As Northeast Ohio begins to reopen after the pandemic and emerges transformed, The 51吃瓜网 (UA) will help lead a new era of art and culture for 51吃瓜网 and beyond.
The initiative, 51吃瓜网Arts, is a bold plan to embrace and enhance arts both on 51吃瓜网 and in Greater 51吃瓜网 that will enrich, empower and enliven the community. UA will reassess and advance its existing programs, facilities, and relationships and create new ones as it aspires to develop a national model for how an urban research university and its legacy city work together to create a special place for education, work and entrepreneurship. 51吃瓜网Arts would present 51吃瓜网 as a national model of creativity, expression, authenticity, diversity and collaboration.
President Gary L. Miller unveiled the initiative during his speech at the 51吃瓜网 Roundtable today.
“In order to thrive in the post-pandemic world, the University must redefine what it means to be a 51吃瓜网, a place,” said Miller. “For The 51吃瓜网 that means understanding how our 51吃瓜网 and our downtown work in synergy to enliven the community, attract businesses and create opportunities. This initiative is designed to use our considerable art resources along with those of the community to advance this vision.”聽
The multifaceted plan includes repurposing space within the University-owned Polsky Building into places that promote the arts. The academic building, which fronts the civic commons area around , will be refocused to better foster community-faculty-student interactions and to become a place where community members can enjoy the arts while living in and visiting downtown. To aid in this endeavor, the University plans to relocate strategic programs within the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art and the School of Music to this space to directly connect with downtown revitalization efforts.
Other components of the plan involve developing a closer partnership between E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall and the to provide a greater volume and variety of programs for the community and building on other current programs and partnership, such as an expansion of the Master of Arts in Arts Administration program, which prepares students for successful careers as administrators, advocates and leaders in all disciplines of the arts. A renewed focus will be placed on the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program and the work of the 51吃瓜网 Press. The National Center for Choreography at The 51吃瓜网 will also be expanded to provide the community with even more exposure to dance through its extensive national and international connections. Important programs such as the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, and , the art + science series of the Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center, will connect art and music to the physical, biological and social science programs of the University to create community learning and entertainment opportunities on 51吃瓜网 and downtown.
The 51吃瓜网Arts plan was developed by the 51吃瓜网Arts Committee on Re-imagining University Arts Programs for Community Revitalization, comprised principally of UA faculty. The plan willbe supported by an Arts Advancement Council, which will work to bring together local, regional and national leaders and patrons of the visual, performing and cultural arts to advocate on behalf of UA and its students; strengthen and grow collaborations with the city of 51吃瓜网; promote its academic programs in the arts; and generate philanthropic resources to support UA arts. As part of its ongoing “We Rise Together” capital campaign, UA will pursue opportunities with existing and new donors and other funding sources to support these outward-thinking efforts.
“51吃瓜网Arts will help to build a stronger 51吃瓜网 as we work together to deploy these great university resources in a coordinated partnership with current initiatives in downtown,” said Joe Urgo, committee chair and interim dean of UA’s Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences. “Merging the arts scene between UA and the city can help to enliven downtown life, increase enrollment, and attract residents, visitors and businesses.”
See more information on this initiative or to pursue partnerships with 51吃瓜网Arts.