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Our MissiOn & VisiOn
The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) is a partnership of more than forty institutions committed to ensuring the greatest possible institutional support for the full spectrum of arts and arts-integrative research, curricula, programs, and creative practice for the benefit of all students and faculty at research universities and the communities they serve.
a2ru advances the full range of arts-integrative research, curricula, programs, and creative practice to acknowledge, articulate, and expand the vital role of higher education in our global society. a2ru envisions a world in which universities—students, faculty, and leaders—acknowledge, deeply embed, and seamlessly integrate the arts in pursuit of basic knowledge and in everyday practice.
2 TOOls, PlaTfOrMs, & resOurces
3 cOnVenings
10 insighTs
11 caseMaking & sTOryTelling
12 arTsengine
cOVer
Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Arizona State University• Boston University• Carnegie Mellon University• Dartmouth College• Iowa State University• James Madison University• Johns Hopkins University• Kent State University• Louisiana State University• Massachusetts Institute of
Technology• Michigan State University• Northeastern University• The Ohio State University• Oregon State University*• Pennsylvania State University• Princeton University
• Rochester Institute of Technology*
• Texas Tech University• Tufts University• The University of Alabama• The University of Alabama-
Birmingham• The University of Arizona• University of California, Berkeley*• University of Cincinnati• University of Colorado Boulder• University of Colorado Denver• University of Florida• The University of Georgia*• University of Houston• University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign• The University of Iowa
• The University of Kansas*• University of Michigan• University of Nebraska-Lincoln• University of North Texas*• University of Technology
Sydney*• University of Texas at Dallas*• The University of Utah• The University of Virginia• University of Wisconsin-Madison• Virginia Commonwealth
University• Virginia Tech• Washington University in
St. Louis
*New partner
a2ru ParTner insTiTuTiOns
2017 marks the fifth year for the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities as an organization. This last year has been a significant period of maturation and program development, as you’ll see reflected in these pages.
a2ru is growing. This speaks to the relevance of the work, both on our campuses and collectively as a network of leading research institutions. It’s been my greatest pleasure to travel to numerous a2ru campuses this past year, experiencing, connecting, and reporting out on an ever-growing array of dynamic programs, institutes, centers, and integrated initiatives, led by our students, faculty, and top administrators. From the home office, here is a quick look at this past year in which we:
• welcomed seven new institutional partners, including our first international partner• hired two new full-time staff• employed ten part-time staff, including multiple students• fostered a new executive internship program• held our largest annual conference and student summit to date.
This past year has been formative. We developed a new business model with staff and stakeholders, led by Arts Axis, LLC, and are now in the second year of our four-year strategic plan which takes us through 2020. We have made significant advances toward the four pillars of the plan to strengthen the network; impact students and faculty; gather, disseminate, and advance arts-integrative research; and consolidate and strengthen the organization.
We received an overwhelming number of proposal submissions for this year’s national conference, Arts in the Public Sphere: Civility, Advocacy, and Engagement—again pointing to the relevance and value of arts and design as drivers in addressing large-scale, as well as very local, societal complexities. At this conference, we’ll pilot our first in a series of ‘amplification team’ workshops to bolster campus engagement. We also look ahead to launching a new website linking to our Mellon Foundation-funded SPARC repository (Supporting Practice in the Arts, Research, and Curricula).
Finally, a2ru moved its physical office from a tiny office suite, tripling its footprint from 600 square feet to 1,800 square feet at the very top of the Duderstadt Center at the University of Michigan. This Center houses a library, design labs, video and recording studios, and multiple maker spaces—a place designed to give “faculty and students the tools and collaborative space for creating the future.” We have come into more space and light with even more room to grow—a fitting metaphor for the future of arts and design integration in the modern research university. Thank you for taking us to this larger space. We are proud to staff a2ru.
