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Roundtable Presentations 2018
Arts Enterprise and Cultural Innovation: Orienting student artists towards their future as creative professionals The focus of the academy has long been to produce students at the maximum of their creative skill. The contemporary creative professional space requires a broader scope of ability. How do we best prepare students, beyond their discipline, for an entry into a vocation and career that they design as creative professionals? We must grant them the foundational tools to be used in creative self, team and project leadership. This is achieved through student focused reflective curricula that guide emergent creatives through the following process:
The articulation of a personal brand, frameworks for personal and organizational leadership and a foundational understanding of the principals of formation, marketing and finance, are all key elements that allow the emergent creative to craft a self-guided career toward maximum opportunity. Aric Mayer Lucas G. Senger Censorship, Civil Unrest and the Arts As campus leaders in the arts, what do we face in this strange epoch of trigger warnings, ethnic slurs, sexism, a new advent of white supremacists, a visible almost daily demonstration of lack of civility, police brutality intersecting with racism, professional religious provocateurs on campus, and a litigious sensibility in our United States culture? How do we protect freedom of speech, First Amendment Rights and also to address best practices regarding how to handle sensitive or controversial subject matter in the classroom and studio, theatre and exhibition spaces? How do we foster the arts as a means to expand students' knowledge and creative/critical thinking skills while remaining mindful of the above? What are your thoughts and perspectives about this? At this roundtable, there will be a brief overview provided, then several prompts to encourage discourse among arts deans about these topics. Cyrus Parker-Jeanette, Dean (The) Changing Landscape for Small and Medium-Sized Units: Fundraising Challenges Several deans of fine arts units in small- and medium-sized colleges and universities have seen an increased need to lead fundraising efforts and projects. While in some cases this practice might have been a long established practice in some institutions, in many cases the shifting from the dean’s mostly academic responsibilities to increased fundraising activities has been a new and expanding area. This presentation will center on experiences from two deans of medium-sized liberal arts colleges who will relate their experiences on how they navigate several aspects of the fundraising continuum, from strategic formulation, cultivation, and stewardship to asking and closing of significant gifts. Martin Camacho, Dean Steven Peters, Dean Culture Eats Policy for Breakfast: Fostering a positive and collegial climate in your college Everyone in an academic leadership position has felt the impact of employee morale and workplace culture, positive or negative, on their ability to get things done. How do you begin improving a dysfunctional culture? How do you maintain faculty and staff morale during difficult times? This discussion will focus on the intricate and delicate ecosystem of relationships, norms, and behaviors that constitute a college’s workplace culture. In particular, we will discuss tools and best practices for fostering a collegial climate of optimism, transparency, and mutual respect within the tangled structures of academia. Robin Cass, Interim Dean Enrollment: A Transformative 3+1 International Partnership in the Arts Increasing enrollments is a priority for many fine arts colleges, schools, and departments. For most deans and arts executives, enrollment and credit hour growth are key factors in gaining additional resources that include space, faculty lines, and funding. Illinois State University’s College of Fine Arts and School of Art have created a dynamic 3 + 1 undergraduate partnership in graphic design with Shanghai Normal University’s Tianhua College. This initiative has built a pipeline for enrollment and has encouraged faculty and graduate student exchanges throughout the academic year, and has garnered additional funding for renovation of studio classrooms and international travel. This roundtable intends to explore the details of this partnership, as well as the process that led to its creation. Michael Wille, Director Double duty: When your rehearsal hall is a performance hall The needs of rehearsal space and performance space differ in important ways, acoustically and otherwise. Often, scheduling alone demands separate rehearsal space from performance space. But what can be done if constraints on space or budget, coupled with a well-placed desire for efficient space utilization, require an institution to use the same space for both? Can a rehearsal room be a recital hall? Is a concert hall suitable for rehearsals? The answer to these questions is a qualified yes – and good facility planning and design can result in rooms that serve both rehearsal and performance functions well, without compromised acoustical character. In this roundtable, we will discuss the design of rooms doing “double duty” – share experiences (good and bad), and discuss how to plan for performance and rehearsal in the same space. Benjamin Markham, LEED AP, Director, Architectural Acoustics Evolution and Use of Flexible Theatres in Education Whether you call them studio theatres, flexible theatres, lab theatres or black-boxes, our industry has seen an increased demand for these facilities over the last decade. What is behind the resurgence of interest in this room type? TCC will lead a discussion about the evolving roles of the flexible theatre and highlight strategies to achieve maximum performance in a smaller space. Jason Prichard, Principal How Technology Drives Enrollment Academic administrators spend a lot of time thinking about improving enrollment. Enhancing facilities, creating a sense of community and building a strong arts program can go a long way towards reaching enrollment goals. Join two seasoned acousticians and a director of