2014 CEIT Instructional Innovation Conference ARTS NOW

Arts Now Overview Narrative of the project and its evolution from Theater Now to Arts Now: Dean Sapiro’s call for courses that connect students with the city of Boston and its cultural and historical offerings. The First Year Experience and Dean Steven Jarvi. The BU Arts Initiative and Ty Furman. Plans for Arts Now courses outside the Writing Program. “One BU” at the heart of our thinking: Writing Program, Mugar Library, CFA, FYE, and the BU Arts Initiative.

WR100/150:Theater Now Plays and guest speakers / films / multiple course sections. Outside-of-the-classroom learning: expanding the learning community and breaking the boundaries of the traditional classroom Different plays and different venues: establishing partnerships with venues and institutions outside of BU. Outside-of-the-classroom “experiential learning” and its impact inside the college classroom. “Curriculum-based” means more than a field trip: impacting the academic concerns of the course. Transferability: any course that is project-based should benefit from this model. Other Arts Now courses as examples of transferability.

WR100ESL: Boston Jazz Now WR100 ESL: introducing ESL students to a quintessentially American artform, and music as an international language. Live performances and guest speakers: jazz and the Boston jazz scene. Writing for an audience outside the college classroom: student reviews of the 2012 John Coltrane Memorial Concert: coltrane-memorial-concert/ coltrane-memorial-concert/ Plans for interaction and collaboration between ESL and non-ESL students.

WRX100/150: Poetry Now Arts Now lays the groundwork for the WRX initiative in the Writing Program: outside-of-the-classroom learning paired with experiments and innovations in curriculum. Poetry readings and guest speakers: poets working here at BU and in the greater Boston area: poetry is created right here, right now. Writing for an audience outside the classroom: students were contributors to The First Experiment, an online journal and collaborative class project. Poetry Now Valentine’s Day Project

WR100/150: Museums Now Our newest Arts Now seminar focuses on the value of museums to civic life in Boston and the importance of international research and archaeological inquiry for launching exhibitions. Students explore 19th century legacies of excavation and collection through visits to installations at the Boston MFA and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Guest speakers in museums and in the classroom. Plans to pair with a section that focuses on the fine arts.