OSU/UA exchange fosters cross-country collaboration
Creative Campus hosted The Ohio State University April 10-13 as part of an exchange program funded by Imagining America. Representatives from OSU and Creative Campus jointly wrote the proposal for a grant to defray travel costs for visiting each others’ campuses and exploring each others’ programs. Creative Campus Director Scott Bridges said that the exchange is of great value. “We all have so much to share and consider what is of mutual importance, difficulty and responsibility,” he said. Ohio State primarily is interested in Creative Campus Initiative as a student-centered, grassroots organization. Among the focuses of Creative Campus's visit to Ohio State in the fall will be its master's program in Arts Policy & Administration. The relationship between the two institutions was forged by Kristi Wilcox, a student in Ohio State’s Arts Policy program who was a founding intern of Creative Campus Initiative as an undergrad at UA. Wilcox said that it is always great to return to your alma mater, but it is even better when you can share that experience and the knowledge to be gained therein with another institution. “I think the exchange has really energized Ohio State to look into what a Creative Campus might mean there, and hopefully it is the beginning of a sustained partnership between my two schools," Wilcox said. Margaret Wyszomirski, director of the Arts Policy program, accompanied Wilcox to Tuscaloosa in April, along with Rick Livingston, associate director of OSU’s Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, and Kelly Stevelt Kaser, manager of OSU's Urban Arts Space. The group’s visit to the UA campus featured meetings with Creative Campus staff and interns to discuss the organization's structure and the projects it has undertaken this year. They also met with representatives of partner organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, Freshman Forum, and the College of Commerce and Business Administration to learn about recent collaborations. Built into the itinerary were a lecture, a concert, and visits to a local museum and gallery so that the visitors could get a sense of the cultural arts environment in which Creative Campus exists. Livingston called the visit inspiring. He said that the OSU group returned to Columbus full of new ways to think about engaging their own campus. “Creative Campus Initiative has the potential to turn higher education right side up, by putting student learning at the center,” Livingston said. "It testifies to the vision, energy and leadership you have at UA,” he said. “We at OSU have a lot to learn from you; thanks for the opportunity.” |
