Bollinger Names Director of Arts

University President Lee Bollinger has made arts a high priority since his first day at Columbia.

Yesterday, he formalized the University's commitment to the arts, announcing the appointment of Tony Award winner Gregory Mosher to a newly created post as director of University arts initiatives.

Mosher, who has directed or produced over 150 shows, will join Bollinger's inner circle of advisers, assuming the formal title of special assistant to the president for the arts. He brings over 30 years of theater experience to Columbia.

The high-profile appointment is the boldest in a series of measures designed to increase links between arts at Columbia and the University's other educational programs. Mosher arrives at a time when the graduate School of the Arts is anticipating a move to a new building, most likely a renovated Prentis Hall on 125th Street.

Mosher will spend the next several months meeting with faculty, students, and administrators, with the aim of acquainting himself with Columbia's artistic resources and needs.

"I don't know how it's going to work," Mosher said, "but common sense tells me that it will. And even if it doesn't, the attempt is well worth the effort."

"The proof will be in the pudding," he added. "It will take trial and error."

In some of Mosher's most successful past endeavors, he also wasn't quite sure how things were going to work.

"I did this version of James Joyce's The Dead that was on Broadway a couple of years ago [in 2000]," Mosher said. "And I loved doing that because nobody else would have done it."

He faced a similar situation when directing the Broadway play Freak in 1998. After initially being turned down by several producers, he persevered to create the acclaimed John Leguizamo show that garnered five Tony nominations.

Mosher also insisted on opening Freak to a wider audience with discounted ticket prices.

"We sold a third of the seats every night for $17.50 or less," he said. "And you could buy them in advance--there was none of this bullshit about you had to go get there at six o'clock in the morning and know the secret password and be able to sing your school song."

It was not the first time Mosher broke rank to make theater more affordable. Earlier, Mosher had pioneered an alternative to theater subscriptions while serving as the director of New York's Lincoln Center Theater. His system of theater memberships provided inexpensive tickets to those who paid a small annual fee.

And Mosher's commitment to broader access to artistic performances promises to shape his initiatives at Columbia. He maintains an extensive network of contacts in the performing arts industry, a resource he hopes to put to use in order to improve the connection between the University and the arts.

The news of Mosher's appointment was unexpected but not altogether surprising; Bollinger's vision for arts at Columbia requires more energy than he alone might be able to invest. Recruiting a successful artist with decades of experience is a major victory for the president, who has expressed confidence in his selection. He even installed Mosher just three doors away from his own Low Library office, allowing the two to work closely on an initiative that Bollinger has called one of his most important.