MICUA

MICUA Matters

Fall 2010

Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is the oldest continuously degree-granting art college in the country, and our history and traditions have been linked to Baltimore since our founding more than 184 years ago. Through fires, population shifts, and industrial retrenchment, MICA has been a leader in promoting cultural development in the City and has helped turn support for the arts into one of the City’s most positive defining characteristics. Our academic programming embraces engagement with the community at its core, and we are tied to Baltimore’s creative distinctiveness. In so many ways, the City is a canvas for our students, faculty, and alumni, and our collaborations with its residents, organizations, and government continue to bring forth expanded access to great art and artists, aesthetic education, and better approaches to communicating important messages.

Each year, MICA students, faculty, alumni, and visiting artists produce hundreds of free exhibitions and events that showcase the creations and expertise of both novices and the world’s most experienced artists and designers. Just as important, students continuously collaborate with the City’s cultural institutions, designing an annual exhibition, for example, specifically engineered to find innovative ways to connect residents and visitors to great art through installations around the City. Our Master of Arts in Community Arts program partners graduate students with community organizations to develop projects that advance community initiatives and give voice to residents. Community Arts Partnership students volunteer as art leaders—teaching art in the public schools, comforting ailing hospital patients through art therapy, and raising issues like poverty through exhibitions, among hundreds of other projects. In fact, a focus on civic and social engagement is infused into virtually all of our academic programming—from the “Finding our Wings Program,” in which our video students help at-risk teenage girls in the City productively express their hopes and fears through documentary filmmaking, to a partnership with Baltimore’s urban planners and foresters to turn unwanted lumber into sculpture.

Likewise, our research centers are using art and design to find solutions to societal problems. This year, the Center for Design Practice will work with the Baltimore City Health Department to create a website and branding for a “virtual supermarket” that links residents in areas without access to fresh food with supermarkets in other parts of the City. MICA’s Center for Race and Culture will host a national conference on interdisciplinary approaches to teaching art created by African-Americans. And the new MICA PLACE building in East Baltimore will house new graduate programs that immerse artists in the community as residents to learn from their neighbors and produce art and design that empowers people everywhere.

MICA’s economic impact is also an important part of our relationship with the City. The College brings students from 46 states and 56 countries to add to Baltimore’s economy and culture. Alumni are revitalizing neighborhoods by converting neglected spaces into artist communities and launching businesses and industries. In addition to the college-level education we provide, MICA also works with hundreds of children and adults to provide an introduction to creative fields. And the College itself continues to play a major role in the development of the Station North Arts District.

Using art and design to make Baltimore the best City it can be—culturally, economically, and socially—is a central component of who we are. As we move forward, we are excited about what’s on the horizon and look forward to investing as much in Baltimore and Maryland as the area has invested in us.