Our name comes from the organization founded by John Hancock, John Adams, and John Bowdoin in Boston in 1780. The Academy of Arts and Sciences charter statement boasts that the "design of the institution is...to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honour, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people." The charter was written by men in wigs who ate mutton for lunch. It is more than noble and every bit unachievable.

We do not wear wigs, we do not eat mutton, but we do aim to take up wild, difficult, culturally relevant tasks with their same unmasked enthusiasm.

May we be positive, humble, forthright, and big-hearted in these pursuits.