Tripping the arts fantastic
On a recent afternoon, amid the buzz of preparations for Harvard’s annual Arts First extravaganza, the man who helps pull it all together sat in his office, surrounded by posters of past undergraduate performances and mementos from previous student-run shows, and made a surprising admission. When he was courted by Harvard 11 years ago for a leading arts position, Jack Megan left the campus after several rounds of intense interviews with a job offer, but also with a nagging hesitation. “I remember feeling like I still really didn’t have a sense of what the Office for the Arts (OFA) at Harvard did, or what the arts were like at Harvard.” Administrators told him to take time to think about his future and suggested he stop by Arts First. He did, and it struck him like a thunderbolt. A stellar piano concert in the Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum’s sumptuous courtyard, a riveting Asian-American dance presentation...