The arts are so much more than creative expression: they’re powerful teaching tools that inform and sustain learning across all disciplines.
That’s the guiding principal behind the College of Fine Arts and Communication’s new graduate program, the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts Infusion (MAIAI).
Directed by Kate Collins, Ph.D., the part-time evening program is designed to accommodate working professionals, including classroom teachers, arts specialists, teaching artists, administrators, and arts entrepreneurs. Arts infusion practices can energize instruction and learning, as well as increase professional satisfaction. What’s more, these practices align with the focus and outcomes of both Common Core State Standards and the National Core Arts Standards.
With its unique blend of professional-development coursework and advanced trans-disciplinary arts practice, TU’s MAIAI degree program deepens and extends students’ skills and techniques. In addition, it provides expertise in differential learning opportunities for aural, visual and kinesthetic learners.
Collins says the program traces its origins to 1999, when COFAC established an Arts Integration Institute to offer a critical synthesis and an integrated study of arts and non-arts content as the primary basis for constructing knowledge. “More Maryland schools are focusing on K-12 arts integration,” she says, adding that former president Maravene Loeschke and Presidential Scholar Nancy Grasmick are longtime supporters.
“We’re not advocating replacing the arts as standalone subjects,” Collins emphasizes. “The MAIAI program recognizes the arts for their capacity to enhance learning across disciplines.
“At some point arts infusion could be extended off campus—to communities, businesses, and healthcare, for example. The skills and techniques of the arts disciplines are so necessary to 21st century innovation.”
Prospective students are invited to the MAIAI Open House on Saturday, March 14, from 10:30 a.m. until noon in Center for the Arts, room 3054. RSVP to maiai@towson.edu.
