Integrating the Arts with Higher Education

What funders need to know

Monday, October 22, 2:00pm – 3:15pm

Organized and moderated by Sunil Iyengar, director of the Office of Research & Analysis, National Endowment for the Arts.

Presented by Laurie Baefsky, associate dean of Research, Collaboration, and Innovation, University of Colorado-Denver; Lisa Howley, senior director, Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships in Medical Education, Association of American Medical Colleges; and Tom Rudin, director of the Board on Higher Education and Workforce and Global Affairs (PGA) division of the National Academies of Sciences (NAS).

Arts integration in K-12 learning has achieved some standing through arts philanthropy. Yet the arts’ role in advancing higher education and workforce development has yet to be viewed strategically by many arts funders. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) staff will present a new report describing what works in programs integrating the arts with STEM disciplines and medicine in higher education. The report also discusses logistical barriers that must be surmounted to effect greater arts integration in those settings. The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (A2RU) will offer promising practices in such integration and will identify cross-sectoral outcomes and opportunities of interest to the funding community. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) will outline a new strategic initiative that aims to understand better how the arts and humanities are being used to develop healthcare professionals, and will showcase exemplary programs at this nexus. Staff from the National Endowment for the Arts, a co-sponsor of the NAS report, will ask other funders to share insights on how to strengthen the types of integrative collaborations highlighted in the NAS report, how to communicate more efficiently across these sectors, and how to overcome resistance within and between silos.