The Yale College Council has recently partnered with the Arts Council of Greater New Haven to encourage Yalies to participate in New Haven arts events and bring Elm City artists to campus.
With its online publication The Arts Paper, online job postings and creative events, the Arts Council serves as a network and promotion platform for burgeoning artists. It also offers scholarships for local students, hosts a youth journalism initiative and organizes New Haven’s annual Make Music Day celebration.
In the future, YCC and the Arts Council will curate a series of sponsored arts outings for Yalies to enjoy in the Elm City. These events will tentatively be called “New Haven Explorers,” according to YCC Finance Director Kahlil Greene ’21. The two councils are also planning a “Community Fair,” during which New Haven arts groups will come to campus and showcase their organizations. Greene emphasized that it is important for YCC to give New Haveners the opportunity to come to Yale and showcase their work, and not just to focus on getting Yalies out into the city.
YCC will also be promoting the Council’s free membership program. Students can sign up to be Council members on its website and gain access to creative resources and weekly newsletters as well as host events at Arts Council venues like the Kehler Liddell Gallery. All members get primary access to programs and services including advocacy alerts, events and the Council’s The Arts Paper.
“As a member, you are supporting the talents and cultural capital of the city that is now our home,” Greene saud. “The partnership is still in its early stages but we are excited for many large projects to come.”
Greene said that initially, he and the YCC business team set up a meeting with the Executive Director of the Arts Council, Daniel Fitzmaurice, to discuss possible ways of bringing Yale College and the Arts Council together.
It was great timing for Fitzmaurice and the Arts Council as they recently revised their membership program under new Membership Director, Stacy Graham-Hunt, according to Fitzmaurice said. He added that the Council has been working on engaging new, younger and more diverse audiences.
“College students are a key part of this initiative and we hope that our membership will deepen their relationship to our creative community,” Fitzmaurice said.
This new partnership aims to link the Yale undergraduate community to the bountiful arts resources of the Elm City, Greene said. By signing up for a membership, Yalies will be able to stay more up-to-date with the local arts scene and will be able to enjoy events showcasing artists off-campus.
Under YCC President Saloni Rao ’20 and Greene, YCC has partnered with local organizations in New Haven at a greater rate than ever before, Greene said.
“We are really excited to now be working with [the Arts Council] to promote their free membership,” said Rao. “It is a really unique and special way to bridge the Yale-New Haven divide.”
Abigail Grimes ’22, who is involved in the New Haven community through Dwight Hall, said she thought the partnership was “a great step in increasing contact between New Haven and Yale because it goes both ways” and opens up Yale to Elm City residents.
Before partnering with the Arts Council, YCC had already negotiated deals with national brands like Lyft, Red Bull, The Flex Company and Maxim Hygiene Products.
Jose Davila IV | jose.davilaiv@yale.edu