Art + Design Initiative Featured in Berkeley News
In an article by Gretchen Kell, the efforts made by the Arts + Design Initiative to elevate and encourage Berkeley's creative culture were featured on Berkeley News. The feature discusses the need for creating a greater appreciation for the fields of art and design at Berkeley, which is the goal not only of the Big Ideas course "Thinking Across the Arts and Design Across Berkeley," but also of the Arts + Design Initiative. To quote Kell's article, "its many ambitions include making exposure to the arts and design essential to the undergraduate experience, developing students’ creative skills for today’s workplace and establishing Berkeley as a world-leading arts institution."
Co-teaching the class are BCNM executive committee faculty members Shannon Jackson, Berkeley's first vice chancellor for the arts and design, and Nicholas de Monchaux, who will soon take over from Greg Niemeyer as BCNM's Director.
Below is another excerpt from the article:
“The arts play a vital role in higher education, in producing creative people prepared for the future,” says Shannon Jackson, Berkeley’s first associate vice chancellor for the arts and design and a teacher and co-creator of the new Big Ideas course. Also on her to-do list is a multi-disciplinary creative curriculum, a “Berkeley culture pass” that subsidizes arts events for students, and more and updated campus arts facilities.
“Studying the arts and design at a public research university like Berkeley is different from studying at a traditional art school or conservatory,” says Jackson, a professor of rhetoric and of theater, dance and performance studies. “We don’t want to create a separate arts quadrant, but to elevate an arts orbit; the arts permeate the entire university. It’s an organizational challenge, but it’s time to bring more visibility to this incredible creative culture.”