About the Program
Collaboration across disciplinary boundries will be an essential key to new discoveries, new creations, and new ways of looking at challenges.
The Collaborative Arts Program (COLA) is one facet of a more encompassing move toward collaboration and interdisciplinary research at the University of Minnesota.
Other parts of this larger initiative include the Institute for Advanced Study, the Consortium on Fostering Interdisciplinary Inquiry sponsored by the Provost’s office, as well as well-established centers for interdisciplinary colloquy such as the Institute for Global Studies, the Center for Austrian Studies, the Center for German and European Studies, and the China Center.
Most COLA faculty members will have their tenure homes in the traditional arts – art, music, theater, dance, and creative writing. They will teach in both contexts, within the traditional arts curriculum and within the Collaborative Arts Program. COLA courses will also be offered by distinguished guest faculty and representatives of international interdisciplinary research centers.
Unique Courses
Collaborative Arts courses will differ from the majority of courses at the University in two principal ways.
First, at least some of our courses will be co-taught by professors from different disciplines. The intersection or even conflict between multiple perspectives is an important part of the program.
Second, many Collaborative Arts courses will require collaboration among the students. In some courses, the goal of student collaboration will be a production of some sort (theater work, multi-media work, installation, exhibition, etc.). As the Collaborative Arts program develops, we hope to explore a variety of creative spaces within the West Bank Arts Quarter as well as alternative venues in the Twin Cities, allowing our students to share their work with the larger community.