Home — Category archives: "2010 — 2019"

The arts have enjoyed a vital and dynamic presence on the Stanford campus since the University was founded, together with the Stanford Museum, over a century ago. Chronicled here is the history of that presence ─ a compelling story of permanent change and growth. At the same time, the assembled information and documents bring to light an underlying commitment to an education in and through the arts that has guided and informed the institution’s evolution throughout. Tradition and transformation go hand in hand.

Visitors to this site will find answers to a variety of questions:
What kinds of activities developed and increased as the various units and groups connected to the arts came into being and continued to evolve? How have those activities shifted their focus, and sometimes even their departmental affiliation, from one part of the university to another? When were the campus arts facilities constructed and how have they been used? Who have been the key personalities and groups involved?

What have been the landmark achievements? What are the broader themes and tendencies that are common to the myriad pursuits, constituting a Stanford tradition?

The Stanford Arts Initiative, which began in 2006, has energized the arts on campus in transformative ways: new buildings for the arts are being constructed, faculty positions and student stipends added, and curricular reforms enacted.

The Initiative formed part of the five-year campaign called The Stanford Challenge, a cross-disciplinary vision for the 21st century. The Initiative’s momentum is being sustained across campus, in particular through the work of the Stanford Arts Institute. By promoting collaboration and further integrating the arts into the fabric of university life, the university will continue to establish new connections among arts disciplines at the same time as it blurs the boundaries between the curricular and the extracurricular.

Discover here an enduring legacy in higher education: a mix of idealism and pragmatism, theory and practice, knowledge and invention, community service and individual discovery, excellence and innovation.

Denning Family Director of the Stanford Arts Institute

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The Arts Timeline was funded, created, and produced by the Stanford Arts Institute. Additional funding was generously provided by The Ben and A. Jess Shenson Funds at Stanford University.

Timeline team: Kathryn Dickason, Toni Gauthier, Stephen Hinton, Ashley Kennedy, Heidi Lee, Stav Ziv

We are grateful to the Special Collections and University Archives Department of Stanford University Libraries for permission to reproduce images from various collections, in particular the Historical Photograph Collection.

PRELUDE +

2010 — 2019

MAY 10, 2010 Groundbreaking for the Bing Concert Hall

2010 Anglican music gets piping hot with Tudor organ

2011 Max Mathews, “father of computer music,” dies at 84

2012 The Study of Education at Stanford (SUES) leads to major reforms of undergraduate education

JUN 7, 2012 Illuminating Islam

SEPT 1, 2012 The Department of Drama with the Dance Division is renamed Theater and Performance Studies

NOV 2, 2012 Latin American History in Living Color

SEPT 2, 2012 The Anderson Collection, a preeminent post-World War II American art collection, is donated to Stanford

JAN 11, 2013 Bing Concert Hall opening night

2015 Welcome to the California Jazz Hall of Fame, Fred Berry

2016 Artist Rick Lowe is Stanford Haas Center’s 2016 Distinguished Visitor

2015 McMurtry Building opens: Stanford's newest building spotlights art and art history