Open Studio, Open Mind: The Role of the Academy in an Artist's Development

Open Studio, Open Mind: The Role of the Academy in an Artist's Development

Tuesday, February 24, 2015 . 7:30PM
Maryland Dance Ensemble
Maryland Dance Ensemble photo by Alison Harbaugh
Principal People: 

Architect, Artist and Associate Professor, UMD School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Ronit Eisenbach

President, Manhattan School of Music James Gandre

Associate Professor and Director, UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies Leigh Wilson Smiley

Professor and Chair, Department of Photography & Imaging, NYU Tisch School of the Arts Deborah Willis

Moderator and Professor and Chair, Arts Management, State University of New York, Purchase College/Director of National Orchestral Institute at The Clarice James Undercofler

Event Attributes

Presented By

Presented By: 

The assumed usage of a performing arts degree — education, then a full-time life as a performer — has never been one that was realized by many. How can we inform the way young artists are educated in the 21st century? Is the Academy the place for preparing artists to be multi-faceted? Join these artists-turned-entrepreneurs, teachers and creative professionals as they discuss the influence their experiences of higher education had — or did not have — on their ultimate life paths.

Presented in Partnership with UTAS (Undergraduate Theatre Artists Society) and Delta Chi Xi

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Focusing on craft alone won't prepare students for life as a working artist, says Joseph W. Polisi, president of the Juilliard School, which holds workshops that encourage an entrepreneurial mind-set; in one session, students pitched business ideas to Tony Award-winning producer Bruce Robert Harris.

— ADAM RUBENFIRE, The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2014

…it’s impossible to put a dollar value on a nimble, adaptable intellect, which isn’t the fruit of any specific course of study and may be the best tool for an economy and a job market that change unpredictably.

— FRANK BRUNI, New York Times, February 11, 2015

I wish to encourage medical students to also nourish the creative parts of themselves…As medical students, we are warned that our empathy will fade with time and that our emotional intelligence will falter. We need to address this problem with broad changes to our education, and it is worth considering a wide array of solutions that we can try now to stem this tide.

— OLIVIA LOW, in-Training, February 5, 2015