Gift endows artists-in-residence program

The $1-million gift will bring distinguished artists to campus for a residency of up to one semester beginning in September.

by Mary Jo Curtis

Thanks to a $1-million gift from an alumna, Brown’s arts departments will have the means to bring distinguished visiting artists to campus beginning in September.

Lawton Wehle Fitt '74 has endowed an artists-in-residence program, enabling the University to invite professional artists in creative writing, dance, digital media, film, fine art, music, theater and visual art to Brown for a period of residency of up to one semester.

The program “will enrich the intellectual and academic experience of students and faculty whose principal interest lies in the creative arts,” said President Simmons. “But it will do far more than that. The presence on campus of artists who have achieved national and international distinction will underscore and enhance the value of the arts in the intellectual and cultural life of the Brown community.”

“It’s quite unusual in the arts to have something like this. I’m personally elated,” said Professor Richard Fishman, chairman of the Visual Arts Department and the Creative Arts Council (CAC) Executive Committee, the group that will administer the Lawton Wehle Fitt ’74 Endowment for Artists-in-Residence. He believes the gift will enhance CAC’s own efforts “to create interconnections between departments and raise the profile of the arts at Brown to a level commensurate with our achievements and with the role we play in the life of students and the Brown community.”

Fishman said the Executive Committee is soliciting proposals from the departments involved – Creative Writing; Theatre, Speech and Dance; Modern Culture and Media; and Visual Arts – as well as the Bell Gallery and Rites and Reason Theatre. He expects they will extend the first invitations to prospective artists-in-residence for the fall semester. Recipients will be selected in such a manner that each creative arts unit will benefit in turn, with criteria including reputation, interest in working with students and expected impact on the curriculum.

“In some instances the artists will come not only to work with students, but may also give a public lecture that will benefit the community at large,” noted Fishman. The gift “gives us sufficient funding to have various artists come to Brown, perhaps for a week, a month or over a semester.”

Fitt, a Boston native, lives in London, where she is involved in its arts scene. In a meeting with President Simmons in London last year, Fitt expressed her desire to make a major gift to support the University’s academic initiatives. Simmons suggested the creative arts departments could be enriched by providing additional opportunities for successful artists to work closely with Brown students. The idea struck a chord with Fitt, who has often mentored other Brown alumni.