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Introduction
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Sharpening our Mission, Vision, & Goals
Diversity Statement & Engagement
By the Numbers
Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program
The Studio: Creative Arts Community
International Visiting Artist Program
Creative Arts Awards
Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) 2020 Conference Planning
Wisconsin Film Festival Streaming & Outreach
Madison Early Music Festival Streaming
Arts on Campus Communications
Creative Campus Tour & Arts Recruitment Support
Staff
Committees
2019–20 Contributors
SHARPENING OUR MISSION, VISION, & GOALS
The Division of the Arts is pleased to share our annual report for the 2019–20 academic year.
Our mission is to catalyze the arts at UW–Madison by advancing arts research, engaging students in interdisciplinary arts experiences, promoting IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) within and through the arts, elevating the visibility of the arts, advocating for the arts, and providing arts programming for the campus and community. We do so because we believe that the arts offer greater understanding of the world, express and challenge points of view, explore and address injustices, and celebrate all aspects of humanity and the universe around us.
Artistic creativity not only enhances our culture but broadens our perspective, deepens our understanding, and enables us to innovate, grow, and change. Art is a powerful vehicle through which representations of race, class, gender, ethnicity, age, ability, and other constructs are created, shared, and dismantled. We believe that dancers, designers, dramatists, artists, architects, musicians, creative writers, and other scholars who engage in artistic expression are essential to solving complex problems and enriching society.
We advance the arts as a vital platform to inquire about the world, illuminate and address injustices, challenge points of view, and celebrate all aspects of humanity and the world around us. The Division remains steadfast in our mission to embrace and engage all members of our diverse community and to promote social justice.
We advance our mission and vision by:
1.
Engaging Students in the academic arts disciplines and various interdisciplinary creative arts, design, and performance experiences;
2.
Supporting Creative Research and expanding its influence on research in all disciplines;
3.
Serving the Community in the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea through the creative arts;
4. Illuminating the Arts on Campus
through a multiplatform communication campaign promoting UW–Madison arts accomplishments, curricula, programs, and events.
As this annual report shows, these four areas of focus are the basis on which we continue to support arts curricula, an arts residential learning community, initiatives, programs, residencies, and other activities that bring together the work of UW–Madison’s artistic community of students, faculty, and staff.
It has been an honor to lead the Division of the Arts as its Interim Director this past year. When I accepted the appointment in August 2019, little did I know we would face a pandemic that would result in immense challenges to arts education, exhibition, and performance. I am proud to report that Division festivals and programs pivoted quickly, creatively, and effectively to keep arts teaching, research, and public engagement alive during the quarantine. Likewise, in response
to the George Floyd tragedy, the Division redoubled its efforts to elevate the work and voices of BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and people of color) artists, to bring diverse art and artists to campus, and to interrogate our practices and ourselves.
It has been a pleasure to connect with Division of the Arts stakeholders across campus, listening carefully to their ideas about how to strengthen our efforts and mission. Their rich input, along with benchmarking visits to peer institutions, has informed a continuing process of refining the Division’s goals and scope to more powerfully support arts research and teaching at the university. I look forward to continuing this exchange of ideas during the coming year to fortify the work of the Division and energize the arts at UW–Madison during a time when we need them more than ever.
Susan Zaeske, Interim Director, Division of the Arts
DIVERSITY STATEMENT & ENGAGEMENT
In this time of reckoning with institutionalized racial injustice, violence, and oppression, the Division of the Arts embraces the potential of the arts to express and process anger, outrage, and sorrow by engaging all dimensions of our being. We call on the unique power of the arts to challenge, illuminate, and transform the status quo in order to bring awareness, healing, empathy, joy, and hope to the interconnected world in which we live.
The Division of the Arts, like the UW–Madison, believes that diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation. We join our campus colleagues in valuing the contributions of each person and respecting the profound ways their identity, culture, religion, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinions enrich the university community.
Statements of support are meaningless without actions to make real change in the world. Through the Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program the Division has long brought world class, innovative, and diverse artists to campus to engage with students, staff, faculty, and local communities. We are proud to host one of the most diverse residential student learning communities on campus, The Studio Creative Arts Community, which houses the incoming cohort of First Wave scholars. In June 2020, the Division formed the Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee to turn our commitment to embrace and serve all members of our diverse arts community into meaningful action.
We commit to continue embracing and serving all members of our diverse community while building on our existing efforts through new initiatives.
BY THE NUMBERS
The UW–Madison Division of the Arts provides a number of resources to its community and campus partners. The following facts and figures highlight achievements during the 2019–20 academic year.
24,690+
Attended, followed, and participated in Division of the Arts’ in-person and virtual programs
250+ Volunteers
As part of the Wisconsin Film Festival 32,650 E-news Subscribers
19,345 Social Media Followers
101,970 YouTube Views
50 + Partners
Number of campus and community partners we supported
20+
Guest artists brought to campus
$61,500
Amount distributed to 5 students, faculty, and staff as part of the Creative Arts Awards
67
Faculty & staff affiliates
Economic impact of the Wisconsin Film Festival (Destination Madison, 2018) $1.7 Million $
