CCA News

New ENGAGE at CCA Initiative Launched

Posted on Tuesday, August 3, 2010, by Jason Engelund

Housed here at CCA's Center for Art and Public Life, ENGAGE at CCA is a new initiative that dynamically advances the college's mission to prepare students for a lifetime of creative work and service to their communities through a curriculum in art, architecture, design, and writing.

Sanjit Sethi, co-director of the Center, states: "ENGAGE at CCA is inspired by a simple question: How can an institution of higher education that is devoted to creativity respond to the needs of distinct and varied local, national, and global communities while at the same time enhancing the educational outcomes of its students? ENGAGE at CCA combines project-based learning with community engagement. Students work intensively under the guidance of a faculty member, in collaboration with a community partner, and earn academic credit while they accomplish a specific goal. It is not about volunteer work, but rather about learning how creative practices can address real-world needs."

Partner organizations are located in diverse, under-resourced neighborhoods throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Several of the spring 2010 courses were developed for the Studio Thinking in Practice project. Center co-director Ann Wettrich explains: "The ENGAGE at CCA: Studio Thinking in Practice project, made possible through a National Endowment for the Arts grant, is developing a collaborative professional development exchange for interdisciplinary service-learning partnerships involving youth. Drawing on education frameworks developed at Harvard's Project Zero and contemporary practices in art, design, and creative writing, the project is generating innovative models for teaching and learning in and through the arts."

Stay tuned for more developments related to this exciting new initiative.