Axiom 38 - Vision: The Undiscovered Country - DRAFT: artanddesignprofessor@gmail.com

Axiom 38 – Vision: The Undiscovered Country - DRAFT “I read my eyes out and can't read half enough...the more one reads the more one sees we have to read.” ~John Adams, in a letter addressed to Abigail Adams. In conjunction with my recently-published book Higher Education by Design: Best Practices for Curricular Planning and Instruction (Routledge, 2018), I’ve been asked to participate in three different interviews. The interviewers’ questions were remarkably similar, each asking variations of: “Tell us about your background. Tell us about your education. Tell us why you wrote this book.” I explained I was an entrepreneur and I pursued my education in the arts (BFA, MFA, PhD) later in life. I outlined my artistic interests, my reasons for aspiring to leadership, and gave an overview of my multifaceted research. At this point in all three interviews, I was met with confusion and blank stares. “Wait a minute,” the interviewers said, “you’re an artist, you conduct research, you have several research interests, you’re the Chair of a Liberal Arts Department, you’ve been to dozens and dozens of universities, and you love teaching. Right?” “Exactly!” I replied. “How do you do that?” they asked. “I don’t sleep much. Literally.” I answered. “And, I research all the time.” In fact, I’d like to paraphrase the John Adams quote, above, to say, “I read and research all the time and can’t read and research half enough. The more I learn, the more I see how much more there is to discover.” I consume new and historical data, information, institutional performance, policy documents, articles and reports, peripheral and tangential research. I evaluate and synthesize the information I find, applying sensemaking analytical frameworks to examine the gaps and look for opportunities. I prototype answers, suggest solutions, and connect the dots. Then I write and write and write. An interviewer then asked, “Break it down again: what’s your vision?” It’s an exciting and compelling question, but when I try to explain my vision, listeners tend to get stuck on one thing or another. In this axiom, my goal is to distill my personal vision into a cohesive whole more readily understandable to varied audiences. First, I’d like to establish a shared understanding of vision as a picture of the future which causes passion in people to pursue it. I’d also like to add a caveat: no organization or institution can function effectively when vision is imposed upon its members externally. In other words, the leader’s personal vision cannot substitute for the power of a shared or collective vision generated through the collaboration and passion of the entire group. The leader can suggest, inspire, and empower. But to be effective, vision absolutely must emanate from the community, not be mandated from above. All of this said, my personal vision is this: to contribute to the ultimate sustainability and vitality of the arts in higher education so they are empowered to educate and shepherd the next generation of artist-scholars who will make an impact on the world. This vision is supported by the research I’ve conducted in several categories including but not limited to the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Arts Administration Arts Integration Creative Practice (although I prefer the term “studio-based research”) Data analytics Disciplinarity Educational and Institutional Effectiveness Entrepreneurship Interdisciplinarity Leadership Sense-making The Liberal Arts and Humanities and their force-multiplying effect on Arts Education The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning I’ve been asked many times, “How can one person have so many research interests and scholarly pursuits?” My answer: how could I not? Each of the areas above is a dot that is inextricably connected to all the others, creating a picture of what higher education in the arts is, and could be, and should be. In today’s educational climate, it’s essential, at least for leaders, to cast our intellectual and professional nets as widely as possible. I believe the key to understanding any whole depends on breaking it down into its constituent parts. A vision gives us a starting point. It says, “This is what I hope to achieve.” But visions alone are nothing more than attractive verbiage. We also have to examine the vision right down to the molecular level. When President Kennedy had a vision to put a man on the moon, NASA scientists needed to build rockets that worked, and to achieve this feat they first had to learn what rockets could be made of and how to combine those materials into a spacecraft that would perform its intended function flawlessly. My vision less lofty than Kennedy’s. My goal is to ensure a successful future for the arts in higher education and for our graduates. To fully understand how to achieve this vision, it’s important to know who we’ve been in the past, who we are now, who we hope to be, and how we can arrive at our intended destination. Who We Were The arts pre-date written language and remain central to the human experience. The arts express ideas, information, and emotions. The arts appeal to the brain differently than textual-verbal communication alone.1 This identity is just as true today as it was when ancient people painted the caves of Lascaux or prehistoric hunters acted out the stories of their exploits and created musical instruments out of animals’ skin and bone. The arts entered higher education through technical drawing in engineering courses, marching bands, and the study of visual art and theatrical performance as historical artifacts. 