FAP: Freshman Arts Program

At MIT, it seems that cold technology is king; the halls echo with the talk of molecules while books overflow with diagrams of particle accelerators and other expensive, shiny things. Life at MIT, however, is more than just blind enslavement to calculators and periodic tables. The joy and beauty of art and creativity permeate throughout the campus in a number of ways; FAP will introduce you to these arts and initiate you into MIT’s vibrant arts community. So before you take your first steps into adulthood, experience five days of the kind of mind expansion and fun that would make a preschooler jealous.

In addition to introducing you to the artistic opportunities that MIT and the surrounding Boston area have to offer, FAP will also help you develop yourself as an artist. Artists from all levels and backgrounds are invited to join 60 of their fellow freshmen and 16 passionate upperclassmen counselors in participating in everything from learning to tango to finger-painting. Within your first days you will meet people just as enthusiastic as you are about playing the violin or reenacting Monty Python sketches. Through early exposure to the arts at MIT, we hope that you will leave with the confidence, connections, and knowledge to become active participants and leaders in the MIT arts community. So come crash an artistic and ever-so-human wave on the shores of cold technology.

“I loved the fun, laid-back environment that FAP had to offer. The activities were a ton of fun and I met a lot of cool people.” – David Stein, FAP 2006

What Will We Do?

For the majority of five days you will participate in group activities (most art related and some not) that will allow you to meet your fellow FAPers and help you rediscover the creative kid in you. Such activities include putting on a very silly musical and taking part in a campus wide scavenger hunt. You will also spend time in many workshops put on by guest artists that will give you the opportunity to learn and try your hand at an eclectic variety of art forms such as playing the theremin and doing improv comedy.

You will also have the opportunity to spend a few hours each day with an intimate group of FAPers and counselors immersed in one of seven disciplines of your choice. You can choose to either continue to focus on your strongest artistic interest or quench your curiosity by diving into an art form that you know nothing about.

And! FAP includes excursions into the surrounding Boston area, such as relaxing at the DeCordova Sculpture Park, wowing people at the hottest salsa clubs, guffawing at the local comedy club, and strolling through Boston’s North End.

FAP Specifics

• Dates: Monday, August 24 through Saturday, August 29.
  
• Place: Freshmen will be housed in their assigned dormitory.
  
• Available Spaces: 50
  
• Cost: $275. The cost includes all meals and supplies.

The Disciplines

Music

If you’ve ever dreamed of wowing Symphony Hall or you know the interval between the first and second note of your doorbell then come jam with us! Whether your favorite artist is Mozart, Megadeth, or Mos Def, we’ll give you a place to play, compose, and improvise with other freshmen. Also we’ll give you a tour of the countless music opportunities that MIT and Boston have to offer. We will explore the entire realm of music so come and share your passion for music with us.

Dance

If you love to flail your limbs around or are like a delicate flower in the breeze, come ready to learn some crazy dances and to explore your creativity. Even if you have limited experience, you will have the opportunity to learn many traditional and nontraditional dances and pick up some new moves. So if you’re curious about those wacky French terms (“plie”? “arabesque”?), or are aching to learn to the Texas Two-Step, then get ready for an energetic week.

Creative Writing

More than just careening through literary forms, juggling words and phrases, batting around other’s ideas and critiques, and wrestling Poe’s ghost; bring the classic literary attitude and jump into the 21st century. You will have the chance to write the most fragile of poetry (or the most offensive), edit Family Guy episodes with lofty dialogue, come up with silly sketches, or create comic books. Almost everything involves words, doesn’t it? All you need is an interest in words, an open-mind, and an urge to express and share ideas.

Photography

We completely understand when you stand in awe of an amazing scene, pull out your gigantic camera, and take twenty photographs from every angle you can think of. We also understand if you simply love taking pictures with your shiny new digital camera.

We will spend time figuring out exactly what goes on in a dark room by developing pictures
that we will take in the Boston area.

Film

After watching a movie do you go on and on about the cinematography, the script, the special effects, and camera lens? Do you want to know what makes Kubrick a genius and Tarantino just plain awesome? Or do you simply love movies? In the age of YouTube, you can’t afford to not know how to make a film. We will draw from a wide array of artistic and technical areas such as mechanical effects, modeling, storyboarding, computer graphics, musical score, and video editing to produce a digital film worthy of your
breathtaking cinematic vision.

Theater

No matter what your specific interest in theater, this discipline will enthrall you. We will toss aside poor Yorick’s skull and look at the world of drama in fresh new ways and in the process you’ll learn a lot about yourself and your peers. We’ll spend time working on each aspect of a theatrical performance and will go through exercises that will allow you to explore your talent whether you’re a beginner or an expert. You’ll also have a chance to hear from different members of the Theater Arts faculty and student theater groups at MIT.

Visual Arts

Whether you put Monet and Manet to shame or if you don’t know how to properly hold a brush, we’ll have a great time exploring the motion and emotion involved with the visual arts. We’ll paint the town (or canvas rather) red, blue, and green with graffiti, experiment with ideas of architecture like space and form, sculpt something epic, and just generally get our hands dirty with all sorts of media. We’ll meet with some amazing MIT faculty who are involved in the arts, get to know our fellow freshmen better, and find ways to stay actively involved in the arts at MIT.