The first student coordinator of the recent Duke Arts Festival looked back ruefully on his old to-do list -- several pages of tasks involving every on-campus arts organization, from the Arts Annex to the Rubenstein Library.
Junior Justin Sandulli is still a bit incredulous that he and fellow student art leaders pulled off the weeklong celebration for student artists that took place earlier this semester.
Since its inception in 2010, the Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts had run the annual festival.
''I don’t think I’m a leader at all, by nature,''Sandulli says. ''However, art is my motivation. It’s my joy. There's an aria from Puccini's 'Tosca' that I occasionally find myself humming whenever I'm hard at work on anything arts-related. It's called 'Vissi d'arte,' which means 'I lived for art.' ''
Scott Lindroth, vice provost for the arts, says he always knew that students would take ownership of the Arts Festival. Over the past few years, the festival and the student arts group have expanded their programming and reach, and created opportunities for arts leadership and entrepreneurship.
Justin’s passion for art, along with his vision and meticulous follow-through, made him a great first student organizer, Lindroth says. The art history major belongs to the major arts groups at Duke: DUMA, the Nasher Student Advisory Board, DuARTS, DUU VisArts, the Artstigators and the Brown Gallery.
''Justin is a force of nature,'' Lindroth says. ''His energy, enthusiasm and organized manner gave me confidence that the Duke Arts Festival would be in good hands under his leadership.''
Sandulli, who grew up in Manhattan and finished prep school in Hawaii, arrived at Duke knowing that art would dominate his next four years. Always drawn to quirky passions like film noir and opera, Sandulli took AP art history in high school. He credits his AP art history teacher, Mollie Hustace, for introducing him to the complexity of analyzing and preserving art.
He was hooked. Every time Sandulli returned to New York, he appreciated the museums with more knowledge and enthusiasm, and started dreaming of working at one himself.
Even as a first-year student, Sandulli knew that he would major in art history. During his first two semesters, he worked at the Wired! Lab, traveled to Italy with art history professors Sheila Dillon and Caroline Bruzelius,and took opera lessons with Susan Dunn and David Heid. (“It was a bit like the giants talking to the ants,” he says of being able to work with Duke art faculty.)
During the fall semester of his sophomore year, Sandulli found himself back in New York City with Duke’s Arts & Media program for an internship with Live from Lincoln Center.
Though there are only five art history majors in the Class of 2016, Justin appreciates the close-knit atmosphere. And he's happy to see a growing excitement about the arts on campus.
''One of the great things about my major is that I never have the same day twice,'' Justin says, as he remembers sitting in front of paintings in the Nasher with its curator, or analyzing film noir, or even working in a newly unearthed Etruscan tomb in Tuscany.
Sandulli plans to apply for curatorial jobs, but he has several more projects planned for the rest of his time at Duke.
'''I’d love to do an exhibition of students’ 'cathartic exam art,' '' he says. ''I go to the Arts Annex during midterms and finals, and see people taking study breaks in the studios. The stress and anxiety make for really beautiful, thought-provoking works.''