Eighth Arts First Festival Kicks Off

When you see John A. Lithgow '67, star of "Third Rock from the Sun," wandering around campus, it means one thing: Arts First weekend has returned.

Arts First 2000, the eighth annual festival, is a weekend celebrating theater, dance, music, visual arts and film.

Highlights include a performance fair with dozens of varied acts, concerts in Sanders Theatre, performances on an outdoor stage at the Holyoke Center

and the traditional Arts First parade.

Yesterday, Lithgow began his four-day reign as "master of the arts" at Harvard. In that role, he presides over events ranging from children's theater to Senegalese drumming.

And while Lithgow and other stars only show up for the weekend, students put in considerably more time preparing.

Julia A. Griffin '03, producer of The Secret Garden on the Loeb Mainstage, said that making the musical has been "an incredible experience that has thoroughly consumed my life for the past three months."

Other festival contributors expressed similar devotion to their projects.

Kathryn B. Walsh '00, a four-year veteran of Arts First and director of the Romeo and Juliet production on the steps of Memorial Church, estimated the cast and crew have put in six hours a day since practice space became available two weeks ago.

"I haven't had time to do schoolwork in the last three and a half weeks," Walsh said.

Concerts, exhibitions and theatrical productions taking place over Arts First weekend benefit from larger audiences due to the increased visibility of the event, according to Twelfth Night Director Joshua A. Edelman '00.

"It's great for the production to have a highly publicized weekend," Edelman said. "There's no limit to what you can see."

Secret Garden Director Joseph C. Gfaller '01 agreed. "Being part of Arts First gives you a different kind of audience than what you ordinarily get," he said.

But he also lamented the fact that arts enthusiasm is so concentrated during this one weekend.

"It's a shame we're only able to get these crowds one weekend a year," he said.

But organizers have to take a whole year planning that one weekend, according to Myra A. Mayman, director of the Office for the Arts, which sponsors the event.

"On Monday, we'll start planning for next year's Arts First," she said.

Mayman said one of the strengths of the festival is that it changes over time--for instance, the Pan-Harvard Comedy Carnival is new for this year.

"[Arts First] evolves every year to reflect the interests of the students and the faculty," Mayman said. "It's not set in a formula."

Yesterday evening in the Radcliffe Yard, Lithgow and Harvard Overseer Winifred W. Neisser '74 presided over Arts First 2000's opening ceremonies.

"I hope the contribution [of Arts First] is that it brings the students together along with the neighboring communities. It's inspirational, and it's good to see all the hard work resulting in so much fun," she said.

Lithgow said he is equally pleased with the development of the celebration he helped create.

"Arts First has just gotten bigger and bigger every year," he said. "In '92 the parade was just me and Myra Mayman walking in front of a van going down Eliot Street."

Lithgow also said he thinks the weekend adds a necessary amount of spring fun to campus

"I think Arts First flings the doors of the Yard open to the community and just increases the fun quotient on campus. It's my favorite weekend of the year," he said.