The Arts Research Center is honored to announce the Eva Whitney Fund for the Arts, in commemoration of UC Berkeley alum and ARC student assistant Eva Whitney (Comparative Literature 2024).
Born and raised in San Francisco, Eva was a prolific artist across disciplines. She attended Ruth Asawa School of the Arts for creative writing and was immersed in the Bay Area art scene her entire life. She led poetry workshops at 826 Valencia, was a gallery assistant, and at UC Berkeley ran a multilingual creative writing publication through the Comparative Literature Department. Her creative work was featured in NYU’s brio Literary Journal and BAMPFA’s Student Committee Film Festival. She hoped to work in publishing and editing, and had made plans to move to the East Coast in spring 2025. However, in late December 2024, Eva passed away in a car accident; her large circle of friends, professors, staff, and classmates continue to feel deeply the loss of such a generous, vibrant, kind and brilliant light.
In autumn 2025, Eva's parents Denise Newman and Steven Whitney started a fund in commemoration of Eva to support arts creation opportunities for Berkeley students. Housed at the Arts Research Center, and in consultation with her parents and friends, the fund will focus on three avenues of support: underwriting the student-run Vagabond Journal of Literature and Art where Eva had been an editor; offering opportunities for student creativity inspired by her talents in art, writing, music, short film creation and zine-making; and a campus memorial tree. We invite you to read more about these initiatives below.
"We are honored by this generous gift in honor of Eva Whitney," said ARC Director Beth Piatote. "We were fortunate to be inspired and delighted by her many talents, her creative spirit, her friendship, and her love of nature and art. A distinctive verve and love of life flowed effortlessly from her, and our intent with this fund is to foster that same spirit of joy and creativity in others."
If you are interested in helping expand these opportunities for students like Eva, please consider donating in her name today.
