The Ward Lucas Lecture Series in the Arts is a fund established by the family and friends of Ward Lucas. Mr. Lucas, who died in 1961, was a member of the Carleton College Board of Trustees for over 20 years. The Lucas Lecture Series sponsors an annual series of public lectures, with or without demonstration, in any of the creative arts, to be delivered by an outstanding maker or doer.

Previous Lucas Lecture Guests

  • 2024: Jeanne Gang (architect)
  • 2024: Vijay Iyer Trio (musicans)
  • 2023: Apichatpong Weerasethakul (filmmaker)
  • 2019: Pig Iron Theatre Company (theater artists)
  • 2018: Shahzia Sikander (artist)
  • 2017: Urban Bush Women (dance company)
  • 2016: Minnesota Orchestra (musicians)
  • 2014: N55 Collective (architects)
  • 2013: Salman Rushdie (author)
  • 2011: James Schamus (film producer)
  • 2009: Anne Bogart/SITI Company (theater artists)
  • 2008: Jane Hamilton (author)
  • 2005: Guarneri Quartet (musicians)
  • 2004: Martha Clarke (choreographer)
  • 2003: Masami Teraoka (artist)
  • 2002: Thomas Krens (museum director)
  • 2001: John Updike (author)
  • 2000: Barbara Kopple (filmmaker)
  • 1999: New York City Ballet (dance company)
  • 1998: David Fanshawe (composer)
  • 1997: Tony Kushner (playwright)
  • 1996: Robert A.M. Stern (architect)
  • 1995: Bob Wilber (jazz musician)
  • 1994: Wendell Castle (furniture artist)
  • 1993: James Brandon (director)
  • 1992: Margaret Drabble (novelist)
  • 1991: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Co. (dance company)
  • 1990: Gordon Parks (photographer)
  • 1989: Ismail Merchant (film producer)
  • 1988: Lee Breuer (director)
  • 1987: Billy Taylor (musician)
  • 1986: Michael Graves (architect)
  • 1985: Margaret Atwood (writer)
  • 1984: Michael Langham (director)
  • 1983: Senta Driver and HARRY (dance company)
  • 1982: Robert Craft (author, conductor)
  • 1981: Marcel Ophuls (filmmaker)
  • 1980: Jennifer Bartlett (artist)
  • 1979: William Gass (novelist)
  • 1978: Alvin Epstein (actor, director)
  • 1977: Sara Caldwell (conductor)
  • 1976: Robert Morris (sculptor)
  • 1975: Sydney Pollack (filmmaker)
  • 1974: John Wain (poet, novelist)
  • 1973: William O. Smith (composer)
  • 1972: Alwin Nikolais (choreographer)
  • 1971: O’Neil Ford (architect)
  • 1970: Reed Whittemore (poet)
  • 1969: Gunther Schuller (composer)
  • 1968: R. Buckminster Fuller (architect)
  • 1967: Tyrone Guthrie (director)
  • 1966: Elliott Carter (composer)
  • 1965: Mauricio Lasansky (printmaker)
  • 1964: Karl Shapiro (poet)