Art in Action, Get on the Bus, and other local projects

Art in Action: Community-Based Performance Practices is a course developed by Dr. Jan Cohen-Cruz for Syracuse University students in the Drama Department and the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. For ten sessions during the spring 2009 semester, students will complete community-based performance projects at local organizations including the Community Folk Arts Center’s Kuumba Project; Latino youth theatre troupe, La Joven Guardia del Teatro Latino; Center for New Americans’ Theater Club; The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation; The Onondaga Historical Association Museum and Research Center; and Power Unit for Motivating Youth. Read Course Syllabus Here

Imagining America’s Publicly Active Graduate Education (PAGE) Initiative is working with SU’s Graduate School on opportunities for graduate students who care about public scholarship. In May 2008, IA convened a half day Graduate Student Forum for thirty SU graduate students. A second convening is planned for March 20, 2009 in collaboration with the Central New York Humanities Corridor. T hrough a Mellon grant, director of SU’s new Humanities Center Greg Lambert will support the participation of publicly-active graduate students from University of Rochester and Cornell. Contact Kevin Bott.

The Higher Education Summit was co-hosted by SU Chancellor Cantor and Mary Schmidt Campbell, Chair of New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) on October 13, 2008. The topic was the intersection of higher education, the arts, and the revitalization of New York State. The gathering brought together leaders from Bard, Colgate, Cornell, Hamilton, Ithaca, Le Moyne, Onondaga Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Skidmore, Rochester, and Wells.

LogoThe Hyphenated Artist Series was a ten-month collaboration with Partners for Arts Education (PAE), a Syracuse-based organization that provides funding and support to deepen and enrich educational experiences in and through the arts for students, teachers, and artists. The series enhanced and promoted the region’s cultural activity by exploring expanded opportunities for artists in hyphenations such as artist-educator, artist-organizer, and artist-therapist. Funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the 2008 Series featured performances and workshops by artists whose work goes beyond aesthetics. Read Press Release Here

Get on the Bus, a course for Syracuse University students, uses the Connective Corridor to understand how art can contribute to community development in Syracuse and beyond. The Connective Corridor is a mile and a quarter strip extending from University Hill through downtown, encompassing 23 arts and cultural venues. Five evenings during the spring 2008 semester, the free Connective Corridor bus traveled to two of those venues—such as Light Work, Syracuse Symphony, Community Folk Arts Center, the Red House, and others. The students co-ordinated brief events at the sites that emphasized the cultural richness that no longer exists—including the 15th Ward, presence of Native Americans, the Erie Canal, active life around the mansions, and large European immigrant groups. The intention was to get more people to experience the sites and to recognize the need for the participating organizations to be supported in order that they, and the city, thrive. Read Press Release Here