2 The arts enjoyed a growing presence in higher education in the mid-20th-century, especially as enrollments soared in response to the GI Bill,3 becoming ubiquitous at nearly every college and university. The early art academies built upon and examined instructional approaches rooted in the master-apprentice model of the medieval guild system, establishing durable norms for pedagogies and curricula. Even degree titles such as the Master of Fine Arts reflect these historical origins – students who achieve mastery of an artistic discipline are therefore qualified to teach that discipline to others.4 Who We Are The arts remain essential to the educational enterprise, demonstrably contributing to both knowledge and culture through the achievements of faculty and students. Nevertheless, the arts face significant challenges along with all of higher education today, receiving intense scrutiny for rising tuition rates and commensurate student loan debt among graduates. Academic disciplines perceived as offering poor career outcomes for graduates receive vociferous public criticism, most notably the fine arts, liberal arts, and humanities. Students have fled these majors in favor of fields seen as more likely to result in successful employment. “Over half of bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2015-16 were in … business, health professions and related programs, social sciences and history, psychology, biological and biomedical sciences, and engineering. … More than half of master’s degrees awarded were in business, education, and health professions and related programs. At the doctoral level, almost two-thirds of degrees were awarded in two fields, health professions and related programs, and legal professions and studies.”5 The National Clearinghouse for Education Statistics reports that 92,979 students earned bachelor’s degrees in the visual and performing arts in 2016, down 3% from the highest point of 95,860 in 2012. During the same timeframe, bachelor’s degree attainment in health professions nearly doubled, from 153,675 in 2012 to 228,896 in 2016. Declining enrollment leads to program closure or the demise of entire institutions such as small private art colleges. The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point is presently considering a plan to address its $4.5 million budget deficit by cutting 13 majors including English, art, history, philosophy, and foreign language while adding new degrees in fields such as environment and natural resources, technology, engineering, and business. Emory University eliminated its art department in 2012.6 Santa Fe University of Art and Design permanently closed in May of 2018.7 Memphis College of Art is slated to close its doors in 2020.8 The College of Visual Art in St. Paul Minnesota closed in June 2013.9 In every case, the decision was motivated, at least in part, by declining enrollment and rising costs. Unemployment, underemployment, and low starting salaries represent further concerns for arts graduates. According to data collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,10 graduates in medical technology experience less than 1% unemployment, but fine arts majors experience more than six times greater unemployment, at 6.4%. Likewise, nursing grads are underemployed at a rate of 11.1% compared to performing arts majors at 65.5%. The study also reports that early-career chemical engineering grads can expect to earn $70,000 per year, but those with bachelors’ degrees in fine or performing arts earn less than half of this salary, with early-career median wages of $30,000 -$32,000 per year. The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) collects data about alumni outcomes and attitudes among graduates of arts programs. Their studies reveal a notable gap between the curricula we actually teach and the preparation students need for a career in the arts. • • • Of the 30,000 arts alumni surveyed in 2015, just 26% report that their institution helped “some” or “very much” to develop entrepreneurial skills, yet 71% rated entrepreneurial skills as “very” or “somewhat” important to their profession or work life – resulting in a 45% “entrepreneurial skills gap.” 87% of graduates from special focus arts schools and 75% of those from research universities either presently are or have been self-employed in the past.11 Although the US is moving into a “gig economy,” with 20 – 30 percent of the working-age population presently engaging in independent work,12 SNAAP shows that this figure is double or even triple among arts graduates. 51% of all survey respondents holding graduate degrees in the arts say that they work full-time in fields other than the arts. Only 13% identified as “fine artists,” 22% as “designers,” 7% as “craft artists,” 6% as “photographers,” and 5% as “film, TV, video artists.”13 In other words, less than one-fifth of arts graduates in the visual arts or related disciplines work full-time in the fields for which they trained. The employment status of arts graduates is all the more significant in light of the PROSPER Act, a bill to reauthorize the federal Higher Education Act presently before the US House of Representatives,14 because it includes a provision to end access to federal student loans for students who major in subjects with low loan repayment rates.15 In “Who is More Likely to Default on Student Loans?” (2017), 16 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York analyzed data from the National Student Clearinghouse, New York Fed Consumer Credit panel, and Equifax, examining the rate at which individuals born between 1980 and 1986 defaulted on their loans before the age of 33. They found that “arts majors have the highest overall default rates, while STEM majors default at the lowest rates.” As if these were not grave enough concerns, the fundamentals of visual arts education have changed little since the inception of the first schools of art, such as Vasari’s Academy of Design (Florence, Italy, 1562) and the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture (Paris, 1648). The same principles guided the first schools of art in the United