Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We insist upon building and sustaining an equitable community of students and faculty that support each other. Of equal importance we support students with diverse learning styles, as well as cultivating divergent thinking and making. Please see our detailed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and accessibility statements for more information.
Material and Craft
We value the unique learning opportunities that material engagement offers. We take our ideas, manifest them through our materials, and those materials resist us in myriad ways, while new ideas emerge. Skill-building is an important element for critical thinking and making.
Interdisciplinarity
We encourage the exploration of diverse materials, media, and ideas, questioning and analyzing the effect these have on the production of meaning.
Sustainable Practices
We strive to build and encourage an awareness of the impact of materials on the environment by sourcing materials as ethically as is practically as possible. Sustainable practices as a value refers to creating awareness about working sustainably. For example, understanding where materials come from, the labor practices that enable their availability, the impact materials have on bodies and ecosystems, and also an understanding of what happens to these materials when projects are no longer of value and they end up in a landfill. This becomes a part of how and what we teach and learn.
Community Building
We work towards building collective learning communities where inclusivity, open-mindedness, tolerance, respect, self-care and care of others is valued.
Collaboration
We are committed to helping students build an awareness of the agency they have as collaborative cultural producers. Students, for example, have opportunities to study with UMass Civic Engagement and Service-Learning (CESL) or Arts Extension Service programs, by engaging in intermediate and advanced level community art, arts administration, and design projects in partnership with local organizations, and the option to pursue a Civic Engagement and Service-Learning Certificate and Arts Management Certificate alongside their creative studies. These opportunities prepare students for lives of active engagement with communities and partners on and off campus