Together, the arts and humanities form essential elements of a liberal arts education — they form part of the prism through which students can view and understand the world, drawing on the tremendous diversity of thought, insight and expression gathered in the course of their experiential learning process.
The MCLA Institute for the Arts and Humanities (MCLA-IAH) is a grant-funded initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which works to strategically promote equity-centered change on campus and in the community by (1) expanding access to area arts and humanities resources, (2) catalyzing opportunities for interdisciplinary engagements, and (3) advancing experiential teaching and learning practices in higher education.
We create experiential spaces for arts education, dialogue, and action.
Learn about student internship positions; attend community engagement workshops and events; apply to receive funding through our student mini-grant program; and more. Visit us on Canvas to learn more!
Created by MCLA-IAH intern, Destiny Rivera, The Empowered Voices Collective is an
online platform, housed on the SM[ART]COMMONS website, where BIPOC students can submit
and present their creative work and engage with others' creative forms. The platform
will feature poetry, short stories, freewrites, photography, and artwork from BIPOC
and aims to address cultural disparities by engaging the MCLA community in these diverse
art forms and experiences. Altogether, the collective is an outlet for students of
color to be vulnerable about their emotions and express their own experiences through
their personal vehicle of expression.
Contact Destiny Rivera (dr0102@mcla.edu or evoicescollective@gmail.com) with questions.
Given the current landscape responding to COVID-19, we revisioned our annual IAH Summer Symposium as the IAH Virtual Speaker Series: Aligning and Activating Change Through Storytelling.
In summer 2020, we invited writer Aruna D'Souza to moderate a conversation between
artists Genevieve Gaignard and Ben Ripley. In this two-art series, we discussed the
intersections of their artistic practice as it related to our process of learning
and unlearning socially conditioned ways of being.
We also worked with Penn Creative Strategies and invited facilitators Molly Penn and
Sofiya Cheyenne to engage in a 2-hour webinar for cultural organizations to learn
more about managing bias within their institution. Following the workshop, we provided
participants with resources on how to continue managing bias.
You can access all these event-related materials on the MCLA-IAH Canvas Site.
This Fall, MCLA-IAH will be launching a bi-weekly e-newsletter. In the newsletter,
the MCLA-IAH team will provide resources, promote Berkshire arts and culture opportunities
and events, highlight students, faculty, and artists, and more!
If you would like to be added to the mailing list for MCLA-IAH E-newsletter, please fill out the quick form here.
Contact us to discuss community collaborations, opportunities, resources, and more.
Dr. Lisa Donovan
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Erica Barreto
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Declan McDermott
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Destiny Rivera
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Drew Thomas Graphic Designer MCLA-IAH at8186@mcla.edu |