Preparing the Green, Going Green, Raising Green: UMass Amherst's Arts Extension Service Offers Three New Courses

AMHERST, Mass. – Three new courses addressing less visible aspects of life in the arts and culture field are being offered this fall by the Arts Extension Service (AES) at the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  

 

Two of the courses are being offered on campus: Arts and Culture Internship Preparation Course will help students identify their personal career interests and learn how to create the appropriate application materials, whileGreening Your Nonprofit Arts Organization will explore environmental issues unique to arts institutions.

 

Grantwriting for the Artsis offered online only, and will teach the nuts and bolts of grantsmanship, introduce the vocabulary and philosophy of grantwriting, the hallmarks of a well-written proposal, and how to search for grants. 

 

The Arts and Culture Internship Preparation Course is co-taught by Caroline Gould of UMass Amherst’s Career Services and AES director Dee Boyle-Clapp. It will call on arts and culture professionals from the campus and across the region to help broaden students’ awareness of the vast array of opportunities in the arts, inform students of work expectations, and share what they look for when hiring an intern.

 

“The internship course prepares students to make the transition from classes to work in the arts field,” said Gould, who is assistant director for career planning. The course, which will culminate in each student applying for an internship for the next semester, is open to all but seniors and grad students in their final semester.

 

Greeningwill explore how an arts organization can go green, from the small and easy ideas to reduce consumption to overcoming attitudes that prevent change. This course will also explore the many opportunities available that can make real reductions in an arts organization’s energy, water and chemical use and changes that will save on operating costs, a must for today’s nonprofit arts organizations. It also explores solar options that will make money for an organization, while reducing its carbon footprint.

 

Students will be taught how to analyze an institution’s practices and find simple and cost-free greening ideas as well as those that may require advanced planning and investment such as replacing windows or heating and air conditioning systems. They will also deal with situations unique to arts institutions from theater lighting to chemicals in art studios and will discuss options and ideas that could reduce their negative impacts. 

 

Using real examples and guest speakers, students will learn about “greenwashing” – those changes that have little or no impact but sound impressive – and learn how to create a “green team” that avoids or transforms animosity or mistrust into a cooperative and green workplace. The course will include how to involve the greater community in an organization’s efforts to go green. Greening Your Nonprofit Arts Organization is a 500-level course open both to graduate students and undergraduates and is taught by Boyle-Clapp, co-founder of a green team at Continuing and Professional Education and lecturer on greening topics. 

 

All of the AES campus-based courses, including Introduction to Arts Management, are three credits and are taught using a blended format. Students meet in the late afternoon once a week face-to-face and complete the balance of discussion, reading and submission of homework online.  

 

“Blended courses offer a significant flexibility for busy students,” said Boyle-Clapp. “Arts and culture, theater, bachelors degree with individual concentration and music students in particular, need courses at the end of the day to work around their schedule of studio classes and rehearsals. 

 

“Meeting once a week provides an opportunity to spark student thinking, and we continue to have insightful discussion online so there is ample time together, while still allowing blocks of time for the student’s primary area of study. For students who are thoughtful but quiet, the blended format allows them to share their ideas equally with their classmates.” 

 

Like AES’ other off-campus courses Grantwriting for the Arts is fully online, and is offered both for credit and non-credit. 

 

Grantwriting for the Arts is taught by Maryo Gard Ewell and Randi Vega.  “These instructors represent both geographic diversity and power of the online capabilities as both are leaders in the field,” said Boyle-Clapp. Ewell worked for more than 20 years in arts administration in Connecticut, Illinois and Colorado, and is now working to establish cultural districts for the state of Colorado. Randi Vega is the director of cultural affairs for the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts.

 

 AES offers the nation’s only online bachelor’s degree in Arts Administration as well as two certificates in arts management.

 

For more information about the Arts Extension Service courses Greening Your Nonprofit Arts Organizationand Arts and Culture Internship Preparation Courseor to find links to register, or for more information about their online courses, visitwww.umass.edu/aesor contact theArts Extension Service at 413/545-2360or aes@acad.umass.edu.