A Welcome Message from Laila Maher
Dean of Student and Alumni Affairs
Now more than ever it is crucial for artists to be supported as they pursue their craft. The life of an artist as well as that of a student involves much more than the classroom and the work itself, and this is where the Office of Student Affairs comes in. In addition to guiding new students through the process of transitioning to the School of the Arts, we plan the School-wide orientation, School of the Arts Convocation, and support student groups, events, and activities.
We also play a critical role in connecting School of the Arts students to the larger university and necessary services, and help students navigate many of the central offices including Health Services (which houses the Office of Disability Services, Insurance, Immunization, and Counseling and Psychological Services), Columbia Residential, Public Safety, University Life, the International Students and Scholars Office, and the Registrar's Office. Our office also helps to uphold many of the School and University-wide policies and we manage the School’s disciplinary procedures.
The Artists’ Resource Center, also part of our Office, maintains information on funding opportunities and career resources for students and alumni at the Columbia University School of the Arts, and provides consultations to students and alumni to help them look for professional development opportunities and more.
After graduation, the Office of Alumni Affairs provides more than 7000 alumni artists, creators, and leaders with opportunities to stay connected with the School of the Arts, the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA), and one another through alumni programming, benefits, a monthly newsletter, and collaborations with CAA Arts Access.
Our ultimate goal is to support our students and alums while they pursue their education as valued members of our dynamic community and as they navigate their time after graduation.
Student & Alumni News
In Masquerade, a new immersive Off-Broadway production directed by Theatre alum Diane Paulus '97, audiences get to step into the world of the Phantom of the Opera. The show is set in a haunted opera house and follows the young soprano Christine Daaé, being tutored by the titular Phantom. Audiences are split into six groups, each guided through multiple interactive rooms and floors by a different pair of actors playing the lead duo.
Jinwoo Chong '21, author of the award-winning novel Flux, will release his third novel, Club Nine Tails, with Random House in March 2027–a novel about family, reconciliation, and a cross-country adventure.
Five Playwriting alums have their short plays included in Methuen Drama’s new anthology, The Future is Short, edited by Mitchell Thomas, award-winning actor, director, and professor at Westmount College. The anthology features 20 short plays of various genres with a run time under 15 minutes, “written by some of the most exciting contemporary voices in American theatre.” These inventive, resonant plays are catered to college and high school students developing their craft.
2026 marks the National Book Award's 77th year, and several Columbia writers are included in the longlist in both fiction and nonfiction. The National Book Award, founded in 1950 to celebrate the best of American writing, is considered the pinnacle of literary achievement in the United States and gives prizes in five different categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Past recipients of the awards include writers like Ralph Ellison, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Toni Morrison, and Philip Roth.
Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), has selected Goldie E. Patrick '23 as the 2026-2027 Lloyd Richards New Futures Resident Artist.
Columbia Engineering hosted its first World Leaders Forum with Endeavor Greece and the School of the Arts, bringing together leaders in government, global development, technology, and art to discuss AI's impact on people and culture. Read more from Columbia Engineering.
Ben Shirken, second year Sound Art student, has been made a finalist in the 2026 Lumen Prize, a $30,000 award that "exists to support artists exploring the relationship between art and technology in all its forms."
Several Columbia filmmakers are preparing for their films to screen at the 2026 New York Film Festival, which will run from September 25 through October 12, 2026.
In The Sound of Burning: A Mother, a Daughter, a Murder, forthcoming from the University of Georgia Press on October 1, Writing alum Kristi D. Osorio '17 examines the cultural obsession with true crime through a personal lens. The author’s debut opens with then-fifteen-year-old Osorio in her bedroom, the night her mother murdered her grandmother. Through a blend of memoir and criticism, Osorio brings a human perspective to an often-sensationalized narrative, reclaiming her own “coming of age in the shadows of violence.”
Anna Ting Möller '23 was awarded a 2026 Franklin Furnace FUND for Performance Art for her performance piece Dissolve and Coagulate—A Visual Inquiry into Abjection. Since 1985, the Franklin Furnace FUND has awarded grants to early-career artists to prepare for major performance art works in New York. Franklin Furnace celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, along with the 41st anniversary of its FUND for Performance Art.
Several Columbia Alums are set to have their films screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year.
Contemporary Hominin, a solo exhibition by Visual Arts alum Wenfei Quan '25, is on view September 11–October 10, 2026 at TaThaTa Gallery on the Lower East Side.