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“It is beautiful to hear how students’ time in the Artist Collaborative prepared them well to think deeply and engage with hard questions that are posed in their time abroad,” said Paula Manni, Artist Collaborative cohort coordinator.

Cultivating collaborative discovery

In March, 17c������� hosted its fifth Artist Collaborative Preview Weekend. The preview weekend acts as an opportunity for students interested in the arts to visit campus, learn more about the program, and to interview for a chance to be selected as an Artist Collaborative member. This year 79 prospective students, along with their parents, were invited to attend.

The Artist Collaborative is a two-year program open to incoming students who are interested in visual, performing, or written arts collaboration and leadership. Through courses, activities, and an interim trip to an arts destination in the U.S. or abroad, 17c������� hopes to equip Artist Collaborative students to explore their callings as creatives on campus and beyond.

Fostering curiosity and exploration

While in the past the weekend has included quite formal interviews, this year the program adopted a much more interactive and collaborative approach to interviews, explained Manni. “Group interviews will now be structured as creative workshops, including an architecture tour by Brent Williams and collaborative drama led by Debra Freeberg,” she said.

In structuring the weekend this way, students can get a better taste of the collaborative and creative environment that the artist collaborative program strives to foster. “We are trying to model what a collaborative arts experience is like here,” said Manni. “We are always looking for students who are curious to explore; that is what we hope to cultivate at 17c�������.”

In addition to interactive arts collaboration, prospective students attended an opening dinner where they were invited to mingle with current Artist Collaborative students and learn more about programs on campus such as Visual Arts Guild, Dialogue, and the 17c������� Center for Faith and Writing.

Embracing a new structure

The artist collaborative program—which has been largely successful—was the first cohort program adopted on 17c�������’s campus and has thus opened the door to several similarly structured programs such as the Perkins Fellows and ministry fellows, explained Manni.

Now in its fifth year, 17c�������’s Artist Collaborative program is entering into a transitional period in which it will adopt a more administrative structure. This change has involved creating a supervisory committee, comprised of faculty interested in interdisciplinary collaboration. In the coming years Manni said the committee hopes to include additional opportunities for Artist Collaborative students to take courses outside the art department.

Manni said that in addition to creating an environment where students can thrive in the arts, she has seen many close friendships develop between students in the program. “The most impactful part of the Artist Collaborative program has been my fellow cohort community members,” said senior Morgan Anderson. “It was a way to connect with other students who saw the world as creators and create lasting friendships with them.”

Anderson enjoyed her time in the Artist Collaborative and looks forward to seeing other students participate in the program in the coming years. “I’m excited to see that the program is continuing indefinitely because it shows a commitment to the arts at 17c�������,” she said.