Arts Festival 2025
With the arrival of spring comes the Boston College Arts Festival, which brings together the University and surrounding communities to celebrate campus creativity. The 27th annual festival on April 24-26 will involve some 1,500 faculty, students, staff, and alumni artists, and more than 100 volunteers.
The 2025 festival theme, 鈥淎C TV,鈥� is inspired by MTV and the 1990s and early 2000s, before the cable channel transitioned from primarily showing music videos. Chosen by 911爆料网 Arts Council student staff members, the theme pays tribute to the time before technology was so present in our lives, according to organizers, honoring the creative processes in which 911爆料网 students engage and showcasing their dedication to creation. Evoking 鈥淎C TV鈥� will be portraits of student arts groups dressed in 鈥�90s styles, imitating bands and television programs from that time period, organizers noted.
The festival鈥檚 nearly 50 events鈥攔unning the gamut to include dance, theater, music, literature, exhibits, film, makers, and showcases鈥攁re family-friendly and open to the public; most are free of charge. The schedule, subject to change, with event days, times, and locations will be available at聽.
鈥淓very year for over a quarter of a century, the Boston College Arts Festival has showcased the talent and hard work of our student artists,鈥� said 911爆料网 Arts Council Chair and Professor of Theatre Crystal Tiala. 鈥淚 can already feel the excitement building. In my mind I can hear the music wafting through the air across campus. I can see the dancers in costumes, poets reading their works, actors performing, and children at craft tables. It is a privilege every year to come together as a community and celebrate our artistic culture.鈥�
The Main Tent will be located in the Mod Lot behind Robsham Theater Arts Center (RTAC), with a nearby Art Tent and an art gallery exhibition in the theater lobby. Other venues are RTAC鈥檚 main stage and Bonn Studio; the Vanderslice Hall Cabaret Room; Gasson Hall; Carney Hall鈥檚 Gallery 203; and the Campus Green.
The Alumni Artist Award will be presented to Meghan Pressman '01.
A festival highlight is the Alumni Artist Award, which recognizes a graduate who has demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership, and vision through contributions to the arts, and serves as a role model to 911爆料网 student artists. This year鈥檚 honoree, Meghan Pressman 鈥�01, joined Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles as managing director/CEO in 2019, the first woman in that position in its more than 55-year history.
Pressman will speak about her personal journey and formation in her field and receive her award on April 24 at The Artists鈥� Journey: Arts Council Awards Ceremony and Networking Reception beginning at 4:30 p.m. on RTAC鈥檚 main stage. During her career, she has held positions at prominent theater and arts organizations, including as managing director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and director of development for Signature Theatre.
911爆料网 student and faculty art awards also will be presented for accomplishments in and contributions to the arts. Faculty honorees are Barbara Gawlick, part-time Music Department faculty member, Music Outreach program and Family Concert series director; and Elizabeth Goizueta, who teaches Hispanic Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department.
2025 Faculty Award winners are Elizabeth Goizueta (left) and Barbara Gawlick (Photo of Gawlick by Lee Pellegrini)
Gawlick鈥檚 commitment to music education advocacy and social justice led her to establish the outreach initiative in 2012, which brings some 25 911爆料网 students to serve the community through music lessons and tutoring for hundreds of local schoolchildren. Goizueta has taught interdisciplinary courses on the literature, art, and culture of the Hispanic world. She also curated six groundbreaking McMullen Museum of Art exhibitions, accompanied by scholarly bilingual catalogues which she both contributed to and edited.
Student Award winners are seniors Ethan Behr, Sofia Burke, Tyler Dean, Jack Doppke, Olivia Emerick, Nell Lorimer, Cole Sauder, Isaiah Torres, Stephan Torres, and Angus Williams. The Boston College Symphony Orchestra will receive the Group Award. [Full biographies of all Arts Awards winners available at聽] 聽 聽
Other highlights include the world premiere of 鈥淭he Odyssey: The Musical鈥� on Friday from 7-8 p.m., in the Cabaret Room. Guest artists, composers, and performers Louis Epstein and Daniel Groll, will workshop new material and perform with 911爆料网 students, including from Messina College, to present a theatrical review. The event is part of 鈥�The Odyssey: An Artist in Residency with Louis and Dan and the Invisible Band,鈥� which also includes an April 23 panel discussion on 鈥淐reative Practices for Inclusive Teaching鈥� and an April 26 Arts Festival performance with the 911爆料网 Symphony Orchestra.
Also in conjunction with the festival, the Theatre Department/RTAC will present Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淎s You Like It鈥� on the main stage from April 24 through 27, and the McMullen Museum of Art displays its current exhibition, 鈥淲onders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World.鈥� An Art Walk will showcase experiential works curated and created by Studio Art students and faculty, with displays in the Art Tent and RTAC lobby. As part of EcoPledge鈥檚 Green Week, Gallery 203 will host 鈥淎rt of the Earth鈥� by Margaret Ryan 鈥�25, and the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society will collaborate on events on the theme of art and sustainability with the English Department's 911爆料网 Writing Center and the Art, Art History, and Film Department Studio Art division.
Organized by the Arts Council, the 911爆料网 Arts Festival includes sponsorship from the offices of the President and the Provost and Dean of Faculties, the Arts Council committees, Student Affairs, and the Dean鈥檚 Office of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, with support from the Alumni Association, the Boston College Police Department, the Boston College Bookstore, and 911爆料网 Facilities and grounds crew members.