Top 10 Reasons to Give to CFA on BU Giving Day
CFA is a community of fine and performing artists — musicians, visual artists, and theatre-makers — who believe in the power of creativity and creating accessible art experiences for all.
Top 10 Reasons to Give to CFA on BU Giving Day
CFA is a community of fine and performing artists — musicians, visual artists, and theatre-makers — who believe in the power of creativity and creating accessible art experiences for all.
Inspiring creativity, building bridges, and connecting people from all parts of the world is the transformative power found at Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA). As President Melissa Gilliam says, “The arts enliven and enrich all of us and have to be a central focus of Boston University.” Why give to CFA this Giving Day? Here are 10 reasons we can think of (and we think you’ll agree).
#1
Breadth of opportunities
A student experience unlike any other
An education from BU College of Fine Arts allows students to get a sense of the professional field through opportunities beyond the classroom. Students benefit from the rich centers of art and culture throughout the city of Boston, New England, and all the way to Europe through study abroad programs.
Music students participate in competitions and take the stage at the renowned Carnegie Hall in New York City, as well as perform at BU’s annual concert at the historical and stunning Symphony Hall, home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Theatre students act, design, direct, and write at the award-winning Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre and many work with local Boston theatre organizations during their time as a student at BU. Visual Arts students display their captivating work in galleries all around CFA (such as the Faye G., Jo and James Stone Gallery and 808 Gallery) and participate in fairs, symposiums, and expos. In 2024, a selection of works by students of BU Study Abroad Venice and BU School of Visual Arts exhibited their work alongside the Venice Biennale!
#2
artist wellness
Supporting your wellbeing, empowering your creativity
CFA students are busy! Homework, exams, rehearsals, studio work, internships… it can easily become overwhelming. That’s why the CFA Student Services team launched a robust series of student-focused events, to support the holistic wellbeing of our students.
CFA’s Artist Wellbeing Series is intended for students to learn how to balance all the responsibilities a college student has and know when it’s time to pause and take a break.
“Artists use their bodies and minds in ways that intertwine in the creative process. We want students to become the best artists they can be – to do that, we have to care for their social, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, financial, physical, and environmental well-being,” says Ruthie Jean (CAS’95, Wheelock’98), Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Enrollment.
Wellness events at CFA include the all-time favorite Terrarium Stress Reliever event; workshops on healthy sleep and eating and career and life management; Halloween carnival; CFAmily Jams; and Holiday Cards, Crafts & Cocoa.
#3
Arts for all
Enriching cultural life in BU, Boston, and beyond
A beacon for the arts, CFA hosts hundreds of events year-round. From theatre and opera productions on our mainstage to dynamic and moving exhibitions from guest artists and our students, the BU Arts District shows no signs of slowing down.
Most of our events are free and open to the BU community and our Boston residents and neighbors. We welcome all to catch a jazz, wind, and orchestra concert at CFA’s Concert Hall or BU’s Tsai Performance Center, spend a day in our galleries, or enjoy live professional theatre for families at Wheelock Family Theatre over at BU’s Fenway Campus. Did you know? Wheelock Family Theatre is among the performing arts organizations included in the expansion of Boston Family Days.
We also love knowing that our students are close to some of Boston’s most incredible art organizations, like the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. BU students visit these venues for free or at a discounted rate through BU Arts Initiative.
#4
Equitable education
Infusing our teaching and learning with new ideas and innovations
At CFA, our students have a vibrant academic experience. Our programs, courses, and curriculum have been reimagined.
Shipley Accelerating Classroom Transformation funding is supporting equitable access to state-of-the-art theatre lighting automation technology for BU School of Theatre lighting design students.
BU School of Visual Arts hosts the Tuesday Night Lecture Series, where practicing artists and curators come to BU to present their work and meet with students for individual and group critiques. Most recently, SVA and School of Music have partnered to bring the Berlin-based arts collective House for the End of the World (HEW) to BU with a five-part workshop series exploring site-specific art installations and performance.
