<p>Congratulations to Ms. Anderson-Lopez, and to all the other winners!</p>
<p>Wesleyan’s chair of Film Studies, Jeanine Bassinger, will be teaching her first MOOC (or, massive open online course.) It won’t be the same as actually sitting in the same room with other students, but, it may be worth checking out. Wesleyan was the first small liberal arts college recruited into Coursera: <a href=“https://www.coursera.org/course/marriageandmovies?ref_highlights”>https://www.coursera.org/course/marriageandmovies?ref_highlights</a>
P.S., it seems to be getting lots of traffic.</p>
<p>I agree with suggestions for Wesleyan for film studies. Initial impressions are not significant if a student has a particular goal in mind. Wesleyan is superior to Vassar for film studies, too.</p>
<p>However, I second Momrath’s championing of Williams as a school with a very strong showing in the arts. There are two orchestras, a wind ensemble, a very successful choir with a Grammy-awarded choir conductor, a Grammy awarded Music Department composer-chair, a National Book Award winning novelist on the faculty, a very reputable theater program, and great art facilities, bot for studio art and Art History. The '62 Center is a very state-of-the-art prize winning theater (for architecture). In addition, there is a Fall International Film Festival and a the summer Williamstown Theater Festival, and Williams has a Summer theater program for its students that allows it to benefit from the festival.</p>
<p>It is a shame that Williams has not created a film program because I think it needs one, and the students would really benefit from it. Wesleyan not only has a film program it now has a significant presence in Hollywood (sniff, sniff, two last episodes of How I Met Your Mother.)</p>
<p>For the other arts, Williams offers professional opportunities. One of the orchestras, the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra, is not a student orchestra but a semi-professional orchestra. The Film and Theater Festivals bring big-name professionals into the town on a regular basis and students do have opportunities to be involved. </p>
<p>As for the suggestion that the Art History Program is traditional, not progressive, MassMoCa, the largest museum of contemporary art in the US, was started by grads of the program, and is located five miles away in North Adams. In addition to WCMA (the college art museum) the town is home of the The Clark Museum, a world-class institution.</p>
<p>My son worked at the Clark as an undergraduate while the Museum hosted two major international exhibitions. HIs time there launched a career in Art History.</p>
<p>The “jock-culture” does not cancel out the arts culture. Williams in not a click school and the two coexist happily as significant expressions of the human spirit, as do the sciences and social sciences (development economics also being a strong-suit of Williams.)</p>
<p>However, I think Wesleyan is the go-to school for those interested in film, especially film production, film acting, film writing and film directing. There is enough at Williams for an in-depth film history interest (S had two courses) but not enough for someone who wants to create film.</p>
<p>Thank you so much mythmom for all of your insight. It is very kind of you and I appreciate it. My son is not really into the Arts, he just likes to watch movies and analyze them. I doubt he will ever take an art history class and has little interest in music beyond rock and rap (maybe a little country) . I know he will want more than a couple of classes here and there. We will take another look at Wesleyan but the last time we just felt it was very bland compared to Vassar. I also think we will take a drive up to Maine and check out Bowdoin and we are headed to brown, Tufts, Brandeis and Amherst in a couple of weeks. So I will keep you posted (so to speak 
</p>
<p>Sorry to weigh in so late, but I’m a Wesleyan Film alum. My S starts Williams Fall '14. I love both schools, but they are still different places with different vibes. My son is social, outdoorsy, athletic, and great at math, physics, econ, and history. His dream is to spend his time skiing and studying. He’s been looking forward to hitching rides with the D1 ski team and taking tutorials - his idea of heaven. It’s the perfect school for him.</p>
<p>I was a very artsy kid - the only form of fine or performing art I didn’t try at some point in my life was clown college. 
When I was on my college tour, a professor overheard me quipping that the arts center’s architecture looked like the ballcourt at Chichen Itza and I hoped we students weren’t the human sacrifices. He burst out laughing. That’s when I knew Wes was perfect for me. (He was later my theater directing prof.) </p>
<p>If your child wants a career in film, Wesleyan is, bar none, the greatest film major at a LAC in the world. The following folks went through Wes: <a href=“Famous Alumni of Wesleyan University | Celebrities Who Graduated/Went to Wesleyan University”>http://■■■■■■/RQmZh2</a> – not all of them are entertainment folks, but many, many of them are and they’re very powerful ones, even if you don’t know their names. There is a real ‘mafia’ in filmed entertainment from Wes, like there’s an art history mafia from Williams. Not only will you get the finest and most rigorous film education, the old alum network is in full swing, with Jeanine Basinger, one of the world’s most respected film historians at the helm. Also, it’s ironic that the many of the old-time Williams film alums some of the previous posters admired gave their archives to Wesleyan’s Cinema Archive (like Kazan & Sayles). I would put it against the film programs at NYU, USC and UCLA, which ironically, are less supportive, creative or rigorous than Wesleyan. It’s also the only school I know after a career in Hollywood where people are genuinely impressed you went there to study film. Then they inevitably ask you, “Do you know…?”</p>
<p>The education at Williams is extremely special - so special we are thrilled our son will be there. It’s just not a place for a dedicated film student to attend.</p>