A Fall Message from Dean Brett Steele
This past weekend, I had the honor of celebrating the opening of our new UCLA Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios in Culver City.It’s so humbling and thrilling to witness the creation of a new space—or the re-invention of an old space—that will be dedicated to the making of art, to the nurturing and development of artists, and to the cultivation of community.
As I welcome everyone—returning students, faculty and staff and nearly 200 new students—to the 2019–20 academic year—UCLA’s Centennial year—and as we move forward amidst the many challenges in our world, it is especially inspiring to have inaugurated this new space in which our artists and teachers and staff will forge ideas and work that will illuminate our lives and help shape the future.
It’s the work we all must do, metaphorically, at the beginning of each year. How do we create the space that gives our students, educators, and staff—that gives ourselves and our community—the opportunity to grow, to create, to respond, and to engage with our world and our time?
Creating space for artists and the arts is something UCLA has been doing for 100 years. As we mark this important milestone for the university, we can both recognize all that has been accomplished and rededicate ourselves to all that there is left to do.
As I moved through this remarkable new building, I could not help but get excited about the year ahead and all it has to offer. I encourage you to get out of your normal routines and venture beyond your normal bounds. Take in an event, look at work of peers across campus, take a moment to stroll the galleries of the Fowler and the Hammer museums, take advantage of CAP UCLA’s amazing 2019–20 season.
At UCLA, we are fortunate to reside on campus amongst artists, researchers, scientists, activists, and scholars working at the top of their fields. I hope you will join us for the Centennial Edition of 10 Questions, a public series on Tuesday nights in which experts in disciplines as diverse as dance, psychology, astrophysics, Chicanx studies, law, philosophy, biology, and more will join choreographer and Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Victoria Marks to explore one fundamental question each week. We’ll kick the series off tomorrow with our own Distinguished Professor Peter Sellars and UCLA’s new Executive Vice Chancellor Emily Carter, who will address the timely question, What is a university and what role can it play in shaping the next century?
I look forward to seeing and experiencing your work in the days and months ahead and to beginning new conversations and deepening ongoing ones as we return to our work here on campus and as we continue to reach out beyond the 420 acres of UCLA to help shape the future of the city and world around us.
My best wishes to you all for an invigorating and productive fall quarter,
Brett