Laurie Baefsky, DMAExecutive DirectorAlliance for the Arts in Research Universities, University of Michigan
From the executive Director
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PartnershiPs In May 2011, the University of Michigan’s ArtsEngine hosted a Michigan Meeting around The Role of Arts-Making and the Arts in the Research University. One hundred fifty presidents, provosts, deans, directors, and other faculty and administrative leaders from 43 research universities were in attendance. a2ru, started as “ArtsEngine National,” formed shortly thereafter. Today, the Alliance is still housed under ArtsEngine (see page 12-13) and is now comprised of more than 40 research universities.
Tools, Platforms, &
Resources
tools, PlatForms, & resources
Keystone Guide & Peer review Platform
a2ru addresses the needs of the network by creating tools and processes for Alliance partners to work between and beyond individual disciplines to ready the path to collaboration. In early-stage development, a2ru research is developing ask.a2ru.org, a trusted online community for Alliance partners to exchange insights, share knowledge, demonstrate successes, and inform each other’s research, teaching, and practice. These insights and discussions will help a2ru move from core practice modules to programs, to advance arts-integrated fields.
To assist with translating research insights into practice and to empower local campus know-how, a2ru research is developing frameworks, maps, and rubrics, collectively called “keystone guides.” These guides help to facilitate strategic foresight, teamwork, and coordination for faculty, staff, and students. A diagnostic tool will be available for campus teams to assess, refine, and build a unique vision for their university. An activation-planning phase will also be available for those teams that see fit to turn their vision into practical and programmatic outcomes such as research agendas, communications plans, new initiatives, tactical artworks, cutting-edge curricular offerings, and more.
a2ru’s “Ground Works” platform rethinks peer review and collaborative sensemaking around the future of inter-disciplinary projects that have the arts at their core. The platform is in testing stages and actively recruiting an editorial board. See: groundworks.io
In 2017, two interdisciplinary student teams were awarded a2ru Student Challenge Grants to pursue projects on water sustainability. Student teams competed for grants to continue promising collaborations started at the 2017 a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Summit, WATER: New Directions Through Arts and Science (see page 6-7). Teams will present on their projects at the fifth annual a2ru national conference.
Let Water Be Water was awarded $3,000 plus travel support and will explore immediacy, transparency, and relevance by animating environment impact data sets. The team includes Dorsey Kaufmann, MFA in Illustration and Design at the University of Arizona; Nima Hamidi, PhD candidate in Music from the University of Iowa; and undergraduate in Computer Science, Addison Kaufmann, also from the University of Arizona.
North Oconee River Project was awarded $3,500 plus travel support and will explore the inherent rights of nature and address the questions: Does nature possess inherent rights? How can a legal framework grant a natural entity personhood? What role can art play in exploring this line of inquiry? The project will integrate policy and action through artistic methods. Team members include Berea Antaki, MS in Textiles and Merchandising at the University of Georgia; Carla Cao, MS in Music Composition at the University of Georgia; Iva Dimitrova, BS in Mass Media Arts at the University of Georgia; Nima Hamidi, PhD candidate in Music Composition at the University of Iowa; and Suzie Henderson, BS in Ecology at the University of Georgia.
student ChallenGe Grant
Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities2
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convenings
artsrx: Creative venture, wellbeinG, and the new humanitiesnovember 3-5, 2016hosteD by university oF coloraDo Denver
The fourth annual a2ru national conference convened with more than 275 attendees from 36 research institutions nationwide. The conference focused on creative venture, wellbeing, and the new humanities with keynotes, breakouts, panels, workshops, performances, and discussions led and moderated by members of a2ru’s extensive partner institutions and industry networks.
The conference agenda included 50 sessions, with keynotes by Liz Lerman, choreographer and institute professor at Arizona State University,
MacArthur Fellow, and Founding Artistic Director of Dance Exchange; Todd Siler, author, multimedia artist, and 2011 Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts recipient; and John K. Bennett, associate vice chancellor for Innovation Initiatives, director of Inworks at University of Colorado Denver.
The conference also included an open forum with the National Academy of Sciences, hands-on making sessions with University of Colorado Denver’s Inworks, and three plenary panels: Making the Future—Foresight Thinking to Motivate and Innovate with panelists from the National Academy of Sciences, The Millennium Project, Carnegie Mellon University, Arizona State University, and student respondents from University of Colorado Denver and MIT; Emerging Interventions in Wellness with panelists from University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Americans for the Arts, Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project, Johns-Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub, and a User Experience Designer and Researcher; and “Glocal” Rocky Mountain Entrepreneurship with panelists from University of Colorado Denver, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, and Create Denver. Making sessions with MIT’s Chibitronics and performances by CU Denver’s Bluegrass and Mobile Device ensembles, and a performance and workshop by The New Theater of Medicine rounded out the weekend’s agenda.
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Convenings
a2ru convened 35 professionals from higher education and other fields in Denver around the subject of arts entrepreneurship. This half-day sandbox session preceded the 2016 a2ru national conference, ArtsRx: Creative Venture, Wellbeing, and the New Humanities, hosted by the University of Colorado Denver.
In the first half of the session, a2ru research partners provided an overview of the Arts Entrepreneurship landscape to identify who is working in this area, reveal some creative tensions, and look ahead to the future. a2ru commissioned ASU’s Pave Program in Arts Entrepreneurship research team, consisting of program director Dr. Linda Essig and research assistant Joanna Guevara, to answer the question: “What is the state of arts entrepreneurship education in the United States in 2016?” Their report, A Landscape of Arts Entrepreneurship in US Higher Education, was published December 2016.
In the second half of the session, participants cultivated frameworks for shared practices and explored emerging practices for arts entrepreneurship research, curricula, and practice. Participants identified gaps and new categories of opportunity for networking, planning, and engagement. Participants formed working groups and were given the opportunity to come up with a new leadership initiative, develop a curriculum, form a start-up, etc., to tackle the challenges and tensions identified.
This workshop was made possible by support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a2ru.
arts entrePreneurshiP worKshoPnovember 2, 2016Denver, coloraDo
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arts + health worKshoPnovember 3, 2016hosteD by university oF coloraDo Denver
This arts + health workshop was held with the intention of engaging participants in an informal field mapping; identification of gaps and challenges; and considering a common agenda for arts + health in higher education. a2ru’s vital role as a national alliance was demonstrated through easy recruitment of field leaders working across a diverse array of universities, with multiple health and cultural partners. The workshop allowed for critical networking, as experts shared pre-publication research findings and field developments. Field experts began a conversation related to collective alignment of diverse arts + health investments, taxonomies, interventions, curricula, and research. As one expert participant noted, “this is the first time that the arts + health experts at our universities have gathered together.” Ongoing work resulting from these types of meetings has the potential to improve field capacity to conduct work, address shared challenges, and innovate through collaboration. The workshop was focused on arts + health activities taking place within higher education.
Pop-up speakers included Jill Sonke, director of the Center for the Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida, who addressed results from an international survey on the language used in “arts and health”; J. Todd Frazier, director of the Center for Performing Arts & Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital, who addressed the status of a new National Organization for Arts and Health (NOAH); Lisa Wong, co-director of the Arts and Humanities Initiative at Harvard Medical School, who provided insight as a physician-artist to consider the role of arts in the physician’s life; and Randy Cohen, vice president of research and policy at Americans for the Arts, who reported from the frontlines of arts advocacy to consider how arts and health fits into broader public interests and federal funding opportunities.
This workshop was made possible with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a2ru.
a2ru commissioned VCUarts’ new Arts Research Institute to design and lead this workshop. This included a commissioned survey on Arts in Health current activity on a2ru campuses. In addition to the collaboration with the Arts Research Institute at VCUarts, the Alliance
has a working group dedicated to better connecting us to available resources and building frameworks for future work to meet the needs of the a2ru network and the field. To share input for the research study on arts and health in higher education, please email [email protected]. The VCU team includes, Dr. Sarah B. Cunningham, Dr. Eliza Lamb,
and Salem Tsegaye. Future work may consider the degree to which higher education functions in partnership with community organizations, health centers, special interest non-
profits (i.e., veterans or aging interest groups) or local or state municipalities.
