The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA), Georgetown’s student government, is hosting Arts Week, a series of events and galleries showcasing student artwork, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 5. 

GUSA is presenting 18 events as well as student art exhibits in Lauinger Library and the Rafiki B. Hariri Building. The weeklong series of events and galleries marks the second consecutive year of GUSA’s Arts Week, which was previously an annual spring tradition prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Tina Solki (SFS, MSB ’26), a GUSA senator, said it is important for GUSA to use its resources to host events like Arts Week. 

“If GUSA has the resources and the capacity and the interest to put on programming to support organizations, we ought to do so,” Solki told The Hoya. “I think it was really important for me and for the people around me to use the resources that we had at our disposal to try and shine a light on everything that exists.”

Among the exhibits are galleries in Lau showing paintings and drawings done by students and a display of student photography in the Hariri Building. 

Solki said Arts Week provides an opportunity for students to discover new clubs and build community. 

“We are in the two, three weeks after most clubs have completed their club applications so if you’re a freshman and you struck out at a club and you’re looking for some way to fill your time and maybe find the community that makes this place home for you, if we can do anything to connect people with that, that would make all of this worth it,” Solki said.

Isabel Liu (CAS ’27), the executive director of Added to the File (ATTF), a student-run fashion and photography magazine, said Arts Week highlights Georgetown’s community of artists.

“I hope students who participate in Arts Week know there is a creative community at Georgetown that is here for them,” Liu wrote to The Hoya. “The community at ATTF and other creative organizations have been a huge source of support for me, and I hope we can pay it forward for more students.”

Full Disclosure: Isabel Liu formerly served as a Senior Science Editor for The Hoya in Spring 2025.

ATTF hosted a photograph workshop for students titled “Fashion Photography 101” on Oct. 1 in Lau.

Stella Linn (CAS ’27), the co-president of H*yas for Choice (HFC), an independent organization that advocates for reproductive rights and health at Georgetown, said Arts Week provided HFC the opportunity to host an event unique from their usual programming.

“We want to have a broad variety of events and so this seemed like a good way to expand the kind of events we do,” Linn told The Hoya. “It’s kind of a nice way to have joy — making magnets and having cookies and just talking in a time that can be stressful and scary and a lot of conversations around reproductive health right now aren’t necessarily uplifting.”

Solki said she wanted to work with HFC during Arts Week to support their work and advocacy efforts. 

“It’s been really important for me in particular to support organizations who, even though they might not be officially tied to Georgetown or affiliated, have a really deep, long history of advocacy here, that kind of goes hand in hand with what GUSA ought to promote,” Solki said. “So that was kind of the impetus behind our event with H*yas for Choice on Wednesday.”

Alex Roberts (CAS ’26), the club engagement director for Mask & Bauble, a student-led theatre troupe, said she hopes Mask & Bauble’s participation in Arts Week expands awareness of the theater community on campus. 

“We do a lot of performances but it oftentimes, in my opinion, stays within the theater community, so I thought this would be a great opportunity for people outside of the theater community to see what we do and get to experience the joy and wonder that we get to,” Roberts told The Hoya.

Liu said Arts Week allows student artists to celebrate the hard work they put into their art. 

“Everyone in our club, including photographers, graphic designers, stylists and writers, literally pour our hearts out to create a magazine we are proud of every semester,” Liu said. 

Solki said participating in and creating art at Georgetown helped her find a community and home at Georgetown.

“I didn’t feel at home on campus, it didn’t feel like a place where I could leave an impact and make a mark until I literally saw my work in the hands of people I’d never met and in the offices of professors whose office hours I was attending,” Solki said. “It’s a sense of affirmation that was so valuable to me.”

Roberts said Arts Week highlights organizations that are often overlooked.

“I hope people that come to our performances are excited for what we have to offer on campus and want to get involved,” Roberts said. “When I first came to Georgetown, I didn’t know we had so much arts on campus because the school doesn’t really talk about it.”

Solki said it is important to showcase and celebrate art on campus so students can appreciate the diversity of expression at Georgetown.

“On a campus where we don’t leave a lot of space for creativity in the arts, it’s really important to take the time to hold space for the arts, in whatever form that might take,” Solki said.