The Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru) Emerging Creatives Student Summits bring together students who have an interest in the arts, crossing disciplinary boundaries, and developing collaborative projects. Each year, 80-100 undergraduate and graduate students attend the summit from a2ru partner universities across the country, along with 12-15 administrators, faculty, and staff. These summits have a strong project-based component with activities such as panel discussions with special guests, keynote speakers, site visits or field trips, performances and exhibitions, networking opportunities, and “bootcamp” or skill-building experiences built in throughout to collaboratively tackle and solve grand challenges*.

 

This year’s theme is Spectacle and the Collective Experience. When people think of Mardi Gras in Louisiana, they think of the spectacle of the parades, the costumes, the drinking, and the food. But that’s just what people see on the surface. The real spectacle is how Mardi Gras overwhelms almost every aspect of life; the preparations, the planning, the parties, the very identity of people and their communities.

 

We see spectacle all around us: the spectacle of grand science research (gravitational waves and genomics), the spectacle of politics, of theatre, music, and sports. This year’s Emerging Creatives Student Summit will examine how spectacle defines us as a society and community and how we can use it to address the critical issues we face.

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How does spectacle define us as a community and a society?

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How can we use it to address the critical issues we face?

 

This summit will feature panels and working group leadership from distinguished professors at Louisiana State University, as well as leading artists and scholars from around the country. Join us this coming February 15-18 to advance your own creative work or research through interdisciplinary collaboration with your peers at leading institutions across the U.S. Undergraduate and graduate students in any and all fields are welcome, particularly those that care about and have a deep interest in the concept of this year's theme. We especially encourage student research teams from biology, ecology, and related fields, as well as artists/designers, to apply.

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*Grand challenges are ambitious but achievable goals that harness science, technology, and innovation to solve important national or global problems and that have the potential to capture the public's imagination.