Learning from Performers

Learning from Performers

Celebrating 50 years of Learning from Performers, a visiting artist series that has enriched and inspired students and the community since 1975.

students at table listening to jeremy harris

The Office for the Arts proudly celebrates 50 years of Learning from Performers, a visiting artist series that has enriched and inspired students and the community since 1975.

In celebration of this landmark anniversary, the OFA presents a series of vibrant discussions pairing distinguished alumni artists alongside artistic collaborators. The festivities opened with Creative Mischief and the Art of Being Funny Together, a conversation between writer, producer and showrunner Robert Carlock ’95 and actor, writer, producer and comedian Tina Fey on January 30, 2026, at Sanders Theatre.

During the sold-out event, Carlock and Fey shared insights about their artistic process and creative collaboration. Additionally, The Opportunes, a Harvard a capella ensemble, performed, and four students from campus comedy groups led a conversation with the artists.

The mission at the heart of the Learning from Performers program is that creativity and discovery are nurtured by engagement. To that end, the LFP visiting artist producer Alicia Anstead, in conjunction with OFA director and many student co-producers, curates immersive programs that put students and professional artists in the room together in creative, exciting, intellectual exchanges.

About Learning from Performers

Under the OFA directorship of Myra Mayman, Learning from Performers was the brainchild of Jerold Kayden ’75, now the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Founding Director of its Masters in Real Estate Program. Kayden curated the program during its inaugural year, creating the template for what would become a thriving enterprise that continues to this day. Following Mayman’s retirement, LFP was fostered by former OFA Director of Programming Tom Lee and is now produced by Associate Director for Creative Productions Alicia Anstead.

A student and artist Rob Shetterly discuss a portrait

LFP was founded to host artists and artist ensembles annually in music, dance, theater, film, TV, visual arts and inter-disciplinary arts. These artists have led workshops, residencies, classes, seminars, coachings, discussions, and engage in longer-term residencies that sometimes culminate in performances, exhibitions and new works. In recent years, LFP programs have increasingly and more deeply involved students, faculty and FAS curricular courses and other Harvard departments such as the Mignone Center for Career Success, JFK School of Government, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, the Department of Music, the Graduate School of Education, the Office of Culture and Community, the Harvard Ed Portal, Harvard iLabs, Harvard Business School and more.

Featured artists have included: theatrical director Harold Prince, violinist Itzhak Perlman, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, actor Robert Redford, vocalist Sarah Vaughn, choreographer Merce Cunningham, photographer Alice Neel, playwright Arthur Miller, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and many others.

More recent artists have included: Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, vocalist Ana Gasteyer, poet John Ashbury, actor Kristen Chenoweth, actor BD Wong, filmmaker and visual artist Steve McQueen, playwright Michael R. Jackson, novelist Min Jin Lee, and many others.

Media questions should be directed to Alicia Anstead.

Learning from Performers is supported by The Bernard H. and Mildred Kayden Artist in Residence Fund.