Fall Welcome: Dean’s Message to School Community
Dear colleagues,
Greetings and a warm welcome to the fall quarter. I hope you’re healthy and well.
Those are strange words to type in this moment. This is not a fall quarter like the one any of us imagined.
This fall feels different.
Summer, usually a time of reflection and respite from the rhythms of the academic year, instead has been filled with social and political turmoil; the pandemic is still very much with us; the air outside has been heavy from the smoke of wildfires made worse by our warming climate; systemic racism and anti-Blackness has been brought starkly into focus by both protests filled with hope and violence filled with hate; the election, a mere five weeks away, seems to consume as much concern and energy as we can provide.
Yet, we are returning. We are continuing.
These are challenging times. It’s tempting to throw up our hands in despair, ignore the daily horrors, or normalize the widespread pain many of us are enduring.
You might be asking yourself: What can I—an artist, architect, designer, dancer, performer, scholar, student—offer to this moment in which our world is in such dire need, a moment rife with chaos and suffering, a moment in which justice, for so many, hangs in the balance? Why create when the world seems to be on the verge of collapse? How can art possibly make a difference in a time of crisis?
I want you to know that it matters, and it does make a difference.
It matters that you keep making the work, because it’s central to how we process, how we protest, how we exist. Our voices matter at the polls, but they also matter in the virtual classroom and the home studio.
We urgently need the arts to help us see more deeply into the complexities of the world and into our own hearts and minds. And, put simply, the arts help us create our future. Imagining as of yet unimagined futures is what we are here to do as a school, together. And it is what I believe you will be doing for many years to come.
I know many of you are limited in where you can make work. I wish we could throw open the doors to our studios, labs, classrooms, and performance spaces once again. At some point, that time will come. When it is safe to do so, we’ll return to the bustle of activity that makes our school so exciting.
In the meantime, I urge you to keep creating and keep finding ways to connect with one another. We may be separated physically, but we are united by our passion and our creative pursuits. In this moment, we must call upon our collective creativity to bridge this divide.
I want to welcome our returning students, faculty, and staff to the new academic year and extend an especially warm embrace to all new members of our community—please take extra time to make them feel welcomed and a part of our school.
This is also a time for UCLA Arts to reflect critically on ways we have not lived up to our mission. I’m hopeful about the many ideas that are taking form for revising our culture and curriculum to make the school more welcoming to members of under-resourced communities. The school’s Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Commission has been meeting throughout the summer and is preparing a list of recommended actions. The Commission will work closely with our newly-appointed associate dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Design | Media Arts associate professor Lauren Lee McCarthy, to implement these reforms at a schoolwide level. A town hall forum will be held on Thursday, Oct. 8 from 4-6 pm for our entire community to review and provide feedback to the AEDI Commission’s recommendations. We will provide more details about the town hall in the coming days.
For those just joining UCLA Arts, know that you are girded by a strong and dedicated community that is here to support, help and guide you along the way. And to all, know that you should never hesitate to reach out if you have concerns, are struggling with something, or just need to talk.
I look forward to seeing the amazing work you will produce, and wish you the best for what I hope is a productive and satisfying fall quarter.
Best,
Brett Steele
Dean | UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture
P.S. November 3rd, Election Day, is soon upon us. Eligible voters can check their registration, register to vote, learn about the issues, and make a plan to vote by visiting https://bruinsvote.ucla.edu. Your voice and your vote matter.