Collaborating with other Colleges, Schools, and Units across BU, CFA students also explore projects on topics that are close to their hearts, from sustainability work to ideas where arts and technology intersect. See how CFA students explore their interests.
They’re also taking on projects of their own, such as leading the installation – and growth – of the CFA Color Garden, allowing student-artists to sustainability grow their own pigments, dyes, and fibers.
#5
professional partnerships
Local to international professional opportunities
CFA has a long tradition of bringing the professional world into our students’ educational experience. It’s wonderful to note that many of our faculty members continue to work professionally in their fields and extend opportunities to our students.
To name just a few: David Remedios, Assistant Professor & Program Head, Sound Design, is very active in professional Boston theaters, sound designing many shows throughout the city. His alums go on to follow in his footsteps, also making a mark on the Boston theater scene, like MFA sound design alum Mackenzie Adamick (CFA’24).
New England’s leading event for independent comics and graphic novels, MICE, returns to BU each year thanks to Joel Christian Gill (CFA’04), renowned cartoonist and Chair of BU’s MFA Visual Narrative program. The annual event showcases the works of hundreds of comics artists and opens professional doors for BU visual narrative students. Visual arts students also promote their talent and work at Art@Sloane, a biannual art exhibition hosted by the Office of President.
In addition to partnerships with Carnegie Hall and Symphony Hall, BU School of Music is also affiliated with numerous organizations like the contemporary music ensemble Alea III, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the world-renowned Muir String Quartet (SOM’s director Michael Reynolds is the founding cellist of the Muir String Quartet). And the School’s faculty is constantly providing students with unique opportunities, like David Guzmán, Assistant Profesor of Music, Voice who found and revived a long-lost Cuban opera, El Caminante, and students got to be a part of the world (re)premiere at BU.
#6
strong alumni community
Once a Terrier, always a Terrier
Our CFA alums are on the go, making art and making impact around the world. BU brings them back together!
We’re grateful when alums come back to Terrier Town to visit, meet our students, and share their works and vision like interdisciplinary artist Adrienne Elise Tarver (CFA’07) who returned to Boston to discuss her Public Art Fund Project: She Who Sits, displayed on hundreds of bus shelters and newsstands in New York City, Boston, and Chicago, featuring a series of paintings foregrounding multifaceted Black female identities.
Also returning to BU were Emmy-winning and Tony-nominated actor Uzo Aduba (CFA’05) and lauded actor and activist Michelle Hurd (CFA’88) who were awarded with BU’s highest honor for alumni, the BU Distinguished Alumni Awards.
Our alums are touring nationally in Broadway productions, being recognized in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, transforming villages through music festivals, and more!
At CFA, we celebrate our alums through features in our award-winning CFA magazine. We also recognize inspiring BU alums who have outstanding achievements in their careers, communities, and in service to the arts at CFA’s Distinguished Alumni Awards.
#7
promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion
Celebrating and representing all voices
As outlined by Boston University Diversity & Inclusion (BU D&I), BU’s story “is constantly evolving, informed by a rich history of inclusion and a present day influenced by thousands of unique perspectives.”
BU D&I works collaboratively, with academic leaders across Boston University, including the College of Fine Arts, to build a positive and inclusive campus environment, and ensure “pathways to success and participation are open to every member of the BU community.”
Our community of alums, students, faculty, and staff are empowered to make art accessible for all. Take a moment to learn about vocal performance alum Spencer Hart-Thompson (CFA’24), who was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome at the age of 16. Undiscouraged, Spencer began to record an album, then embarked on a long-term research project aiming to expand accessibility and accommodations for those with disabilities. He then conceived a hybrid concert/lecture, Music Through the Scope of Disability.
CFA alum S. Proski‘s art explores the spectrum of blindness—and spreads awareness about it—through their artwork. A blind artist, Proski (CFA’23) finds their studio has allowed them to think about the work they truly want to make, focusing on multisensory engagement in their paintings.
At CFA, each School has initiatives aimed at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the arts community.