Convenings
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water: new direCtions throuGh arts and sCienCeFebruary 8-11, 2017 hosteD by university oF FloriDa
More than 80 students from 28 research universities participated in the 2017 a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Summit, hosted by the University of Florida, to problem solve as interdisciplinary teams around the topic of water. Participants discussed issues such as how to keep aquifers pure, the availability of water, public responsibility for clean water, and public awareness of water issues.
This is the fourth of a2ru’s Emerging Creative Student Summits, which are designed to have emerging scholars, engineers, artists, and scientists get a head start on interdisciplinary problem solving with experts from across the country. Previous summits
engaged on issues of creative placemaking, interdisciplinary research and practice, and social justice.
Students had access to industry experts and faculty mentors during the summit. Presenters included physicist and climatologist Robert Davies from the Utah Climate Center and Utah State University, videographer and installation artist Janet Biggs, biologist Jack Putz from the University of Florida, and renowned painter Margaret Ross Tolbert, among others.
With the setting of the University of Florida Water Institute, students addressed topics concerning water, including access to clean water, water infrastructure and pipelines, responsibility for clean water, and water as energy. Students organized into interdisciplinary cohorts from diverse areas of study such as:
• Aerospace Engineering• Architecture• Art and Technology• Art and Design• Art Education• Art History• Arts and Cultural Management• Biological Engineering• Biological Sciences• Biomedical Engineering• Business Administration
• Business Law • Ceramics• Chemical Engineering• Chemistry• Civil Engineering• Communications• Computer Science• Construction Management• Curriculum and Instruction• Dance• Earth Science
• Ecology/Horticulture• Engineering Psychology • Environmental Engineering• Ethnomusicology• Film• Finance• Forest Resources and
Conservation • French • Geology• Graphic Design
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• Hydrology• Illustration and Design• Industrial Design• Innovation• Interdisciplinary Ecology• International Affairs• International Development• Interdisciplinary Religion• Landscape Architecture• Latin American Studies • Leadership Development• Marine Science• Materials Science• Mechanical Engineering• Merchandising • Metalwork and Mixed Media • Museum Studies• Music Business
• Music Composition• Music Education• Music History• Music Performance• Music Technology • Painting/Drawing• Photography• Political Science• Pre-Industrial Design• Recording Arts• Scientific Illustration• Sculpture• Sociology• Software Development• Textiles • Theatre • Urban Planning• Visual Arts
“The summit is an investment from a2ru’s partner universities to champion and foster opportunities for the most creative and effective solutions to issues to complex global problems,” Dr. Eric J. Barron, president at Penn State University said. “Solving these issues requires creative processes and collaboration across boundaries.”
“I hope to be a part of future initiatives like a2ru and can see many great solutions
coming out of opportunities like this. It is by putting diverse, intelligent and creative minds together that the most impactful solutions are attained. a2ru and ArtsEngine are pushing students to positively change our future in big ways and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of one of their summits.”
Madeline HellandArt & Design StudentUniversity of Michigan
Participants competed for grants to develop promising collaborations started at the summit. The chosen projects are seeded through 2018 through the Alliance’s Challenge Grant program (see page 2).
This event was financed in part by a Tourist Development Tax Grant from the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners in conjunction with the Alachua County Tourist Development Council.
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Convenings
researCh synthesis worKshoPmay 11-12, 2017 hosteD by university oF michigan
a2ru hosted a synthesis workshop at the University of Michigan—the first in a series of workshops focused on the critical role of the arts in research universities. Workshop participants explored common foundations, emerging trends, and synthesis areas across disciplines and domains in higher education. 22 representatives from 13 partner institutions attended. a2ru is using the planning, practices, and outcomes that came from this workshop to help design programmatic approaches to research, professional development, and strategic foresight for a2ru and its partner universities.
This workshop was made possible with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a2ru.
Nicholas AllenUniversity of Georgia
Laurie BaefskyUniversity of Michigan
Ivica Ico BukvicVirginia Tech
Daragh ByrneCarnegie Mellon University
Edgar CardenasUniversity of Michigan
Melissa CroushornPenn State University
John EllisUniversity of Michigan
Maryrose FlaniganUniversity of Michigan
Chris GarvinUniversity of Georgia
Sharon HaarUniversity of Michigan
Kevin HamiltonUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Gabriel HarpUniversity of Michigan
R. Brooks JefferyUniversity of Arizona
Michael JensonUniversity of Colorado Denver
Beth JanetskiUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
Jennifer KrivickasUniversity of Cincinnati
Bruce MackhMichigan State University
Deb MexicotteUniversity of Michigan
Colleen SyronUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln
Salem TsegayeVirginia Commonwealth University
Tamara UnderinerArizona State University
Sherry Wagner-HenryUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
Professional develoPment fundinGa2ru was pleased to support 31 students from 15 partner institutions to attend various a2ru-related events. Awards up to $250 were granted to students based on an application process to attend the 2016 a2ru National Conference in Denver, the 2017 a2ru Emerging Creatives Student Summit in Gainesville, FL, Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., and the 2016 MIT Hacking Arts Conference in Boston. a2ru also launched its new Faculty Fellows program, providing funding to early career a2ru faculty to present at events around the world.
$2,1752016 NationalConference
$4,6412017 Student
Summit
$1,500Other Events
ParTiciPanTs
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webinars
Part of a2ru’s work is knowledge-building. a2ru hosted two webinars on topics Alliance partners identified as core to our work during the 2015 a2ru National Conference hosted by Virginia Tech.
Addressing Declining Enrollment in the Arts at Research UniversitiesFebruary 16, 2017This session looked at trends and strategies to combat declining enrollment, find new partners, and reach out to surrounding communities. The session provided a current snapshot of arts and humanities trends—a full discussion of successful strategies a2ru partners have taken to prevent or reverse trends in declining enrollment in the arts.
PanelisTs LeAnn Starlin NilssonDirectorAcademic Recruitment and RetentionCollege of the ArtsKent State University
Sheena RamirezPortfolio, Audition and Recruitment CoordinatorCollege of Visual and Performing ArtsJames Madison University
Noel ZahlerDeanJ.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing ArtsTexas Tech University
Todd QueenDeanPenniman Family Professor of MusicCollege of Music and Dramatic ArtsLouisiana State University
Arny Nadler, ModeratorAssociate Professor of ArtChair of Undergraduate ArtSam Fox School of Design and Visual ArtsWashington University in St. Louis
Integrating the Arts at Land Grant InstitutionsJune 9, 2017This session explored the landscape of arts and arts-interdisciplinary efforts in research universities across the country, and provided case studies, benefits, and practices for integrating the arts at land grant instituions.
PanelisTsStephen D. BeckDerryl and Helen Haymon Professor of MusicAssistant Vice PresidentOffice of Research and Economic DevelopmentLouisiana State University
Stephen WallerDeanCollege of Agricultural Sciences and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ruth WaalkesAssociate Povost and DirectorCenter for the ArtsVirginia Tech
Deb Mexicotte, ModeratorManaging DirectorArtsEngineUniversity of Michigan
Videos and audio transcripts of all Circuits webinars are available on the a2ru website.
Insights
Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities10
insightsa2ru’s research staff started this year with a large task—cleaning, preparing, archiving, and sharing a baseline data collection effort that started in 2012-2015* and includes interviews from more than 600 individuals representing 38 universities. The interviews inform a2ru’s effort to clarify, articulate, and fortify the role of the arts and design in research universities.
The interview data are publically accessible as paired questions, responses, and metadata. This is an important step in the cultivation of new cultural research and to build the capacity to undertake new research. These interview data make it possible for researchers to gain new insights on questions, such as “What is arts research?,” “What are the impacts?,” and “What are the operational and intellectual obstacles?,” as well as to identify successful examples and models of arts integration.
*Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the report on initial work is published in Surveying the Landscape: Arts Integration at Research Universities.
a2ru research hosted two research assistants this summer to explore the role of metaphors and moral foundations in the ways in which the role of the arts and design is described and interpreted. Jaylyn Pruit, MSLIS ‘18 from the University of South Florida and Jonatan Contreras, MBA ‘18 from the University of Texas in El Paso came up with text analysis techniques, additional metadata summarization, and critical hypotheses for their summer research internships. This work was supported in cooperation with the University of Michigan School of Information’s Research Experiences for Masters Students, funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The main platform for insights into the 2012-2015 data set of 600
interviews is a search engine, index, and materials repository at sparc.a2ru.org. The platform allows researchers to search for keywords, select types of questions, and filter interviews by different variables, such as institution name or rank of the respondent. Collected materials such as course syllabi, toolkits, reports, and policies for tenure and promotion may be accessed or uploaded to the repository as well. A public API is also available for advanced data sharing, analysis, and visualization. The SPARC platform can also be further extended to include new functionality and/or updated with new data as required for new research programs and projects.
a2ru is building our research capacity as infrastructure for gathering and sharing in-depth insights about arts and design, as new and emerging practices for organizational sensemaking and high-dimensional data analysis and visualization. We are also developing training opportunities to support and develop engaged researchers interested in the knowledge challenges that a2ru is grappling with. Various research working groups formed around specific topics identified during the a2ru research synthesis workshop (see page 8) are open to additional interested participants.
The SPARC project is made possible with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
a2ru is involved in a two-year consensus study led by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, examining the merit of integrated education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, inclusive of arts, humanities, STEM, and medicine fields.The report will be published in late spring, 2018.
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mak
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ng“Assuming they find, as many believe, the arts are vital to all learning, when NAS releases their report (probably by Spring 2018), it should be a big plus for education, and for humanity. And for organizations like the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities. a2ru is one of the best places to understand the power of the arts and arts integration and to see how over 40 universities are integrating the arts into higher education (one of the committee members, Dr. Laurie Baefsky,
executive director of a2ru). Both NAS and a2ru are of the same mind that this is not art for art’s sake. It is about integrating the arts, broadly defined, or teaching all the disciplines through the arts, thus making any subject—whether it’s math or science or whatever—engaging and memorable.”
John EgerZahn Professor of Creativity and Innovation; Director of the Creative Economy InitiativeSan Diego State University
a2ru visited the Association of American Universities during Arts Advocacy Day 2017 in DC. Pictured left to right: Dave Munson,
president, Rochester Institute of Technology; Laurie Baefsky, executive director, a2ru/ArtsEngine, University of Michigan; Marvin Parnes,
associate vice president of research [retired], University of Michigan; Sarah Cunningham, executive director, VCUarts, Arts Research Institute,
Virginia Commonwealth University; Christopher Kendall, conductor, former dean, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Part of a2ru’s mission is educating the public and the higher education community on the evolving role of the arts and design in research and society. In 2017, a2ru participated in Arts Advocacy Day (AFTA). Executive Director Laurie Baefsky and representatives from the University of Michigan, Virginia Commonwealth University, International Council of Fine Arts Deans (ICFAD), and James Madison University made the rounds on the Hill talking about the importance of the Arts in Higher Education. This group of representatives visited the offices of Leonard Lance (R, NJ), Mario Diaz-Balart (R, FL), Mark Warner (D, VA), Tim Kaine (D, VA), Tom Garrett (R, VA), Bob Goodlatte (R, VA), Scott Taylor (R, VA), Rob Wittman (R, VA), and Debbie Stabenow (D, MI).
Later that day, Baefsky was quoted in the Washington Post about the value of the arts in higher education. “It’s not a partisan issue. We have complex problems and we need an integrated approach to get at the best solutions.”
