The First-Year Arts Program (FAP) was founded in 1995 by Alan Symonds as a way to introduce incoming first-years to the artistic community at Harvard. Every FAP year is unique, but the atmosphere of complete artistic immersion is constant.
The program is based on Workshops, Spotlight Events, Social Events, and student art-making. Workshops allow students to delve into more specific skills by working with resident artists in smaller groups. Spotlight Events feature prominent artists in conversation with students on a myriad of creative topics. Social Events encourage comradery and collaboration between students using the arts and creativity as the common language. Finally, students will have the opportunity to collaborate with others to create their own music, dance, theater, film, creative writing and studio arts projects. ALL learning opportunities will be low to no barrier to entry to strongly encourage all FAPers to branch out into new areas while contributing skills in more familiar art forms.
Our Mission
The First-Year Arts Program creates a non-competitive environment that encourages exploration in all forms of art, orients artists to the academic and extracurricular arts opportunities at Harvard, and eases the transition into Harvard life.