Overview

The Arts Scholars Program enables select students with a strong interest in the disciplines of art, music, theatre, dance, design, fashion, culinary arts, and more to collaborate and grow together through a close-knit arts family. Students in the Arts Scholars program may have a major in any university college or department. The program offers students the opportunity to participate in programs that enhance their educational experience. These programs include lectures and specialized workshops, group excursions to museums and professional performances, a juried student art exhibition and performance showcase, community involvement, and domestic and international trips.

The Arts Scholars family consists of approximately 75 first year students and 200 upper-level students who commit to completing minimal expectations across their four year undergraduate career at The Ohio State University. 50% of the students in the program are majoring in the arts such as Art, Art Education, Art & Technology, Visual Communication Design, Music Performance, Music Education, Dance, Theatre, and History of Art. The other 50% are majoring in disciplines across the university such as Engineering, English, Biology, Food Science, Business, Spanish, and Psychology. Finding a pre-med ballerina, a guitar-jamming engineer, or a fine artist business student is easy amongst our community.

Values of the Arts Scholars Program:
Interdisciplinary Arts: respect and learn about all arts disciplines
Family: bond with and support one another through your college career
Diversity: appreciate other perspectives, backgrounds, and identities
Service: support the arts through time, talent, and treasure
Art for Life: keep connected with the arts through a career or civic involvement

For videos of students and activities, please visit the Arts Scholars youtube channel at www.youtube.com/artsscholars

For more information about the Ohio State Arts Scholars Program, please contact Tim Valentine at 614.292.6084 or via email at valentine.149@osu.edu.

Benefits

• Member of a select community of students (called the Arts Scholars Family)
• Clustered courses just with Arts Scholars (English, Leadership, Seminar)
• College-level priority scheduling (your scheduling appointment time window will open before other students in your rank)
• Program Manager and Graduate Administrative Associate staff here to assist you with navigating Ohio State
• Weekly communication about interesting opportunities on campus (it's a big place, we help funnel the information for what you really want)
• Upperclassman mentor to help guide your first year at Ohio State
• Special programming designed for your interest in the arts
• Discount concert and show tickets each quarter
• Discounted domestic (e.g. New York City, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chicago) and international (e.g. Toronto, Brazil, Mexico, Europe) trips
• Participation in service-learning opportunities connecting the arts to service
• Exclusive participation in the annual juried exhibition and cabaret showcase
• Connection to the arts community within Columbus and Ohio (opportunities for personal growth and learning outside of campus)

Components

Programming
Students are invited to attend events and activities each quarter including career workshops, performances, art workshops, academic speakers, movie nights, networking opportunities, mentor events, and much more. Programming is meant to both educate students about arts disciplines but also build community amongst students in the program. Students also have the chance to network and meet faculty and arts leaders early on in their college career through various programming.

Service
Students are expected to participate in minimal service as an Arts Scholar which can include service within the arts community. Student leadership and the staff plan service opportunities throughout the year.

Family Meetings
The Arts Scholars Family (consisting of staff members, students, and sometimes speakers and guests) meets bi-weekly throughout the year in the Baker Hall West Performance Space. These meetings are used to give announcements, sign-up for events, introduce speakers from around campus and in the community, and allow for networking amongst students in the program.

Mentor Program
To encourage a strong cohesive community that crosses years, incoming students are matched to an upperclassman student who has been trained in serving as a resource and mentor to new Ohio State students. Students are encouraged to attend events and meetings together through the mentor program. Upperclassmen are referred to as BIGs and incoming students are littles. Students are matched based upon both academic and personal interests.

Arts Leaders Council
A council of 10 current students serves as both an advisory board to the program staff and as a programming board to manage events. Students on the council learn leadership skills such as communication, event management, organization, personality differences, diversity, and time management. First year students are allowed to apply for the Arts Leaders Council during their first quarter.

Trips
In addition to an annual New York City Trip, the Arts Scholars also travel to another city for the day during the autumn quarter and for another overnight trip in spring quarter. Past trips have included day trips to Cleveland and Pittsburgh and overnight trips to Louisville, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Toronto. These travel experiences are meant to introduce students to the arts in other cities and educate them about career opportunities.

Baker Hall West

First-year Arts Scholars who are not commuting are required to live in Baker Hall West, the Visual and Performing Arts residence hall. The advantage to having Arts Scholars live in the same building is that you will have the opportunity to benefit from relationships with other students who share your same interests. You will also benefit from the resources contained within Baker West, such as a large performance space, dance room, music practice rooms, and an art and design room.

A unique aspect of the Arts Scholars Program is the large number of upperclassman Scholars living in the same residence hall as the first year students. You have the benefit of networking with upperclassmen Arts Scholars at any time because over 40 return to Baker Hall West each year. For more information about Baker West, visit University Residences and Dining Services.

