Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Rob Kitsos, School for the Contemporary Arts

Project team: Giselle Liu, research assistant, Mansi Patel, research assistant, and Tomoyo Yamada, research assistant

Timeframe: March 2020 to August 2021

Funding: $5,000

Courses addressed:

• CA 149 – Sound
• CA 186 – Art and the Moving Image
• CA 285 – Interdisciplinary Studio – Composition/Collaboration
• CA 485 – Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Contemporary Arts

Final report: View Rob Kitsos' Final Report (PDF) >>

Description: For this project, I will be proposing a new structure for CA 485 that would include upper division students in all our BFA areas of Dance, Theatre Performance, Production and Design, Music, Visual Art and Film. This course will increase the interdisciplinary pedagogy of the school and an advanced version of the core course CA 285. My design will be based on a comprehensive look at how the core courses in the school are currently working, what changes we would like to make, and what direction the school would like to move in the future. To accomplish this, I will meet with individual faculty about core courses, my proposal, and the future of the school. SCA instructors of the course will meet to review syllabi and share their experience teaching the courses.

Questions addressed:

• Are the three core courses working to encourage an interdisciplinary frame for the school?
• How can we make a greater commitment to ensemble cross-disciplinary work within the SCA and what new ways can we think about cross disciplinary pedagogy?

Knowledge sharing: I think our model of interdisciplinary collaboration with six disciplines is unique for a fine arts degree program and could be influential to other programs. This could be done through conferences focused on cross-disciplinary education.

Keywords: Curriculum, Interdisciplinary, Collaboration, Performance