States: the American Academy of the Fine Arts (New York, 1802) and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1805), where instruction relied primarily upon individual tutorials, life drawing classes, and some teaching in the history and theory of art with an emphasis on studying classical works or those of the great masters.17 The essential notion of “the academy” has been preserved through the centuries, so much so that an instructor from a nineteenth-century art academy could feel right at home in a 21st-century painting, drawing, or sculpture studio at nearly every higher educational institution across the US. Today’s arts program requirements tend to follow guidelines set forth by NASAD, NAST, NASD, or NASM even when an institution is not accredited by this organization. For example, NASAD stipulates that students majoring in studio art must earn 65% of their credits in studio-based coursework.18 The other 35% of these credit hours are spent in art history, general education, liberal arts, humanities, or elective courses. Students do learn to make art, but nowhere do these requirements specify the skills and competencies graduates actually need to become successful working artists such as entrepreneurial and business training, arts administration, and interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary collaboration. This is especially true of graduates’ readiness to take advantage of emerging opportunities beyond narrowly-defined traditional career pathways. A 2016 report by the National Endowment for the Arts stated that the arts and cultural sector experienced 32.5% growth in contribution to the United States’ GDP (Gross Domestic Product) between 1998 and 2013, and contributed $704.2 billion to the economy in 2013, or 4.23% of the GDP, outpacing other sectors such as construction and utilities. Furthermore, arts and culture have created a significant trade surplus of $24.1 billion in 2013, exporting movies and television shows, arts-related software and publishing, jewelry and silverware, creative advertising, and more. Cultural production accounted for nearly half of the entire US copyright-intensive creative economy.19 These opportunities remain largely unacknowledged in traditionally-oriented programs. Make no mistake: the arts continue to excel in imparting artistic skills and competencies to their graduates. Nevertheless, data from SNAAP, national enrollment trends, student loan default rates, public and political criticism of the arts in higher education, program closures, and tragic institutional failures should be of concern to us all. These place every arts program in jeopardy even as the marketplace for our graduates has expanded beyond the scope of our present curricula. Who We Can Become: I sincerely believe the arts stand at the brink of greatness surpassing all of their storied histories, beyond anything they have yet achieved in higher education. Yes, we emphatically must press on with our own research and creative practice, making valuable contributions to knowledge and culture. We must also continue to train the next generation of artists and scholars of the arts. However, each of the challenges facing the arts in higher education today provides a compelling reason to grow beyond the comfortable confines of our departments and programs. As Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia, said, “We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook.” The potential for collaboration between the arts and other academic disciplines is very favorable, documented in Surveying the Landscape (Mackh, 2015). Exciting career possibilities for our graduates continue to emerge across the creative sector of the US economy. SNAAP has revealed impressive growth in careers for arts graduates who receive training in arts and cultural management. Research itself is beginning to expand from the confines of qualitative and quantitative paradigms to encompass the studio-based inquiry of artist-scholars. We cannot afford to allow our fear of the unknown to deter us from reaching towards greatness by tapping into these areas for expansion. It’s natural to reject ideas that appear to threaten our professional status quo. We understandably prefer the practical and the tried-and-true. We don’t like to feel uncertain, and proposed innovations fail to convince us even when accompanied by objective evidence.20 But we allow our fear of the unknown to deter us from making needed improvements at our own peril. Programmatic and institutional closures offer compelling proof that 1) the dangers facing the arts in higher education are real; and 2) many faculty and administrators adamantly resist change even when it’s clear that doing so will lead to the demise of the program or college for which they work. I propose that we embrace our professional futures with the same energy and enthusiasm that we employ in our creative practice. The “new” need not be frightening, but empowering. We naturally fear the undiscovered country, yet adventurers since time immemorial have shown that its rewards outweigh its risks. Without the vision of Jefferson and the courage of Lewis and Clark, our nation would be half the size it is today. Without the vision of Harvard president Charles Eliot and courage of the Harvard faculty, university curricula might still emphasize only the classics and be available only to young upper-class white men. Furthermore, our pursuit of this vision will not lead to the demise of our present disciplines, pedagogies, or curricula. Innovation does not supplant our success – it supports and expands it. I envision a curriculum that builds upon tradition, taking a multifaceted approach summarized by the acronym T.I.E. • • • T: traditional disciplinary breadth including history, theory, criticism, aesthetic philosophy, and practical studio skills and competencies. I: individualized and interdisciplinary