The Impact of the Smith Office for the Arts (SOFA)
When we elevate the arts, we elevate everyone. In its first year, the Smith Office for the Arts built partnerships and connections with faculty, staff, and students; created new communications platforms; and launched several programs to highlight the incredible work already happening across campus—putting new traditions in place and connecting the arts community in new ways.
A SmithArts Welcome
A New Tradition
On April 13, 2024, SOFA presented the first Smith Arts Day, a day-long celebration of the artistic and creative community at Smith, bringing the arts together—across disciplines and across campus. Students, friends, family, and community members gathered at over 40 events, performances, exhibitions, tours, open rehearsals, workshops, and more, exploring over a dozen campus venues through the arts. This special day also overlapped intentionally with Admitted Students Day, featuring the impact that the arts have at Smith and making visible the many resources we offer to students.
Some Other Highlights
SOFA has been hard at work creating and collaborating across campus. Here are a few additional highlights from the 2023–24 academic year.
- Convened the SOFA Working Group of art department chairs
- Designed SmithArts tote bags featuring artwork of Rose Metting ’12
- Co-hosted ArtSalon at Smith College, a dynamic social evening of presentations by established and emerging artists in the Pioneer Valley
- Co-sponsored Art Stockings: Dialogues on Art, Gender, and Cultural Theory, a visual artist speaking series, organized by Professor Alex Callender and the art department
- Co-hosted Deborah Jack film screening and discussion, coinciding with the exhibition of her video at the Smith College Museum of Art, in collaboration with the film and media studies department
- Co-hosted Sisters in Praxis, a two-day symposium gathering filmmakers of the LA Rebellion, members of the New Negress Film Society, as well as film and sexuality studies scholars to critically engage and showcase works created by Black women who are operating on the margins of industry-focused, mainstream routes for Black cinema
- Worked with the Lazarus Center to sponsor two arts career treks, the first to New York City and the second to MASS MoCa and Williams College of Art
- Rebuilt the SmithArts Box Office, which lived in the theatre department and advocated for hiring a professional Box Office Manager to provide sustained and elevated patron services for multiple departments