Faces of Community

Faces of Community, or simply Faces, is a 22-year standing program that reaches all new undergraduate students at Stanford each year. A collaboration between IBIC, the Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA) and New Student Orientation (NSO), Faces is a part of each new student’s introduction to Stanford – celebrating the diversity of identities, stories and talents of the student body.

The program features monologues and artistic performances by current students, celebrating the diverse cultural identities and lived experiences that have shaped who they are: the triumphs, the lessons, and the hardships. Through these monologues and performances, Faces hopes to promote empathy, respect and appreciation for the range of dynamic people who are integral to our community's health and success.

Following the Faces program, new students participate in a debrief in their residential communities, facilitated by their RAs. Through creative expression, storytelling, and an invitation to dialogue, the program inspires reflection on one's own identities and the range of identities of others, as well as planting seeds for intergroup communication and community-building, as students begin their Stanford journey. 

Current students are encouraged to be a part of the Faces program either as a production team member or by sharing their personal narratives through Faces, particularly stories relevant to life at Stanford. The Faces of Community leadership team strives to include a wide range of voices and experiences.

Applications to join the production team as a student producer will open in the winter quarter, while applications to speak or perform at Faces 2024 will open in the spring quarter.

To learn about Faces 2023, we encourage you to check out this write-up by the Stanford Report.