Recently, I received an email from a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, preparing for a seminar on Arts Organizations in Society. She asked if I would be willing to Skype into the seminar to answer a few questions about the beauty class. Since the time difference made this impossible, I suggested that she email me a few questions and I answer them on a video, which could be played during class. Here are the questions the student sent me (with the times on the video where you can find my responses).
- What was it like for the beauty class students to begin to spend time with artwork? (00:00-04:55)
- How did you measure success in the class? (4:55-7:22)
- For students wanting to become arts administrators, is there anything in particular you wanted them to understand or know? (7:23-9:05)
- Did you talk with your students about cultural policy? (9:06-10:33)
- Would you agree that the Beauty Class offers a new, more beautiful framework for improvement to the role of an ethics course? (10:34-13:38)
The video is rather informal but I thought I would share it on Jumper as (1) I imagine both the Qs and As could be interesting to other students of art/arts administration; and (2) I am always delighted to hear from students who have read a post or two on Jumper and want to ask questions or debate ideas–and I want others to feel encouraged to reach out to me.
After the class, the student who contacted me kindly wrote a followup email and mentioned that this had been the last seminar before a month of papers and presentations. She then said, “There was a really wonderful several minutes near the end, where students volunteered and shared what beauty and aesthetics mean to them individually, inspired by conversation after your video.”
Sounds like an great way to end a term! Many thanks to the students of Arts Organizations in Society at SAIC for the opportunity to consider these questions and to be part of your class.
The whole video runs just under 15 minutes.
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