Soka's New Digital Arts Center

Contributed by Michael Golden, Director of the Creative Arts Program

In the twenty years since its inception, the Creative Arts Program (CARTS) at SUA has established a strong foundation built on creative work in traditional artistic media (painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, analog photography, music and dance). The link between the program’s goals and the mission of SUA is twofold: through the hands-on making of art, students experience a personal connection to a timeless and universal human activity, and through fostering and gaining confidence in the potential for creativity within each of us, students can become better prepared to seek and create solutions to the challenges facing humanity.

While we have seen our graduates pursue advanced study and/or successful careers in the arts based on this foundation, we recognize that fluency in digital arts media will be increasingly important in the future. Thus, we were thrilled to have received, in October 2019, a generous grant from the Sahm Family Foundation to develop SUA’s first Digital Arts Center (DAC). With the support of the Development Office, the Office of Sponsored Research, and the teams in Facilities Services and Information Technology, among many others in the university administration, we are happy to report that we have begun making use of the DAC in online instruction during the current Spring 2021 semester, and will be expanding our offerings beginning in the Fall semester this year.

In 2020, while the development of the Center was somewhat delayed by the ongoing pandemic, we were able to identify and get final approval to use two former science labs located near our current arts facilities which were suitable for conversion to digital arts facilities.

The first project to be implemented was the 3D printing studio. Through the dedicated efforts of Don Ryan, our ceramics instructor, our students, although still physically scattered around the globe, were able to begin “printing” clay objects, including the ones shown.

In the coming academic year, while continuing to offer courses in traditional photography, ceramics, and music composition, we will be able to add new “digital versions” – courses in digital photography and design and computer music.

With the continuing support of the university and our generous donors, we hope to be able to continue to expand the Center to include a production studio where we can offer our students courses in video production and editing, film scoring and animation, for example.