This week, justArts spoke with Alex Hall ’15, this year’s coordinator for the Student Committee for the Rose Art Museum.

JustArts: Can you tell me about your responsibilities as head of the Student Committee for the Rose Art Museum?

Alex Hall: The title is SCRAM coordinator, so I organize the meetings for SCRAM, which are once a week. I facilitate the meetings, so during the meetings we discuss what kind of events we want to hold for the students, how we should go about holding those events, what we need to talk to the museum about and the Rose staff.

So I kind of act as the liaison between the Rose and the committee, and then the committee itself is a liaison between the Rose and the students.

JA: What made you decide to apply for the position as head of SCRAM?

AH: I’ve been in SCRAM since freshman year. We used to have it set up so there were three heads, like a president, a secretary and a publicity head. So I was the secretary my sophomore year, and then I was abroad all of junior year. When I came back, I took over the role of coordinator.

JA: What is the best part of being coordinator?

AH: That’s hard. I think our meetings are really fun—like bouncing ideas off each other on how to get students into the museum. How to get all sorts of students, like artists and also athletes, and people who do everything on campus. It’s fun to figure out what kind of departments we can get to come speak at the museum.

In the past, we’ve had a lot of psychology professors and science professors come speak and that draws a great conversation at the Rose.

JA: What is the most difficult part?

AH: I think the difficult part is also the most fun part, which is trying to figure out how to get students to come. The museum is an amazing asset to the campus and we really want a lot of students to come. I think with the light sculpture now a lot of students are more drawn to the museum, and more students know where it is even.

I think, although it’s difficult to figure out how to draw a large population of the Brandeis community at once to the museum, it is also a really fun thing to do.

JA: Are there any changes for SCRAM this year?

AH: I think because of the new sculpture at the Rose, we’re going to have a lot more outdoor events or events that incorporate the sculpture because it is such a beautiful piece. We really want students to utilize it and sit under it and know that it’s a place where they can go read or eat lunch or sit to relax.

I think we’re going to try and have as many fun, outdoor nights under the lights as we can and then also bring them into the museum after those events.

JA: Do you have any of these events planned

AH: I can’t tell you. I can’t publicize them yet. There will be posters soon, hopefully.

JA: Why should students visit the Rose Art Museum?

AH: It is a beautiful place that’s full of—well, right now there are exhibitions up that are contemporary and really thought-provoking and interesting. Also, students should really use the Rose for its collection. The collection is all online, and students can do a lot of research, especially if you are interested in art history, if you’re interested in political events and finding artists who were doing work during the political events you’re interested in. It’s a place to go to get out of the bubble of school and take a break and go learn about art.