The weather may have been dreary, but Sanders Theatre was bursting with warmth and community during the Office for the Arts 50th birthday celebration on February 13. 

Complete with student showcases from bhangra to mariachi to ceramics interspersed with heartwarming individual stories of the arts, the party was a brilliant display of Harvard’s vibrant art scene.

Rarely are such diverse creative groups given a space to perform alongside one another as in the OFA program, a celebration of the wide-ranging community of student art-makers championed by new Director of the Office for the Arts Fiona Coffey. In the process of showcasing so many arts communities, many performers in turn reached new communities of art-appreciators on campus.

“There were a few dance performances from groups whose shows I’d never had the chance to see before, and their talent was absolutely jaw-dropping,” said Olivia Data ’26, whose original artwork was commissioned by the OFA and featured on promotional materials for the party.

Despite the wide range of performances, they all shared an infectious energy palpable as the audience cheered, gasped, and laughed with the performers. And the party didn’t stop there — an afterparty held in Annenberg Hall offered opportunities for attendees to channel their creative enthusiasm into their own artistic practice with art-making stations along with food and drink.

For some, the event was especially meaningful because of the visibility it brought to both student art groups and the Office for the Arts behind-the-scenes work that empowers them.

“As a student musician/artist on campus, the OFA plays a huge part in my life at Harvard, and I think a lot of that goes unseen. They are the reason that arts programs here get the funding, administration, and human resources that allow the arts at Harvard to flourish,” commented attendee Sam Lyczkowski ’26.

The OFA half-century legacy of care in creating institutionally supported arts spaces on campus was clear, as was an inspired commitment to shape the next 50 years of art at Harvard. This forward-looking emphasis shone through on an individual as well as institutional level: personal stories and ambitions of students as future caretakers of the arts interwove with contributions from established arts professionals like American Repertory Theater Director Diane Paulus.

President Alan Garber even took the stage to share his own testimonial about the importance of artistic spaces for personal and community development, a sentiment resoundingly echoed in student narratives and performances by community-building arts groups like the First-Year Musical.

“Through [the OFA], a myriad of diverse artists come together and create art more beautiful, more powerful than any of us could have accomplished independently,” Lyczkowski said.

The OFA party was a joyful testament that art in and for community is powerful. The Office for the Arts — and the students it serves — certainly had reason to celebrate.