Have you ever wanted to brag to your friends about how culturally enlightened you are? Have you ever wanted to do something so high class on weekends, you belong in a nineteenth century period drama? Have you ever wanted to spend your money on something more sophisticated than lamb gyros? Of course you have – you […]

Ever walked by that ticket booth on the way out of Lerner (campus-side) and wondered exactly what they do there?  Before you go up and ask them, let us tell you about it.  And no, they’re not there to fix the printers in the computer lab or lend you a stapler. The TIC (Ticket and […]

Melissa Smey, director of the Arts Initiative and Miller Theatre, just sent an email to everyone on the CUArts listserv announcing forthcoming changes to the Arts Initiative. The changes, made in response to the “Save the Arts Initiative” campaign, come just 2 days after Prezbo told a fireside chat audience that he was looking into […]

Tonight, GSSC passed a resolution and SGB issued a statement calling on the administration to “Save the Arts Initiative.” SGA, ESC, and CCSC have already passed similar resolutions (and ABC issued a similar statement), while over 1,200 students and alums have individually signed a similar petition. All of the resolutions, statements, and petitions call on […]

So some intrepid students chalked “SAVETHEARTSINIATIVE.ORG” in front of Miller Theatre, choosing that spot because CUArts and Miller were brought under the same roof, some say to the detriment of both. The concerned citizens chalked the URL of a petition addressing the recent—and according to the signees, devastating—cuts to CUArts.

A petition calling on Columbia students to “save the arts initiative” has been signed over 1,000 times. Clearly, many people believe the Arts Initiative is trouble. But Melissa Smey—the current director of both Miller Theatre and the Arts Initiative—is, perhaps unsurprisingly, not one of them. She just sent us a statement highlighting the continuing accomplishments […]

In light of recent events regarding the decline of the CU Arts Initiative, students led by Will Hughes, CUPAL president and VP Policy of CCSC, have created a petition to show support and promote awareness.  This Wednesday, all of the deans involved with the issue (Becker, Wright, Shollenberger) are meeting to discuss what the next steps […]

Artists and dilettantes rejoice! Columbia Undergraduate Art Initiative is accepting artwork to be displayed on campus spaces such as John Jay Dining Hall and Lerner lobby (according to their Facebook profile). Not only are you getting a chance to let your ego run rampant display your artistic talent, but also to liven up the campus. To […]

Art aficionado Maren Killackey looks at CU Arts’ inefficiencies, its history and its future. At the risk of further belaboring an already belabored point, the decline of the Columbia University Arts Initiative is an unfortunate tale and has had unfortunate effects on all. From the Frick and Guggenheim dropping out of Passport to Columbia, to […]

The ESC meets every week. Notorious newsperson Aria Sharma writes about it for us every week.  Tonight’s ESC meeting was fast-paced with updates rolling nonstop. The Dean Search Town Hall was on Monday at 4pm. Twenty-five students showed up, out of which 23 were undergraduate students. ESC welcomed a new web master, Robert Ying (SEAS […]

Last night, lucky students (along with invited guests like CCSC President Karishma Habbu, ESC President Tim Qin, and members of the media) spent an evening in PrezBo’s house for one of his famous “Fireside Chats,” dining on fine cuisine (mini hot dogs, mini burgers, regular size chicken fingers, and cookies) and discussing the state of […]

Earlier today, the Times reported that Václav Havel, the dissident playwright who was elected president of Czechoslovakia after the fall of the Soviet Union and later became the first president of the Czech Republic (after it split from Czechoslovakia), passed away at the age of 75. A founding member of Charter 77, Havel was an […]

It was announced today that Melissa Smey, Director of Miller Theatre, will be taking over leadership of Columbia’s Arts Initiative. In his university-wide e-mail, PrezBo praised Smey’s work in revamping Miller’s agenda — remember Sonic Youth? — which we chronicled in our profile of her in the November issue of The Blue & White. Bollinger, […]

Today is an alternating Wednesday. So welcome back to QuickTix! Remember the TIC? Remember that you said you wanted to see New York? Tickets sold for on campus events this week: 990 On campus events on sale now: 7th Annual Guria Benefit: October 9th @ 6:30pm, Roone, $10, Tickets. The Physicists: October 21st @ 3pm […]

Advocates for the Arts Initiative met in the Satow Room in Lerner at 3:00 today in order to gauge student opinion in preparation for their meeting with School of the Arts Dean Carol Becker in two weeks. At issue in the meeting will be the 30% budget cut the Arts Initiative faces for fiscal year […]