New Initiative Will Support Students’ Work in the Creative and Performing Arts

The Maggin Family Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship program will contribute to a more vibrant campus community

The Maggin Family Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship program will provide a new source of support for Lafayette students’ endeavors in the creative and performing arts and contribute to a more vibrant campus community.

Selected members of each year’s incoming class, designated as Creative and Performing Arts Fellows, will receive up to $7,500 over their four years at the College to pursue their interests and talents in the arts through special projects, internships, research, study abroad, and other activities. The program is made possible by the support of Bruce ’65 and Jackie Maggin.

“The fellowships will enhance the College’s ability to recruit and enroll students with exceptional creativity,” said Wendy L. Hill, provost and dean of the faculty. “We are grateful to Bruce and Jackie Maggin for their vision and generous support. The program speaks to the College’s strategic objective of enhancing the creative and performing arts on campus and promises to be a catalyst for elevating the creativity of our students to a more prominent role in campus life as a whole.”

Jim Toia, the director of the Community-Based Teaching program in the Department of Art, will be the program’s founding coordinator, Hill announced.

Students applying to the College for a place in the first-year class may apply for a Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship at the same time, but through a separate process. It is expected that about 10 fellowships will be awarded each year beginning next fall. The recipients will be selected by a committee of Lafayette faculty in the arts and humanities chaired by Hill.

Toia will work closely with the fellowship recipients, providing consultation and guidance for their creative endeavors. A sculptor whose work has appeared in more than 85 solo exhibitions and group shows around the world, Toia has taught a variety of studio art courses at the College. He played a key role in developing the Community-Based Teaching program — in which Lafayette faculty, honors students in art, and visiting professional artists work with area high school and adult art students — and has served as its director since its founding in 2001.

“Jim will help recruit talented students and foster connections between the selected students and faculty mentors in the creative and performing arts. His broad interest in the arts and ability to connect meaningfully with high school students make him especially well-suited to coordinate the program,” Hill said. Toia holds an M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts and a B.A. from Bard College. He served as the founding director of the Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Gallery in Lafayette’s Williams Visual Arts Building from its opening until last year.

Bruce Maggin is a principal in The H.A.M. Media Group, headquartered in Chappaqua, N.Y., an international investment and advisory firm specializing in the entertainment and communications industries. He has been in the forefront of creating a succession of new businesses that have increased consumer entertainment and information alternatives and has held senior management positions in virtually every segment of the media and communications industries.

A government and law graduate, Maggin holds a J.D. and M.B.A. from Cornell University and is a member of the New York State Bar. His son Daniel Maggin is a 2002 Lafayette graduate and received his Ph.D. from the Peabody School at Vanderbilt University in 2009.