Posted by admin on Jan 27, 2014
The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 is a social club for Harvard students, originally established to bring together undergraduates in friendship, conversation and camaraderie. The institute – comprised of The Hasty Pudding Club, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and Harvard Krokodiloes – cut the ribbon on its new headquarters at the historic Hyde-Taylor House at 96 Winthrop St. The dedication ceremony was presided over by Hasty Pudding chairman and “Grand Sphinx” Andrew Farkas, who spoke to a crowd of undergraduates and alumni, including Cambridge Mayor David P. Maher.
“This is the culmination of four years of work to reconstitute the Hasty Puddings Institute of 1770, and it is gratifying in the extreme to see it come together,” said Andrew Farkas. Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman, Dean of Student Life Stephen Lassonde, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith, and Dean of the Humanities Division Diana Sorensen were all also in attendance at the club’s opening.
The Hasty Pudding Club is known as the oldest collegiate social club in the country and has, over the years, spawned offshoots in the Theatricals and the Kroks a capella group. The three recently merged into a single entity who will share this new home, the sixth in the institution’s more than two centuries of existence.
“It is going to be a space for study, a space for socializing, a space for camaraderie, rehearsal, performance, and fun,” Farkas said. Michael D. Smith noted his “admiration for everything Andrew [Farkas] does” in his own remarks at the opening and encouraged students to enjoy the facility. The student leaders of the institute expressed their enthusiasm for the new clubhouse as well. Club President Matt G. Wardrop ’15 referred to the new headquarters as “an exciting catalyst,” and said that he appreciated that it will bring “all of the different parts of the Institute together under one roof.”
The Pudding is currently the only social club on campus that has members from all four years and is coed. Membership to the social club is gained through a series of lunches, cocktail parties, and other gatherings, which are referred to as the “punch process.” The club counts five U.S. Presidents (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy) among its noteworthy members.
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Posted by admin on Apr 2, 2012
From 2005 to 2007, Farkas Hall, previously known has New College Theatre, was being renovated. The six-story complex was originally built in 1888. Despite the modern updates to the interior, the building maintains its original façade and entryway. The theater is now a vibrant rehearsal, performance and learning space for undergraduates at Harvard. The 270-seat theater contains a moveable stage and state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems. Furthermore, there are classrooms, a dance studio and offices for student groups. The Hasty Pudding Lobby displays the club’s pivotal role at Harvard through plaques, posters and photographs.
The space has been both refreshed but preserved, “and that is wonderful,” says Andrew Farkas, who served as the Hasty Pudding Club president for two years. “This is the Hasty Pudding’s historic home.”
Andrew Farkas’ gift to the theater was in honor of his father, Robin Farkas, and to show appreciation for Harvard College and the Hasty Pudding Club. In regards to his father, Andrew said, “He has been my father, my mentor, my best friend, and my role model, and he talked me into choosing Harvard.”
Andrew Farkas currently serves as CEO of Island Capital Group and C-III Capital Partners. He is co-leading the 30th Reunion Class Gift Committee.
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Posted by admin on Feb 10, 2012
Reina Gattuso, a reporter for The Harvard Crimson, recently sat down with Andrew Farkas to discuss the new Farkas Hall. After a recent donation to Harvard University, the New College Theater is being renamed Farkas Hall. He originally suggested the theater be renamed The Farkatorium, but the University decided against it.
Andrew Farkas graduated from Harvard University in 1982 and is now CEO of Island Capital Group and C-III Capital Partners. As an undergraduate, he served as president of the Hasty Pudding Club, which was founded in 1770 and is the oldest college social club in the United States. The Club is also the third-oldest theatrical organization in the world and five U.S. presidents were members.
While he was the undergraduate president of the Pudding, it was in serious financial trouble. To raise money and save the Club, he hosted a gala. Andrew Farkas recounts, “I got the Copley Plaza Hotel to give me 900 bottles of champagne for a very, very cheap price. Then I sold tickets, basically door-to-door, for a gala in honor of the Hasty Pudding.” The gala brought in about $35,000, which covered the Club’s budget for a whole year.
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Posted by admin on Oct 31, 2011
The New College Theatre, created from 2005 to 2007 by new construction behind, and a renovation of, the façade of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals venue, finally has a name. The University announced today that Andrew Farkas ’82 had endowed the complex in honor of his father, Robin L. Farkas ’54, M.B.A. ’61. Andrew Farkas, who served as Hasty Pudding Club president during two of his undergraduate years, called his times there “amongst the most joyful and memorable” of his College experiences, according to the news release. “To know that the space will…serve to incubate the creative skills of Harvard’s emerging talent,” his statement continued, “is extremely gratifying.”
Andrew Farkas founded and was CEO and chairman of Insignia Financial Group Inc., a leading owner-operator of multifamily housing and provider of commercial real-estate leasing and management services. After its units were sold and merged, respectively, in 1998 and 2003, he founded Island Capital Group, a real-estate merchant bank, where he is CEO and chairman, and Island Global Yachting, which owns and operates yacht-oriented resorts.
In prior Harvard service, he was co-chair of the class of 1982’s twenty-fifth reunion fundraising efforts, which produced a class gift of $22.8 million in 2007. The newly announced philanthropy (the terms and size of which were not disclosed) comes as he is approaching his thirtieth reunion next May. Daughter Arielle S. Farkas is a member of the class of 2013.
Beyond his undergraduate theatrical experience, according to the news release, his wife, Sandi Goff Farkas, is a playwright; she founded the nonprofit Playwrights of New York to support emerging writers and serves on the board of Lark Play Development Group, in New York.
The New College Theatre, at 12 Holyoke Street, was constructed when the Faculty of Arts and Sciences was willing to proceed on projects before outside financing had been secured; the project cost a reported $31 million. Since the 2008 financial crisis and recession, the University has reduced debt financing for building projects. The Hasty Pudding structure, dating from 1888, had deteriorated and was in need of urgent repairs; the renovation grew into a more ambitious program to provide badly needed undergraduate rehearsal and performance space—the first such new facility since the Loeb Drama Center opened in 1961.
As an arts venue, the theater within the newly named Farkas Hall, which seats 256 to 280, has become a focal point for undergraduate theatrical productions, as well as the annual Hasty Pudding extravaganza (it is also home to the Harvard Krokodiloes and Radcliffe Pitches a cappella groups), and is frequently used for lectures, guest-artist appearances, and other College programming.
View the original article in the Harvard Magazine.
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