Juarez named Dean of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.

Benjamin E. Juarez, director of culture, technology and development at the Dr. Jose Maria Luis Mora Research Institute for social sciences, history and culture in Mexico, today has been named dean of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts (CFA) announced BU President Dr. Robert A. Brown.

“Benjamin brings to Boston University an impressive spectrum of experience as an artist and leader in the performing and visual arts, a passion for creating a world-renowned conservatory, and a vision for the role of the arts in the fabric of a modern research university,” said Brown. “I have great optimism for the future of the College of Fine Arts under his leadership.”
   
“The brightest students in the world come to Boston – from India, Turkey, Mexico, China, from everywhere and it’s important, from the arts, that they see their cultures somehow reflected in what we may call the canon,” said Juarez. “It’s not that all the art is done by white males that were alive until the late 19th century. The other axis is technology. With social tools, the I-Pad, broadcasting high-definition media from anywhere, the live-stream camera, you can do things that before only CBS or NBC could do with a remote unit that cost millions of dollars. We have to take advantage of both the richness of diversity and the use of technology to train our students to build themselves a different paradigm.”

Prior to being appointed dean, Juarez directed the Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico’s national arts center, running professional schools in music, dance, arts, theater and film, research centers, the organization’s TV channel, and more than 20 theaters and performing spaces.