About

A Think Tank for the Arts

Background image: A panoramic view of a diverse group of people seated in a circle around a large, colorful coiled textile installation in an indoor, industrial-looking space.

The Arts Research Center is a think tank for the arts. It acts as a hub and a meeting place, a space for reflection where artists, scholars, curators, and civic arts leaders from a variety of disciplines can gather and learn from one another.

ARC advances but also challenges the “cross-disciplinary” ethos in contemporary art practice by bringing innovators in the fields of visual art, creative writing, dance, theatre, music, architecture, film, public art, photography, and social practice into dialogue and debate. Participants share different histories, test perceptions of skill and innovation, and analyze the economic circuits and support systems that constrain and enable cross-disciplinary art practice.

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Location

The Arts Research Center is located in Hearst Field Annex, Building D Room 23, on the campus of UC Berkeley. A map can be found here. HFA is a set of four corrugated metal buildings located between Sproul Hall, the Social Sciences building, and Hearst Memorial Gym. Access to all HFA buildings is from a walk-way between Hearst Gym and Hearst Field Annex, off Bancroft Ave and leading toward the Social Sciences Building.

Parking information can be found here.

map to ARC on UC Berkeley campus

Summer 2025 Hours 

In-Person Office Hours

June 2 - 12, 2025
Mon & Wed 10am-5pm, Thurs 11am-5pm

June 16 - July 16, 2025: 
Office closed, staff working remotely

July 17 - Aug 3:
Office open Tues, Wed, Thurs from 10am - 5pm

Staff Contact & Schedule

Associate Director Laurie Macfee will be working remotely and available by email Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays from June 2–July 16. She will take vacation days on Mondays & Fridays as well as the week of June 23–27, and return in-person July 17. Please email Laurie here. 

Program & Communciations Coordinator Lily Gee will be working in-person in the ARC office on Mon, Wed, & Thurs from June 2-12. She will work remotely Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursdays from June 16 through Aug 1. Please email Lily here.

Event Accessibility 

If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in any of the ARC events, please contact Lily Gee with as much advance notice as possible and at least two weeks in advance of the event.

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Land Acknowledgement

The Arts Research Center acknowledges that UC Berkeley sits on the territory of Huichin, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone peoples, specifically the confederated villages of Lisjan. Every member of the UC Berkeley community has historically, and continues, to benefit from the use and occupation of this land. We acknowledge that the Lisjan Ohlone peoples are alive and flourishing members of the Berkeley and broader Bay Area communities today. Moving beyond words, we encourage everyone who lives on stolen territory to pay make material contributions that support Indigenous stewardship of this land. The Arts Research Center materially and intellectually supports Indigenous arts and language revitalization.