a school of music for an intimate conversation about how they've used technology to drive enrollment. Dr. Daniel Goble, Director of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance Mark Holden, Principal, Acoustics Russell Cooper, Principal Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Higher Education: Branches from the Same Tree Join us for a short confab on next steps, based on the joint consensus report, The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education: Branches from the Same Tree, released by the National Academies on May 7. This investigation began at a December 2015 workshop with joint support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. A committee, chaired by David Skorton (Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution), was established to collect evidence and models for integration of the arts and humanities and STEM/M fields at 2-year colleges, 4-year colleges, and graduate programs. The report examines the known impact of integrative approaches on students’ academic performance and career readiness. a2ru is interested in joining forces to study the report results and propose what actions research universities might take to prepare students to be more effective communicators, critical thinkers, problem-solvers and leaders; and more creative and effective scientists, engineers, technologists, and health care providers. Laurie Baefsky, Associate Dean for Research, Collaboration, and Innovation Shawn Brixey, Dean Guna Nadarajan, Dean Lynn Pasquerella, President Leadership Development Opportunities within ICFAD How often are you able to devote time to thinking about the long-term future of your organization? Have you considered how your organization’s situation could change as society changes, the economy adapts, and technological advances provide organizations with new ways of doing business? To do this effectively, association volunteer and staff leaders need to engage together in a disciplined practice of foresight. Nurturing, high-performing volunteer leaders are critical to the long-term ability of organizations and their stakeholders to thrive. If you’d like to play a more active leadership role in the International Council of Fine Arts Deans, spend some time at this Roundtable Presentation (or otherwise chatting with Alison at the 55th Annual Conference, if your “Roundtable Plate” is already full!). Being appointed to a Committee or elected to ICFAD’s board is an honor and a privilege, as well as being professionally advantageous. Alison Pruitt, Executive Director Living the Arts: The Arts as a Bridge Connecting Student Life to Academia Increasingly, Institutions of Higher Learning are embracing the premise that creativity breeds innovation, and that the arts – long viewed as vocations withdrawn from conventional academic pursuits – are fundamental to a holistic model of learning and discovery. Many discoveries in academia begin in student living communities and can be fortified through the arts in action. Sam Blanchard, Chair Kevin Concannon, Director Drew Fleming, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Preparing Students for a Sustainable Future: A New Era in the College of Fine Arts at UNLV The College of Fine Arts at University of Nevada, Las Vegas has moved forward with a new strategic plan that creates a blueprint for the next five years (2018-2023). The new mission statement "to boldly launch visionaries who will transform the world" reflects a very optimistic view about our students' futures and the possibilities ahead for them in their lives. Some of the concepts that will define their working lives and art practices in the years to come have to do with inventing new careers, adaptability, resilience, agency, change-making, curiosity, social contexts of art and growth mind-sets. These ideas will frame the round table discussion about (1) the meaning of a sustainable future in the lives of emerging 21st century artists and (2) how our institutions are meeting the challenge of delivering a relevant education to our students. Nancy Uscher, Dean Strategic Planning, Budgeting and Decision Support Budget analysis and decision support is integral to well-run academic units. Chris Eiffe, Director of Budget and Planning, at Syracuse University and Michael Tick, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts will present core concepts and techniques needed to tackle resource allocation, zero-based budgeting, financial management, compliance, communication and collaboration to maximize resources for student success. Chris Eiffe, Director of Budget and Operations Michael Tick, Dean Suitability: Perspectives Toward Longevity and Vitality Design professional addresses the concept of sustainability in respect to efficiency and environmentally sensitive venue design, and how it related to appropriately serving artistic programming that venues host today and will host in the future. David W. Kahn Virtual Acoustics LIVE Learn what new technology can do to enhance the acoustics of your rehearsal room. Transport your rehearsal from a bright baroque hall to a grand cathedral to YOUR performance hall with just a push of a button. Experience Wenger’s virtual acoustic system for rehearsal spaces featuring a LIVE brass ensemble. Don’t take our word for it … come and listen! Matt Hildebrand, Product Manager - Acoustics What Arts Colleges Can Do to Help Students Launch and Manage their Careers in the 21st Century As the University of Oklahoma launches a new graduate arts management and entrepreneurship program, it does so understanding our graduating students will enter a market which continues to shift at a breathless pace. From digital dissemination, the democratization of audiences, and even artificial intelligence, this roundtable discusses the college/university role in both equipping and confirming market-readiness of graduating students. Topics covered include new entrepreneurial approaches, strategies, and revenue and funding models. We’ll discuss the roles of college and job market; arts entrepreneurship: both within and without organizations; business-minded, artist-driven solutions; new revenue models. Adrian Fung, Associate Dean |