#8
bu bands
Be a part of the BU soundtrack
There are many ways for BU students from every major to get involved with performance ensembles through BU School of Music and BU Bands. Our ensembles provide meaningful music-making opportunities and serve as a great musical outlet for our students.
As a BU Bands member, students are a part of the BU soundtrack and feel proud to show off their Terrier pride! BU Bands program performs for over 200,000 people at over 150 events each year. In addition to performances on campus, some of our ensembles travel often for shows, competitions, tournaments, and concerts.
“The band is the thumping heartbeat of the University. It is audible school spirit and pride. Campus would be thriving, but a lot duller without the BU Bands,” says Aaron Goldberg, BU director of Athletic Bands, Big Band conductor, and senior lecturer in music.
This academic year, BU Band members engaged in incredible opportunities – the Pep Band traveled to Northern Ireland to perform at the Friendship Four hockey tournament and BU Bands was thrilled to be a part of the festivities of President Gilliam’s Inauguration Week.
#9
State-of-the-art venues and facilities
Renovating and building new studios, practice rooms, and performance spaces
At CFA, we’re constantly looking at ways to enhance the areas in which our students learn, practice, study, and create!
Our award-winning Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre and CFA Production Center, which was funded in part by a naming gift of $10 million from BU trustee Steve Zide (LAW’86) and named after Steve’s theatre-loving wife, Janet Zide’s parents, Joan and Edgar Booth, has been listed among the best architectural structures around the globe and provides theatre performance and design and production students with limitless opportunities to experiment and innovate. It’s also earned the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification for its green features, including operations and maintenance of a resource-efficient, healthy, and cost-effective space.
Our printmaking program is housed in an expansive workshop with state-of-the-art facilities including four lithography presses, five studios, five large-format printers, six etching presses, and more!
CFA has been recognized for preserving historic buildings and landscapes, while also transforming our venues and facilities to be more inviting to the Boston community, through the 2022 Mayor Thomas M. Menino Legacy Award from Preservation Massachusetts.
#10
Premier summer youth programs
Shaping future artists
Beyond a wide variety of programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels, CFA hosts and partners with premier learning and artistic experiences for pre-college level student-artists.
BU Tanglewood Institute, the premier summer training program for talented young musicians, is located in the beautiful Berkshire mountains of Lenox, Massachusetts just down the road from the Tanglewood Music Center: the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Through BUTI’s special relationship with the BSO, students learn and grow through intensive programming in the presence of some of the world’s greatest music professionals and teachers.”
BU School of Visual Arts’ Summer Institute (VASI) offers high school students (ages 15–18) an intensive visual arts program designed to help them build exceptional portfolios and get a taste of the collegiate art school experience. In addition to classes and studio time, students visit and study works of art in area museums, participate in special workshops, and experience life as a BU Terrier.
BU School of Theatre offers the BU Summer Theatre Institute (BUSTI), a four-week pre-college experience, where high school students passionate about the theatre arts hone their technique, depth of intellectual and artistic questioning, playfulness in collaboration, and ability to tell a dynamic story through the theatrical medium.
CFA is also proud to partner with Wheelock Family Theatre. Founded in 1981 and adopted into BU in 2018, Wheelock Family Theatre is one of the largest professional theaters in Boston with performances having been seen by more than one million people. Its impressive outreach to Boston and Greater Boston schools enables Wheelock Family Theatre to entertain and educate approximately 15,000 visiting schoolchildren every year.
RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW FOR CFA!
Show your support by participating in Boston University’s biggest fundraising event of the year! BU Giving Day 2025 on Wednesday, April 9. Now in its 11th year, Giving Day raises funds for hundreds of BU programs, initiatives, and causes over 24 hours.
Thanks to CFA alum and Dean’s Advisory Board member, Jason Alexander (CFA’81, Hon.’95), CFA will get an additional $4,000 for every 50 donors who make a gift—up to the 250-donor goal. That means you have the power to unlock bonus funds for our community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists.