An integrative initiative in creative work & learning.

Educate

All Arts on Earth activities are designed to enhance undergraduate and graduate education. Since late 2007, hundreds of students from 30 different units have registered to participate in AoE events and programs. We intend to grow that number exponentially. Why?

Neuroscientific research suggests that through the teen years to about age 25, critical elaboration and organization of neuronal connections takes place, a shaping process that will largely determine how the brain operates for the rest of its life. Students who are equipped, during this period, to understand and direct their own creative process may be more likely to develop the confidence and skill needed to become innovators and risk-takers in any field of endeavor they choose. Arts on Earth is exploring how engagement in art-making and the arts can help undergraduates make the most of this remarkable period of intellectual growth.

COURSES

"Creative Process"

Arts on Earth led faculty development of a new course, "Creative Process" (UARTS 250), designed to help undergraduates recognize, articulate, and develop their creative impulses. Funded by Provost Teresa Sullivan through the Multidisciplinary Learning and Team Teaching Initiative, "Creative Process" was piloted in Winter 2009, and taught in the Abbey Pontlevoy in southern France in Summer 2009. Taught by faculty from all four Arts on Earth units, “Creative Process” will become a staple at U-M. Learn more.

"Smart Surfaces"

Arts on Earth programming has spawned the interdisciplinary course, “Smart Surfaces.” The goal is for it to spawn many more. Learn more.

Courses on annual themes

Beginning in Fall 2010, with Arts = Health, interdisciplinary, arts-infused undergraduate courses will be built around Arts on Earth's annual themes, more thoroughly integrating arts-based inquiry into the curriculum. Learn more.

LIVING LEARNING

"Living Arts"

Arts on Earth will open "Living Arts," a living/learning community in Bursley Hall on U-M's North Campus in Fall 2010. Living Arts will provide co-housing for undergraduates from the North Campus units (Music, Theatre & Dance; Art & Design; Architecture + Urban Planning; Engineering), and their colleagues in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and other units. Resident students will live and learn in an arts-infused environment without “knowledge silos” – an experience that will provide unparalleled support for creative thought and second-nature skills for working across traditional disciplines.

STUDENT ORGANIZATION

"idea"

Arts on Earth is home to the new North Campus student group, "idea," dedicated to integrating arts, engineering, and other disciplines. Contact idea and learn more about the founding members, activities and aspirations, and how to get involved here.