study, including the liberal arts, humanities, and courses tailored to the student’s professional aspirations, including research inquiry at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. E: engagement in coursework and practical experience in entrepreneurship, preparing students for the business of artistic practice in today’s creative economy, including training in arts and cultural management. When we make previously rigid boundaries between academic areas more permeable, we promote interdisciplinary investigation and strengthen learning outcomes. Students may then follow a path that best equips them for the professional success they hope to achieve after graduation. Our historical onesize-fits-all curriculum was appropriate for the industrial age in which it was designed, but the time has come to take a new approach more suitable to the age of mass customization and consumer choice. I also envision a university in which the arts and artists are not only valued for their creative contributions but considered vital to the institution’s mission, vision, and values. Faculty members’ traditional engagement creative practice remains important, to be sure, but we need to expand our participation in the academic enterprise by tapping into the tremendous power of the arts to communicate information, ideas, and emotions beyond the reach of textual-verbal means alone. Our capacity to bring concepts to life through data visualization, sonfication, and embodiment through drama is among our deepest values and most vaunted strengths. Our ability to find divergent approaches to solving problems, provide unexpected flashes of insight, and to expand critical conversations is legendary, yet often unknown (or unappreciated) by our fellow scholars and researchers. The more we build productive connections and professional partnerships across the campus, the more secure the future of the arts in higher education will become. Our world is interdisciplinary, and we must bring our disciplinary expertise to the table as we collaborate across academic fields to meet challenges both large and small. How We Can Reach Our Destination Vision, no matter how compelling, is insubstantial and ephemeral. We must also take action that leads us to achieve our goals. This should occur on three fronts: inspirational and informed leadership, curricular and programmatic design, and expansion of professional practice. Leadership: academic leaders in the arts must remain continuously informed about developments in both their own field of professional practice and those affecting the entire university at the macro- and micro-levels. Educational imperatives and priorities, trends across academia and the marketplace, data, legislation, funding, enrollment, awareness of their faculty members’ strengths, and knowledge of innovation taking place at their own and other institutions. They must also communicate this knowledge to their faculty on a regular basis so that all members of the department can understand the challenges and imperatives shaping their professional lives, and simultaneously reassure their faculty that change is not something to fear but to embrace. Leaders must skillfully and knowledgeably utilize all of the tools at their disposal, including but not limited to: • • • • • • • Accreditation Requirements Alumni Outcome Surveys Budget Systems Curriculum & Pedagogy Degree Plans Diversity and Inclusion End of Term Surveys • • • • Enrollment Data and Yield Calculations Entrance and Exit Surveys Entrance Requirements and Scholastic Scoring Stipulations Graduation Data • • • • • • Learning Management Systems Persistence Data and Surveys Recruitment Data Retention Data Student Interest Surveys Student Satisfaction Surveys Leaders must also possess the courage and persuasion to motivate their faculty to take action despite their natural reservations. Higher education tends to be averse to innovation, yet the turnaround from discovery to implementation must take place relatively quickly. We find ourselves constantly chasing gaps. Knowing that this is the norm rather than the exception prepares us to manage constant evolution and to lead our departments successfully into the future. Curricular and Programmatic Design: alterations to our present practice as educators can begin simply, growing over time to something quite remarkable. We are not abandoning what is good about our histories and traditions but building upon them to achieve our goals. Each of us can discuss students’ career options on a regular basis, sharing our knowledge and expertise about the professional landscape they will need to navigate after graduation. We can establish requirements for internships or practicum experiences linking the classroom and studio to professional settings. We can create new courses in arts entrepreneurship, arts and cultural administration, and basic business practices to enhance our graduates’ employability and their potential to be successful as working artists. We can open degree programs to include pathways beyond traditional accomplishment, continuing to uphold artistic excellence while also allowing for non-traditional progression. Professional Practice: our scholarly and creative accomplishments should continue, but we should also explore our options for collaboration in research conducted beyond the confines of our academic home. A pair of quotes I collected while leading the Mellon Research Project shed light on this imperative. I asked the provost of a top research university21 to address the value of the arts. He replied: “Look, the arts are important; no one will ever tell you they aren’t. But, the arts have to do more to support the institution’s mission on the whole, far better than they have, or they will continue to be mere recipients of goodwill in higher education, rather than valued partners.” Later, I read this quote to the president of the university’s