The University of Michigan is looking to integrate a little more creativity into its academic pursuits, thanks to a $500,000 grant to the university's ArtsEngine initiative.
The three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will help infuse the work of artists and their creative practices into the culture of U.S. research universities.
"It's really about educating the whole student," says Theresa Reid, executive director of
ArtsEngine. "We want to expose them to the creative process so the student can utilize all of their creative potential.
ArtsEngine will produce the first comprehensive guide to best practices in arts integration at research universities, presenting ways to assimilate artists' unique capacities and perspectives into undergraduate and graduate teaching, high-level interdisciplinary research, and co-curricular work. It will also offer suggestions to help students navigate and adopt creative processes in their own field of study.
The U-M portion is working to integrate all of the schools and colleges on the university's North Campus, breaking down the silos that often form unintentionally in academia. The initiative will look to do this with students early in the college career, such as freshmen and sophomores.
Source: Theresa Reid, executive director of ArtsEngine
Writer: Jon Zemke
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