With a bold vision to foster a community of writers across genres, Dartmouth's creative writing faculty led the launch of the Literary Arts Bridge this spring at 7 Lebanon St. in Hanover, with support for the renovation from Dean Elizabeth Smith and the Office of the Dean of Faculty. 

Combined with a $1.75 million gift from a generous supporter of creative writing, the new space will allow Dartmouth to accelerate programming dedicated to the literary arts and open up new opportunities for collaboration with the Arts District—including the renewed and expanded Hopkins Center for the Arts, which is reopening this fall; the Hood Museum of Art, which reopened in 2019 after a major expansion and renovation; the Black Family Visual Arts Center, dedicated in 2012; and The Warehouse, a laboratory for sonic arts that opened last fall.

Former Dean of Faculty Elizabeth Smith founded the Dialogue Project in 2024 to provide training in essential collaborative dialogue skills—including empathetic listening, managing emotions, and finding points of connection.

This vital skills development is now woven into Dartmouth Dialogues, a campus-wide initiative that strengthens a culture in which faculty, students, and staff engage in respectful discussion across differences.