Faculty Senate, who responded: “This is absolutely accurate! In fact, let me take this one step further. The arts continually fail to communicate their importance, demonstrate their contributions, and sustain their message. They think they do, but they don’t. Instead the arts rely too heavily on the hope that any cultural significance and contribution they make will be received and perceived by their audience and instantly appreciated.” These statements illustrate the essential misalignment between the scholarship of the arts and that of other academic fields: some among our peers do not perceive the value or importance of the arts as a legitimate area of scholarly inquiry. Likewise, they sometimes fail to grasp the connection between the arts and the mission of higher educational institutions: adding new knowledge to the world that improves the quality of human life. In a world where STEM fields dominate enrollment and research funding, arts faculty members’ ability to participate beyond our own immediate interests or traditional accomplishments is increasingly crucial. Engaging in research collaborations is an essential step in ensuring that our departments and programs not only survive but thrive well into the future. At the same time, we must also learn how to communicate our own studio inquiries in a way that facilitates understanding of our work among fellow scholars in other disciplines. In Closing My vision remains limited to what I can achieve as an individual because vision can be shared but never imposed. No matter how convinced I may be that this vision is crucial to the future of the arts in higher education, it will come to fruition only through the collective action and impassioned participation of a faculty that is equally committed to a vision we craft together. My goal is to inspire others to share in this vision, yet I respect that others hold different viewpoints that are equally valid and worthy of consideration. I also want to emphasize that the arts, even if forever unchanged, remain valuable and worthwhile contributors to knowledge and culture deserving of their place in higher education. Nothing I have written should undermine this fundamental truth. For many, the present state of the arts in higher education remains sufficient and I fully respect this viewpoint even as I dream of advancing the arts beyond their present academic boundaries. Nevertheless, I invite the reader to pause to contemplate who we have been, who we are, and who we might become. Together, I am convinced that our future could far outshine our past and overcome the challenges facing us at present. AXIOM: My vision is to contribute to the ultimate sustainability and vitality of the arts in higher education so they are empowered to educate and shepherd the next generation of artist-scholars who will make an impact on the world. 1 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-does-the-brain-process-art-80541420/ http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/2009/11/music-in-the-brain-the-mysterious-power-of-music/#.WwqhJfkvypo https://news.stanford.edu/2015/11/11/manipulate-theater-smith-111115/ 2 See Axiom 1-The Arts in Higher Education and Axiom 5-The Arts at Land-Grant Universities for additional information. 3 http://vcg.emitto.net/index.php/vcg/article/download/5/4 4 See Axiom 2-The Future of the Arts in Higher Education for additional information. 5 Supiano, B. (May 23, 2018). 3 Takeaways from a Book-Length Federal Report on ‘The Condition of Education.’ Chronicle of Higher Education. 6 Diamond, L. (Sept 14, 2012). Emory University to eliminate programs. Atlanta Journal Constitution. http://www.ajc.com/news/local/emory-university-eliminate-programs/GY3SRMQxRDxs2TG5726yyL/ 7 http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/santa-fe-university-of-art-and-design-to-closein/article_57adac92-1fb3-11e7-a116-d78535d012ce.html and https://santafeuniversity.edu/ 8 https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2017/10/24/memphis-college-art-close/794024001/ 9 http://www.startribune.com/st-paul-s-college-of-visual-arts-will-close-at-end-of-june-after-89-years/187164311/ 10 https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market/college-labor-market_compare-majors.html 11 Data from SNAAP Director Sally Gaskill’s presentation at the November 2016 a2ru National Conference. 12 Manyika, J, Lund, S. et. al. (October 2016). Independent Work: Choice, necessity, and the gig economy. McKinsey Global Institute. https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/employment-and-growth/independentwork-choice-necessity-and-the-gig-economy 13 SNAAP Shot http://snaap.indiana.edu/snaapshot/#work 14 See also Lahza, A (Dec. 13, 2017). Potential Effects of PROSPER Act on Student Loans. U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/student-loan-ranger/articles/2017-12-13/potential-effects-ofprosper-act-on-student-loans 15 Carnevale, et. al. 16 Chakrabarti, R., Gorton, G., Jiang, M, and van der Klaauw, R. (November 20, 2017). Who is More Likely to Default on Student Loans? Liberty Street Economics, New York Fed.org. http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2017/11/who-is-more-likely-to-default-on-student-loans.html 17 University of North Texas. (n.d.). History of Art Education. https://ntieva.unt.edu//HistoryofArtEd/modernworld.html 18 NASAD Handbook 2016-2017. XVII.A.8.a. page 142 19 National Endowment for the Arts. (February 16, 2016). The Arts and Economic Growth. https://www.arts.gov/news/2016/arts-and-cultural-production-contributed-7042-billion-us-economy-2013 20 Rieland, R. (Oct. 12, 2011). Why We Don’t Like Creativity. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-we-dont-like-creativity-103303064/ 21 According to IRB protocol, interview subjects involved in the Mellon Research Projected remain anonymous and are not identified by institution, only by position titles.