Welcome to the Harvard Art Appreciation Society, a new club approved by HBS just this year! The club will have a kickoff meeting/call for officers at 5 pm on 11/29 in Spangler’s Williams Room.
What is the Harvard Art Appreciation Society?
HAAS is a club we founded to fill a void we saw on the HBS campus. The school has an interesting collection of art and a lot of students interested in the arts, so we thought we could create a forum where people could explore their interests-at all levels. Initially, HAAS will focus on fine arts (painting, sculpture, photography, prints, etc.), but eventually we envision expansion to include all the arts-from music to dance to film.
What will HAAS offer the HBS community?
HAAS will have several arms, including events and a speaker series. We plan to hold events both on campus and off, often reaching out into the Boston art scene to arrange for private showings or tours for HBS students and partners at museums, galleries, auction houses, or artists’ studios. In addition, we plan to create a speaker series that will bring art experts to campus, such as people who can address how to begin collecting, what role art can play as an investment, and experts who can talk about art or famous collections. Ronald Lauder, the head of Est‚e Lauder, whose taste in Austrian art is widely admired, would be our dream speaker from both a business and collection perspective! We would also like to feature experts who could teach things like photography over a one-day seminar for interested students and to bring in people who can address careers in the arts. Examples might include posts at auction houses, museums, or in art investment consulting.
We would also like to draw more attention to the HBS and Harvard collections. HBS has a strong contemporary collection -much of which hangs in Aldrich -that people know very little about. We would like to open a dialogue about what role that art plays on campus and in life in general.
What inspired you to start this club?
Both of us received Masters Degrees in Art History prior to enrolling at HBS and also majored in it as undergraduates. We recognized our own shared interests and kept meeting people on campus who had an interest in art, no matter what their backgrounds. We thought this club would be a great way for people who like art to become more involved in the Boston/Cambridge art community, as well as for those who think they might like to test the waters about art and learn more about it, somewhat like what the Wine and Cuisine Society offers its members. We’ve been working with a few other members of the Class of 2003 to get things rolling and will be having a kickoff meeting later on November 29th .
What is planned for the November 29th meeting?
The meeting will introduce the club to anyone in the community who is interested in joining and will serve as a call for officers. Since we’re a new club, we’re actively seeking people who are interested in helping shape the club and get it off the ground. We have a whole slate of offices to fill, from marketing to fundraising and event planning and outreach into the art scene outside of HBS. In addition, we plan to announce our first planned event at the meeting.
