Norman Frisch, the new Hopkins Center Programming Director, said he wants to make The Hop more than just a place for students to eat and pick up their mail.
The Hopkins Center selected Frisch after conducting a national search to replace Naj Wykoff, who served only one year in the position. Wykoff had trouble designing goals that were realistic at the College, Hopkins Center Associate Director Marga Rahmann said.
Frisch, who spent the last seven years as programming director for the Los Angeles Festival, came to Dartmouth in December, but his programming will not be implemented until next fall, Hopkins Center Director Lewis Crickard said.
"We wanted someone who had ability in programming but also an ability to work with all the members of the academic community," Crickard said.
Frisch said he wants to increase interest in The Hop by expanding thematic programming to include more interdisciplinary offerings. He said he also wants to see more collaboration between artists, community activists and the academic community.
Frisch said there are two distinct groups of students who use The Hop. One group, which includes about 600 people, is directly involved with the Center's events; the other is composed of students who use The Hop for its postal and eating facilities rather than as a cultural resource, he said.
Frisch is also planning to change the conservative style of art at The Hop, Rahmann said.
"He has a very strong interest in creating work that crosses boundaries," she said.
Frisch said he will continue Wykoff's efforts to expand the definitions and boundaries of art. "People are going to look at exhibits and say, 'is this art?'" he said.
"People are going to see a mixing-up of art forms and artistic style," Frisch said.
Aside from the artistic aspects of the building, Frisch said he wants to enhance the spiritual value of the Hop. "This is the place where people come to commune with the more hidden parts of their existence," he said.
Frisch comes to the College after more than twenty years of varied work in the performing arts in America and Europe. He said he first became interested in the performing arts while living with acting students at Tufts University, where he went to college.
While studying at the London School of Economics, Frisch used his playwriting skills to earn money. He spent a year at the Yale School of Drama but left to work with an experimental theater group in Poland.
After several years in Poland, his interests shifted to alternative theater and he returned to the United States to work with Peter Sellars at the Boston Shakespeare Company.
When Sellars was hired as Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Festival in 1987, he hired Frisch as programming director, the position he held until coming to Dartmouth in December.
Frisch has also worked at the University of California in Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and the California School for the Arts.
