CUNY Arts Faculty Fellowship Program, 2019-2020

November 7, 2019

From:  Nyisha Howell, University Advancement, CUNY
646-664-9130  nyisha.howell@cuny.edu

Dear Colleagues,

Starting Spring 2020, CUNY Arts will sponsor several Fellowships to support the development and dissemination of courses and innovative course projects that engage with a cultural institution in New York City . Those selected for the CUNY Arts OER Fellowship Program will be asked to share their work with CUNY colleagues, exchange ideas and approaches, and get and give feedback through a designated CUNY Arts OER website that will be housed on Academic Works and accessed through OpenEd@CUNY.

CUNY Arts, an initiative of the City University of New York, was founded to create opportunities for all students to experience the richness of New York City’s arts and cultural institutions. The University recognizes that exposure to the arts improves students’ critical thinking skills, and broadening their ability to think strategically. For many students, the challenges and wonders of the arts are elusive, expensive, perceived to be unwelcoming, or unknown. Students tend to encounter the arts through required art appreciation or survey art history courses. The CUNY Arts Project aims to integrate the arts into all aspects of university curriculum underscoring the diverse ways in which the arts intersects with academic disciplines across CUNY.

CUNY Arts goals are to:

1. a) adopt New York City cultural institutions as an extended campus by providing free access to museums, participation in special and curated cultural events and,
2. b) provide paid internship opportunities throughout the academic year through programs like CUNY Cultural Corps http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/culturalcorps/

Partners in the CUNY Arts Program include non-profit cultural organizations involved in the visual, literary and performing arts as well as public-oriented science and humanities institutions including zoos, botanical gardens and historic and preservation societies. For a list of institutions that participated in CUNY Cultural Corps for the 2018-2019 school year, please see www1.cuny.edu/sites.cuny-arts/

1. c) Facilitate integration of the arts into all aspects of university curriculum

With CUNY funding CUNY Arts will augment the Program by creating an OER (Open Educational Resource) component. The OER element will complement CUNY Arts as it currently exists by adding pedagogical resources that will enhance both faculty and students engagement with the CUNY Arts program. CUNY Arts will also consider New York City cultural institutions as OERs as an opportunity to expand pedagogical choices, develop student information literacy, introduce a wider variety of course materials, and underscore interdisciplinarity, a strength of the CUNY system.

The Program particularly welcomes applications from those working in disciplines that do not traditionally engage with cultural institutions. In addition, two Fellowships are earmarked for faculty wishing to work with the Museum of Modern Art. The Fellowship Program is organized into three tiers:

Tier One ($500)

Fellows who wish to incorporate a visit to a cultural institution into an established course will receive $500.

 Tier Two ($750) 

Fellows who create new content for an established course that incorporates a cultural institutional will receive $750. New content may include an assignment, a program, a creative project, or anything that ask the students to engage with the institution in a way that is pedagogically sound.

 Tier Three ($1000)

Fellows who create a course focused on a specific cultural institution will receive $1000. At least 50% of the course must address that singular institution.

CUNY Arts Fellows are responsible for (1) posting the syllabus and/or specific lesson plan that engages with the institution of choice, (2) contributing one 750 -1000 word post to the CUNY Arts blog, (3) submitting a reflective narrative at the end of the grant period, and (4) participating in an end-of-the year CUNY Arts OER symposium. This will result in a robust repository of materials that will be shared with the CUNY community to encourage further engagement with cultural institutions across New York City.

Applications must be submitted to CUNYArtsOER@gmail.com by midnight of November 25.

Applicants must include the following:

Name

Title

Department

College

Title of course 

Cultural Institution 

A 250 word abstract on how the applicant may incorporate a cultural institution into a course offered Spring 2020.