Student Voices Shaping the Arts

Wesleyan’s Director’s Council is a student collective that helps shape the vision for the Center for the Arts. Working as ambassadors for the arts across campus, members play a direct role in imagining what the Center can become. More than a student club, the Council functions as a laboratory for executive leadership—where creative practice meets real responsibility. 

Self-governed and funded to produce boundary-crossing arts engagements, the Council gives students hands-on leadership training while supporting their development of peer-to-peer networks. Their signature “Make As You Are” events lower the barrier of entry to the arts and spark new forms of community across campus. 

The Council works closely with Joshua Lubin-Levy ’06, Director of the Center for the Arts, and collaborates with staff across the Center. Members help articulate the Center’s mission, shape its programming, and expand its reach—especially among their peers. 

Lubin-Levy says a central challenge in today’s arts landscape is cultivating future cultural leaders. “How do we create people who want to lead the field, or who want to be involved in it going forward?” he asks, positioning the Council as a strategic response. 

Council members are outgoing, community-oriented, and curious about the arts across disciplines—from curation and arts management to critical writing and civic engagement. 

Jake Rekrut ’26 joined the Council because its work sits at the intersection of art, access, and community. “Our goals are always changing and reflecting the interest of the student body,” he says. “I'm really interested in art as an interdisciplinary tool and a community-building tool.” 

Beyond curated performances and exhibitions, the Council offers students a space to train as leaders. Lubin-Levy often frames their work around collaboration: “How do you get people to work together?” Members plan and execute events, conduct audience research, and help shape the Center for the Arts’ approach—putting their ideas into practice at the institutional level. 

Rekrut says they design programming in response to shifts they observe in campus culture, including increasing interest in accessible art-making spaces. “The great thing about the Council is that it's so student-led,” he says. “It’s been an amazing experience.” 

Council members support projects that bring students together through making. Current initiatives include student-led publications about the arts at and beyond Wesleyan, and a series of artist salons in the Center’s Reading Room. 

Rekrut says the Council sees art as a connective force. “This is an awesome way that autonomy can be shifted back into the students' hands,” he explains. “Being able to share those opportunities is the crux of our work.”   

The Council meets weekly with Lubin-Levy, who coaches members as they take ownership of their projects, and meets independently once a week. Most work is self-directed and scheduled around academic commitments, totaling four to eight hours each week. 

Their “Make As You Are” workshops remain a central offering: novice-friendly, interdisciplinary sessions that encourage creative risk-taking. Whether exploring writing, sound, movement, or collage, the focus is on showing up, experimenting, and making something together. 

Each fall, Wesleyan students may apply to join the Director’s Council for the upcoming academic year. Selected candidates demonstrate strong communication and organizational skills, attention to detail, independence, comfort with deadlines, and an interest in social media and short-form storytelling.