Seminar Class

First year students enroll in the Arts Scholars Seminar Class during their first semester at Ohio State as a way to build community within the program and introduce students to the arts communities of Ohio State and Columbus. Students enjoy speakers and guests from on and off campus in addition to a few assignments aimed at getting students involved in the arts community such as navigating the Short North (Columbus's premier arts district, http://www.shortnorth.org). During the semester, this class is held once a week for 48-minutes and taught by the Program Manager and Graduate Administrative Associate. It meets in the Baker West Hall Performance Space, which is convenient for students and promotes the family community. During a class in autumn 2010, the conductor of the Columbus Symphony Chorus, Ron Jenkins, spoke with the class about the upcoming performance of Handel's Messiah at the Ohio Theatre. A group of students then were able to attend the performance to see the maestro at work.

Exhibition

Each spring, some students apply to have their artwork featured in an art exhibition installed at the OSU Urban Arts Space in downtown Columbus, OH. Through this annual exhibition, students learn about pricing, installation, and other skills involved in displaying their artwork in public sometimes for the first time. This exhibition is open to all majors and has featured arts and non-arts majors in the past.

Arts Scholars are responsible for all aspects of the exhibition, including:

• Determining the theme and timeline through a student committee
• Submitting their own unique artwork for consideration
• Engaging in gallery installation workshops
• Organizing an opening night reception, moving artwork and performing for other receptions and public showings of the exhibition

Arts Scholars music and dance students organize and provide entertainment, while families, professors and local arts professionals engage all the artists in dialogue and reflection. Students add a critical piece to their resumes while developing important skills for marketing to and engaging community members with their creative energies.

Cabaret Show

To celebrate the exceptional performing arts talent in Arts Scholars, this event occurs each spring and allows students to be showcased for faculty, staff, family, and fellow students. Some previous acts have included solo dance, stand-up comedy, jazz bands, solo singing with guitar, flute trio, and group dance. Different from a quarterly coffeehouse performance event that the Arts Leaders Council coordinates each quarter, this larger event allows students to compete for cash prizes and perform for the public. During the 2011 cabaret, Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, the Vice President for Student Life, served as one of the judges.

New York City

Each January, Arts Scholars collaborates with the Visual & Performing Arts Learning Community to take students on a three day educational journey through the arts in New York City. Students attend two Broadway shows and meet with actors to learn more about being on and off stage. Students also meet with successful OSU alumni to learn more about career planning for moving to larger cities after graduation. During the 2011 trip, students took a dance class with a professional Broadway choreographer, toured the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and met a rockette during a tour of the Radio City Music Hall. This annual trip is highly subsidized by the program making it affordable for any student who might be interested in exploring the city.

Career Development

Whether a student hopes to establish a primary career in the arts or maintain a secondary career, the Arts Scholars Program connects students to resources to give them the trajectory toward their career goals. The first year seminar curriculum and career workshops discuss how to leverage their talent in the arts through any career choice during and after their college experience. Workshops include topics such as Resumes & Cover Letters, Career Choices for Artists, Networking, Internship and Job Searches, and Freelancing.

Service

Through many local partnerships, Arts Scholars have the opportunity to volunteer their time on and off campus for arts-related service projects. From simply caroling during the holidays at the OSU Medical Center to volunteering weekly for an arts program for at-risk youth to raising money for Nationwide Children's Hospital during a 16-hour dance marathon, students are committed to making a difference.

Service in the past has been related to these organizations:
Greater Columbus Arts Council
Wonderland Columbus
Ohio Arts Council
Global Gallery

Study Abroad

Students in the Arts Scholars Program have had the opportunity to participate in a short-term study abroad program in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Merida, Mexico.

Rio de Janeiro is considered one of the most beautiful and spectacular cities in Brazil. While in Rio, students were given the opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary team project with Brazilian students from the State University of Rio de Janeiro's Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (ESDI). Students experience the sites of Sugar Loaf Mountain, the world famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, the statue of Christ the Redeemer, and Corcovado Mountain. Cultural visits to Rio's famous museums and theatres, including the Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro and the Museu Casa do Pontal are also included. The diverse dance and musical culture of Brazil is also explored while attending spectacular capoiera, bosa nova, and samba performances.

In Merida, located in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, students participated in a nationally-covered art exhibition in the famous Modern Art Museum, Museo Macay. The group also visited ancient Mayan sites including Chichen Itza on the Spring Equinox, Uxmal, and the environmental educational site at Kiuic. Students participated in a day-long Mayan handmade paper workshop revived by American-Mexican artist Mark Callaghan.

The study abroad portion of the program is preceded in winter quarter by a specially designed general education class. During the preparatory class, students investigate different modes of communication across disciplines and cultures, as well as the interwoven experience of art and culture in our everyday lives. Arts Scholars continually investigate the questions of surroundings and background as a text for travel and self-discovery.