The Georgia Tech Office of the Arts and the Georgia Tech Arts Council are pleased to announce that the Georgia Tech Strategic Plan Advisory Group has awarded funding for Creative Curricular Initiatives, a new project that supports faculty, staff, and students in discovering how artistic practices can inform existing learning objectives.

Based on the belief that nurturing students' artistic sensibilities and exposing students to artistic process is essential to developing creativity and innovation, the project supports Georgia Tech’s strategic goals: making innovation and creative thinking fundamental characteristics of its graduates; preparing students to excel, lead, and innovate in 21st-century careers; and enabling students to bridge diverse perspectives, disciplines, and practices.

The Creative Curricular Initiatives project consists of two components:

• Arts Curricular Innovations (ACI) will encourage and support the integration of content into courses that connect the arts and artistic processes to existing course learning objectives and broader strategic objectives for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Each semester, faculty, staff, and teaching assistants can apply for support ranging from visiting speakers and field trips to teaching collaborations with visiting artists and the redesign of a course component. The Georgia Tech Arts Council and Office of the Arts provide mentoring and support for awardees in designing, evaluating, and sustaining each innovation, as well as in promoting the courses to Georgia Tech students.
• Arts Council Fellows (ACF) will encourage faculty, staff, and students to envision projects that combine arts and academics in ways that impact broader campus culture. Applicants propose a project that will impact their own unit or community or reach across several. For example, projects could include a visiting speaker series on mathematics and music, a thematic art exhibition on biologically inspired design, or a panel discussion on arts-infused teaching practices. In addition to realizing their projects, awardees serve two-year terms as Arts Council Fellows on the Georgia Tech Arts Council so that they can connect, mentor, and collaborate with other fellows as well as the Office of the Arts.

The Office of the Arts and the Arts Council will issue a call for proposals, review submissions, and assist awardees with planning, marketing, mentorship, artist matching, and implementation.  The Creative Curricular Initiative also includes implementation of a multi-faceted communications plan, evaluation and assessment, and fundraising to support these initiatives beyond the two-year grant period.

For information on ACI and ACF please contact Es Famojure in the Office of the Arts at esther.famojure@arts.gatech.edu.