Mat Rappaport and Christopher Burns
Since the writing of this article, the DIVAS program has evolved to reflect developments in the field, practical experience with the initial curriculum, and a changing group of faculty and students. The program has been renamed Interdisciplinary Arts and Technology (or ArtsTech for short), which reinforces the interdisciplinary character of the program and includes a wider variety of artistic practices.
The curriculum as originally designed manifested the then emerging digital media art practices with an emphasis on undergraduate creative research. At the time, new resources committed to the formation of the program included one faculty line and funding for the establishment of a new lab. For the program to function with these constraints, it was imperative that the majority of the courses be pulled from the existing curricula in the partner departments. This provided the needed flexibility to offer the curriculum with the limited new resources while positioning for future expansion.
In the present, an influx of new faculty, better student access to technology, and more maturity in the field of teaching digital media within arts departments have enabled significant changes to the curriculum. The program has benefited from a focused effort to recruit faculty with new artistic approaches and skills in interactivity and physical computing. Facilities have been augmented to include a greater emphasis on programming, physical computing and interactive environments.
Within the curriculum, the pre-portfolio courses have been focused and strengthened, while interdisciplinarity is reinforced by the presence of Art and Design, Dance, Film, and Music courses within the initial Inter-Arts Core sequence of four courses. Later in the curriculum, there is now a series of required Post-Portfolio Core courses (which help to create a common base of conceptual and technological skills for students, and ensure that every student has classroom experiences with the key ArtsTech faculty). Post-Portfolio Elective courses provide personalization and breadth, and the Junior and Senior Project courses provide capstone experiences that help students to graduate from the program with a substantial portfolio. Curriculum revision continues; there is a consensus that the pre-portfolio structure is functioning well and upper-level electives will be the next focus of attention.
Currently there are about one hundred enrollees in Arts Tech, and we anticipate that fifteen to twenty students will graduate in the Spring of 2011. Post graduation, students have matriculated into MFA programs, as well as entering into careers as diverse as video production, web design and fashion design.