Dalia, directed by Brúsi Ólason and produced by Kári Úlfsson, screened in Columbia University Film Festival 2022
About
Columbia University School of the Arts’ Lenfest Center for the Arts is a dynamic hub for cultural and civic exchange in Upper Manhattan. Featuring four flexible venues and a public plaza, this state-of-the-art facility offers unprecedented opportunities for the presentation and generation of contemporary art and ideas across disciplines.
From readings and installations to performances, screenings, and symposia, the vibrant array of activity at the Lenfest Center for the Arts aims to strengthen local partnerships while highlighting contemporary scholarship, global perspectives, and compelling voices of our time.
Recent guests to Columbia University School of the Arts include visual artists Tania Bruguera, Duke Riley, Maya Lin, Doris Salcedo, and Hank Willis Thomas; filmmakers Claire Denis, James Mangold, María Sojob, Charlotte Wells, and Alejandro González Iñárritu; writers Louise Glück, Angie Cruz, Lewis Hyde, Elif Batuman, and Terese Marie Mailhot; theater artists Asiimwe Deborah Kawe, Candace Chong Mui Ngam, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Zayd Ayers Dohrn; historians George Chauncey, Margarita de Orellana, and Mabel O. Wilson; designers Michael Arad, Walter Hood, and Meejin Yoon; curators Amalia Córdova, Cass Gardiner, and Denis Pernet; literary critics Homi Bhabha, Marina Warner, and Farah Jasmine Griffin; legal scholar Kendall Thomas; climate scientist Maureen Raymo; and actor Al Pacino. In addition, the School of the Arts has spearheaded university-wide programming around issues of water justice and climate change; commissioned new work by Hahn Rowe and Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra; mounted large-scale public installations by Daan Roosegaarde and Jana Winderen; presented readings of contemporary plays from Chile, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Lebanon, Mexico, Palestine, Russia, Spain, Thailand, Uganda, and the UK; showcased theses by School of the Arts students; founded the annual Kit Noir Festival, and Lenfest Kids, a film screening series for children; hosted readings by New York City high school students who have produced original work with Writing students from Columbia University; and coordinated workshops on voice, theater, and storytelling for the Obama Scholars and the World Economic Forum.
The Lenfest Center for the Arts also showcases thesis productions by Acting, Directing, and Playwriting students in the MFA Theatre Program; mounts thesis exhibitions by MFA Visual Arts and Sound Art students; screens short films by MFA Film students within the annual Columbia University Film Festival (CUFF); and hosts readings and workshops for students of the MFA Writing Program.
Lenfest & School of the Arts Leadership
Lauren Weigel
Director, Lenfest Center for the Arts
Zack Tinkelman
Director of Production and Operations
Ethan Caso
Audience Services Manager
Dawn E. Clements
Audience Services Manager
Julia Hahn
Production Manager
Holly Ko
Production Manager - Lighting & Theatrical Systems
Dave Park
Film & Video Projection Manager
Calder Singer
Production Manager
Frank Spigner
A/V Network & Audio Production Manager
Cat Foley
Lighting & Production Associate
Sarah Cole
Interim Dean of the School of the Arts, Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Jana Wright
Dean of Academic Administration and Planning
Melissa Smey
Associate Dean and Executive Director
Carol Becker
Dean Emerita, Professor of the Arts
Gavin Browning
Director of Public Programs and Engagement
The Building
The Lenfest Center for the Arts was made possible by a gift from Trustee Emeritus H.F. (Gerry) and Marguerite Lenfest, leading patrons of the arts. Mr. Lenfest (LAW ’58, HON ’89), 1930–2018, served on the boards of Philadelphia’s Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Columbia University School of the Arts recognizes Manhattan as part of the ancestral and traditional homeland of the Lenni-Lenape and Wappinger people. We continue to address issues of exclusion, erasure, and systemic discrimination through ongoing education and a commitment to equitable representation.
Columbia University School of the Arts
Columbia University School of the Arts awards the Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Writing, as well as an interdisciplinary program in Sound Art that leads to an MFA in Visual Arts. The School also offers a Master of Arts degree in Film and Media Studies. It maintains a strong commitment to undergraduate education in the arts by offering majors in Creative Writing, Film and Media Studies, and Visual Arts that lead to the Bachelor of Arts, awarded by Columbia College and the School of General Studies.
The School is a thriving, diverse community of talented, visionary and committed artists from around the world and a faculty comprised of acclaimed and internationally renowned artists, film and theatre directors, writers of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, playwrights, producers, critics and scholars.
Manhattanville
The first new buildings on Columbia’s Manhattanville campus came to life during the 2016-17 academic year—the beginning stage of a sustainable urban design that will unfold over decades. The campus will provide innovative spaces for teaching, pioneering research, artistic expression, and the shared human experiences of a great city defined by openness and diversity. Read about Columbia University's Community Commitments at neighbors.columbia.edu.