The a2ru Executive Committee issued statements and letters this past year as well.• October 28, 2016, letter to the U.S. House of
casemaking & storytelling
Representatives and Senate urging financial support of the NEA• February 1, 2017, a2ru issued a response to threat of elimination of the NEA and NEH• March 20, 2017, a2ru issued a statement on the White House’s FY2018 proposed federal budget, citing how
the “FY2018 budget cut backs will heavily impact federally funded research and zero out all federal arts and humanities agencies. If approved, this budget critically undermines higher education’s ability to incubate arts and humanities research and practice, educate our students, and serve American citizens.”
artsengineCreated in 2006, ArtsEngine is an interdisciplinary arts integration initiative of the four North Campus schools and colleges at the University of Michigan—the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and the College of Engineering—and the School of Information. At that time, the visionary deans of these schools and colleges recognized that our research university (and higher education in general) would be undergoing a number of fundamental shifts in the coming decades—driven by technology, globalization, generational change, and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to solve complex problems on a scale not recently experienced. To remain relevant and necessary to our free and democratic society, universities needed to prepare students, engage faculty and scholars, and inform society from a more balanced and unified perspective—one that extends beyond “STEM to STEAM” or the economic argument for the value of the arts, toward full integration among and collaboration between the arts and the sciences, engineering and design, technology, and the humanities.
From that understanding, ArtsEngine was imagined to inspire, foster, and strengthen intellectual collisions and durable collaborative practices driven by the arts to fully maximize the potential of each student and faculty member at the University of Michigan and beyond.
To meet the challenge of this mission, ArtsEngine’s four major areas of work have evolved to encompass ArtsEngine at U-M; the UARTS suite of creative process course offerings; the Living Arts residential community; and our national professional organization, the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru).
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ArtsEngine
artsenGine at u-mArtsEngine programs and initiatives are designed to support students and faculty interdisciplinary projects, research, and collaborations at U-M. These include grant awards (Student MicroGrants, Arts Integrative Interdisciplinary Research Grants, Collaborative Course Grants, and Interdisciplinary Visiting Scholar Grants), the Art/Sci Student Residencies (supporting the engineer in the artist’s studio, the artist in the engineering lab), professional development and collaboration opportunities (ConFabCafés, Graduate Symposia on Interdisciplinary Arts Integration), co-sponsored events (Science As Art Contest, Art 4 Activism Competition), partnered student organizations (Arts& Initiative, MPowered Makeathon), and build/design team competitions (42 Hours of Re_Creativity).
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uartsThe UARTS suite of courses was created to expand student access to courses centered on the arts, creative process, interdisciplinary instruction, and problem- or project-based learning. The two foundational courses, UARTS 150: Intro to Creative Process and UARTS 250: Creative Process are taught annually. The UARTS Faculty Course Development Grant program is designed to support the development of courses to be offered under the UARTS prefix that integrate the arts and design with other disciplines, especially those in engineering and the sciences.
livinG arts residential CommunityMore than 100 students from engineering, art and design, architecture and urban planning, and music, theatre, and dance participate every year in the Living Arts “maker community.” Activities include participation in the interdisciplinary team-taught UARTS 150: Intro to Creative Process, guest artist workshops, alumni interactions, and a Creative Capstone Project. The Living Arts Summer Residential Lab (LASRL) invites high school students to explore creativity and the benefits of integrated arts and collaborative teamwork.
Looking forward, ArtsEngine envisions a future in which arts and design are understood to be central to the success of every complex endeavor, as it is through the arts that the scope of human experience in creativity, innovation, empathy, culture, and knowledge is learned, expressed, and distributed, both for the common good and the development of the individual.
We are proud to serve as the catalyst and organizational foundation for the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities as a vital channel for the journey toward that envisioned future.
“The arts make real what defines us as humans. They are essential to research, helping us to question
our assumptions, to take risks, and to experiment in our search for useful answers.”
Martin PhilbertProvost, University of Michigan
Emerging Creatives Student SummitFebruary 15-18, 2018Hosted by Louisiana State University
Summer Institute ExchangeJune 11-22, 2018Hosted by University of Florida
National ConferenceNovember 1-3, 2018Hosted by University of Georgia
Emerging Creatives Student SummitFebruary 7-10, 2019Hosted by James Madison University
2018-2019 a2ru eVenTs
