Courses
Core Course - Chicago: a City of Many Dimensions
Instructors: David Amrein, Robyne Hart, & Mary Scott-Boria
Required course, 4 credits
All Chicago Programs’ students enroll in the interdisciplinary Core Course which aims to introduce the place and identity of Chicago. The three tracks will integrate by exploring how arts, business, and socio-political issues intertwine. This integration intentionally views the city through three lenses by asking important questions that cross disciplinary boundaries. Guest speakers from around the city will spark discussions and reflection. Common readings and projects will prompt conversation, creativity, research, and exploration. And, most importantly, Core Course will get students into Chicago to meet the people making its art, defining its culture, confronting its problems, and reshaping its business. Through it all, students will contextualize the Chicago in which they will be living and working within its own rich and complex history and imagine how the city’s identity might continue to evolve.
Seminar - The Creative Process
Instructor: David Amrein
Required course, 4 credits
The Creative Process Seminar focuses on how creators, performers, and scholars in various artistic fields approach their process. Our exploration includes Chicago-based guest artists, visits to city arts venues and events, academic readings, regular in-class exercises, individual and collaborative projects, investigations into the processes of active local and renowned historic artists, and self-reflection on personal processes, inner critics, external obstacles, and artistic growth. Students are challenged both to approach their principal discipline from a fresh perspective and to stretch their creative imaginations into less familiar territory. For different students the content may be approached at different times from a creative, interpretive, scholarly, or blended perspective. This seminar encourages students to develop an expressive personal voice while providing a safe space in which to experiment and take risks. It also embraces contemporary methods of technological communication, particularly in the development of a digital web portfolio. Much of the work in the Seminar provides the foundation for a more focused Workshop and Independent Study Project.
Workshop & Independent Study Project
Option #1 - Creative Writing & Theater (Instructor: David Amrein)
Option #2 - Studio Art & Art History (Instructor: Martina Nehrling)
Required course, 4 credits
Students will be assigned to one of the Workshops offered in any given semester based on their major and/or artistic goals for the semester . In Fall 2009, two Workshops will be offered - one focused on Creative Writing and Theater, and one on Studio Art and Art History. These topics have been chosen based on the students’ collective applications to the program. If students desire, there will be opportunities for them to produce work outside or on the fringes of these categories (i.e. music, film, etc). During the first half of the semester, each Workshop will include projects, guest speakers, and field visits directed toward these specialized. While some of these Workshop guest speakers and field visits might continue into the second half of the semester, most of the students’ energy in will become devoted to the design and creation of an Independent Study Project. In collaboration with the Workshop leader, students will design a substantial creative, interpretive, and/or scholarly project. Students will also meet regularly with the Workshop leader and student peers in both one-on-one mentoring and group feedback sessions to share their progress and receive guidance.
Internship
Instructor: David Amrein
Required course, 4 credits
The internship offers students the opportunity to gain practical/professional experience working inside a Chicago organization in their area of interest, as well as to learn how the city works and how they may contribute its quality of life. Chicago is a working class city, a professional city, a global city, and an artistic city. Hundreds of opportunities await students in the fields of business, art, social service, politics, education, urban planning, law, medicine and health care, recreation and neighborhood development, and more. For a total of at least 150 hours (at least 12-14 hours weekly), students will work with, and be supervised by, professionals to gain valuable work skills. Discussion groups and writing assignments facilitated by the program faculty will guide students to contextualize and reflect on these experiences as they consider their future professional careers.