of a new summer program offered by the CFA school of visual arts.
In the intensive four-week residential program intended to improve aspiring artists’ observational skills, participants will work directly from nature, still life, and human models, as well as build their portfolios should they choose a career in art. They will attend master classes, study great art at local museums, and show their work in an exhibition at the end of the course.
And to go along with all that perspiration, the program’s Boston setting should offer the sort of inspiration that worked for such greats as John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer.
“The students who’ve applied are very serious about art,” says Jeannette Guillemin, school of visual arts assistant director and codirector of the summer program. “It’s a way for them to test out the seriousness and the rigor with which they’re going to pursue art.”
A taste of college
The Visual Arts Summer Institute provides high school students with a remarkable opportunity to immerse themselves in art-making. And it is just one part of the rich palette of precollege and youth summer programs offered by BU.
More than 2,000 students, kindergartners to high school seniors, will join the 15 students chosen to attend the Visual Arts Summer Institute. The 16 programs range from the two-week Swimsport Camp, which offers a variety of recreational activities for youngsters, to SummerLab, a one-week DNA research course for high school students, to the world-
famous Tanglewood music program. All fulfill the University’s mission to educate and to reach out to different communities, as well as help recruitment and boost revenue.
“One goal of these programs, especially those for high school students, is to give students an idea of what college life is like,” says Scott Alessandro, who helps market the precollege and youth summer programs. He also is assistant director of BU’s Summer Term, which administers all the University’s summer academic courses. “A big difference between high school and college is that at college you don’t have someone looking over your shoulder constantly, managing your time for you. We give young people a glimpse of what college life is like, helping them learn to balance for themselves class work and other activities, so that when they do attend college, it is an exciting experience and not an overwhelming transition.
“For young people of all ages, there is value to being on a college campus and having fun experiences here,” he continues. “The counselors in our summer programs are BU students, so the participants will interact with college students at a young age, and hopefully they will equate college with the enjoyable experience they have here.”
A greater whole
BU’s precollege and summer programs operate independently, but with their popularity increasing and competition among universities for attendees heating up, this year University officials have adopted a more unified approach.
Since late 2004 those in charge of the summer programs have met regularly, sharing their experience in areas like liability and campus safety and working collectively to raise their profile. With about 500 students staying in University residences throughout the summer, for instance, they were able to exchange information about working with the University’s Office of Housing.
It was a fortunate coincidence for the new Visual Arts Summer Institute, whose organizers received invaluable help in navigating the bureaucratic and logistical shoals involved in preparing the program’s launch, says Guillemin, including issues such as staffing and program design. They may even share counselors with other programs.
And the collaborations won’t be a boon only to administrators: students and families can now access a single Web site (bu.edu/mysummer) with general information and links to all 16 programs. The site, which has had more than 10,000 visitors since March, Alessandro says, is an important part of positioning BU as the first place for people to go when looking for a summer activity.
With program administrators now more keenly aware of one another, contacts between participants attending the various programs will also increase. For example, shared outings to Boston Red Sox games, Cape Cod, and Salisbury Beach are being planned. And when the Visual Arts Summer Institute exhibits its students’ work at the end of the summer, those from other summer programs will be at the top of the invitation list.
“We are going to have opportunities for students in these programs to hang out with and get to know other young people on campus during the summer, because it’s good for them to meet people who are passionate about another subject,” says Alessandro. “That will give their experience a real college campus feel.”
29
April 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations