Two New Yeshiva College/Stern College for Women Arts Festival directors were appointed last Wednesday: Shlomo Schwarzbard,YC '03 and Beth Shapiro, SCW '03. The two expect to work capably together to, in the words of Schwarzbard, "not only keep in place what's been successful in the past, but to add to it."

The new directors will are particularly suited to contribute new ideas to the Festival, as neither has worked for the Festival before. Says Schwarzbard, "the Festival definitely will be different, but just how so, I'm not sure." Already, some discussion has been had among the staff about a possible event dealing with literature inspired by the events surrounding September 11th. Another way that Schwarzbard hopes the Festival will benefit in the coming year is by an influx of yet more new faces.

Beth Shapiro certainly brings a fresh perspective to the Festival, as the first SSSB student to act as director. In the history of the Festival, only one other SSSB student has even been on the staff. A marketing major, Shapiro intends to create more awareness of the Festival, which had been lacking in recent years. Shapiro envisions the Festival of the future as "one of those events that is known as something that everyone goes to." Shapiro also hopes to incorporate an event along the lines of Sternbucks, a popular café-oriented open mike event at Stern, which has, of late, suffered from a lack of management.

Analyzing the prospects of this year's Festival, both directors are optimistic. Schwarzbard, emphasizing his search for "new blood" to staff the Festival, says he thinks it will "go well, being responsive to what students want and will enjoy." Shapiro adds that students "have already overcome most of the challenges" facing the Festival, and is sure that the staff will be readily able to "become a unit for this one."