UGA Arts Collaborative

Reading Room: Centering the Arts in the Age of AI

Centering the Arts in the Age of AI: Advancing Education, Innovation, and Workforce Development through Creative Practices
By Daragh Byrne (Carnegie Mellon), Maryrose Flanigan (the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities), Benjamin Knapp (Virginia Tech), Aaron Knochel (Penn State) & Lisa McNair (Virginia Tech)
https://a2ru.org/centering-the-arts-in-the-age-of-ai-advancing-education-innovation-and-workforce-development-through-creative-practices-executive-summary-now-available/

The recent ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) usage highlights the need for literacy, experimentation, and productive perspectives on these tools. As higher education prepares students to enter the workforce, we know an integrated curriculum with attention to informed use of AI will not only prevent the harms we know are inherent in the technology but will also ensure a human-centered, skilled workforce essential to our democracy and global citizenship. Interdisciplinary perspectives and skills are the only way to make this happen, and to develop elevated awareness in the development, use, and adoption of AI now urgently needed. That means integrated study and use – artists, engineers, technologists, humanists, scientists, and medical experts working together.

Mapping Creative Futures: A Community Conversation

Mapping Creative Futures: A Community Conversation
Monday, June 30 at 2:30 PM
https://a2ru.org/event/mapping-creative-futures/

Free and open to all

Earlier this spring, when the a2ru Executive Committee drafted a statement about the effect of executive orders, one of many points we talked about was how this network is structured to combat isolation. We also talked about how the arts play an integral role in processing change; how the arts give voice to those who have been marginalized; and how the arts are uniquely situated to mark a productive path forward in times of uncertainty. In that spirit, we invite you to “Mapping Creative Futures: A Community Conversation,” a virtual gathering to discuss the ongoing challenges we continue to navigate in the arts and higher education, from changes to funding at all levels to shifting parameters that fundamentally shape our work.

From this and any subsequent conversations, we will capture insights to inform our actions as we navigate this climate collectively. This session is designed to share ideas, swap stories, strengthen network connections, and collaborate.

This frank discussion among our community will be facilitated by Chris Walker, a2ru Executive Committee member and Special Advisor to the Provost on the Arts at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, the host of the upcoming 2025 a2ru national conference, “Creative Futures: Driving Interdisciplinary Innovation Through the Arts.”

Collaboration Opportunity: Project MACAW

Project MACAW: Managing Avian Collisions at Windows
Student application
Deadline: July 24
https://uga.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/1981196

This team will identify hotspots and timing of lethal bird collisions with windows on the UGA campus. Students will: uncover the ecological and design drivers of collisions; assess knowledge and educate UGA students, staff, and faculty about the issue; develop monitoring protocols; and propose innovative solutions to prevent collisions by engaging with multiple stakeholders at UGA, NGOs and industry.

The Vertically Integrated Projects for Research (VIPR) program is an initiative of the Office of Instruction that supports collaborative, interdisciplinary research teams that include undergraduate researchers, their faculty mentors, and other scientists such as graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and faculty collaborators. VIPR teams engage UGA students in long-term, large-scale, multidisciplinary research as they work alongside faculty and graduate students to solve real-world challenges. For more information, visit https://vipr.uga.edu.

Team Leads: Richard Hall (Ecology), Clark Rushing (Forestry and Natural Resources), Susan Tanner (Anthropology), Jon Calabria (Environment and Design), Mark Callahan (UGA Arts Collaborative), Michael Marshall (Art).

https://vipr.uga.edu/team/project-macaw-managing-avian-collisions-at-windows/

US Regional Arts Organizations Joint Statement on the National Endowment for the Arts

https://www.southarts.org/news/us-regional-arts-organizations-joint-statement-national-endowment-arts

May 9, 2025

Dear valued member of our community,

Last Friday, many though not all active and pending direct grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) were terminated. One of the projects that was terminated was the NEA’s ArtsHERE initiative, delivered in cooperation with South Arts and through significant partnership with the US Regional Arts Organizations. This comes alongside the president’s proposal to eliminate the NEA entirely in the FY26 federal budget. Together, these actions will have devastating impacts on communities throughout the country.

We, the national collective of US Regional Arts Organizations, strongly urge Congress to restore the grant funding in support of the arts, culture, and creativity that was passed during the last budgetary approval process, in addition to maintaining its broad bipartisan commitment to funding the NEA in next year’s budget. As the landscape of support for our cultural infrastructure continues to be eroded, we remain steadfast in our commitment to stand with you in defending and preserving our nation’s artistic and cultural agencies.

When Congress passed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, it declared that “the arts and the humanities belong to all the people of the United States.” Since its inception, the NEA has played a critical role in broadening access to the cultural, educational, and economic benefits of the arts in every Congressional District. In fact, federal arts funds support thousands of communities across the nation, including 678 counties that private foundations do not reach.

Collectively, the NEA, Regional Arts Organizations, and State Arts Agencies serve thousands of communities across the country. And yet this work is funded by just 0.004% of the federal budget–less than 62 cents per American per year.

This low-investment, high-return model is a shining example of good government–federal funds are successfully leveraged many times over by states and private funders to increase the impact of public dollars. Federal dollars don’t replace private investment–they attract it.

Evolve in the African State of Mind: Installation

Evolve in the African State of Mind
Multimedia installation by Nkululeko Zungu
April 28 – 30
Lamar Dodd Building Room S390

Arts Collaborative Research Affiliate Nkululeko Zungu finds pleasure in exploring music from traditional Classical to modern Electronic. He writes:

Music is a powerful tool that shapes societies largely through entertainment and, more importantly, through communication and the preservation of culture. Identifiers play a significant role within cultures, influencing composers’ perspectives on music. African thought leaders like Ngugi wa Thiong’o encourage African writers to see themselves in terms of their identity, as opposed to the various colonial experiences encountered on the African continent.

This recording project explores the clicks from two South African languages, isiZulu and isiXhosa, to help me reposition myself within cultural identities. Furthermore, exploring clicks through modern technologies opens up the possibility of creating large works from simple building blocks. African musicians have kept these clicks within the text; thus, meaning remains in the language.
Continue reading “Evolve in the African State of Mind: Installation”

Reading Room: With federal funding in question, artists can navigate a perilous future by looking to the past

With federal funding in question, artists can navigate a perilous future by looking to the past
By Johanna K. Taylor and Mary McAvoy
https://theconversation.com/with-federal-funding-in-question-artists-can-navigate-a-perilous-future-by-looking-to-the-past-252453

As scholars who study the arts, activism and policy, we’re watching the latest developments with apprehension. But we think it’s important to point out that while the U.S. government has never been a global leader of arts funding, American artists have always been innovative, creative and scrappy during times of political turmoil.