Office of Creative Propulsion Courses

We define Integrative Arts as arts-based education and research that is cross/multi/inter/transdisciplinary, collaborative, community engaged, and/or incorporates technology.

Integrative Arts Courses are taught by two or more faculty in two or more disciplines across JMU campus or beyond, with at least one faculty member from the College of Visual and Performing Arts. These courses center the arts and design as important participants in academic inquiry across many disciplines.

Spring 2025

IART401E and IART501E Time and Art: Theory and Practice for Interdisciplinary Collaboration

This course is designed to grow learner’s confidence in 1) philosophical and aesthetic understanding of time and change; 2) latest methods in visual and performing arts; and 3) interdisciplinary collaboration for time, and change, and other abstract notions. No previous experience is required to take this course; students with a passion for interdisciplinary collaborations are welcomed. Students will have opportunities to engage their creative activities with digital media, design projects, live performance, and events.

In development:

IART 451E New Models for Project Management in Live Entertainment

This new X-Labs course is tasked to rethink the current approach to theatre production that generally prioritizes speed and trends to burnout. The cross-disciplinary cohort will generate new production models for theatre using design thinking and agile development to elevate creativity and collaboration practices within theatre production systems.

Integrated Motion Capture and Performance, a collaboration between The Department of Theater and Dance and The Department of Engineering. This project-based course invites students from multiple disciplines to experiment with motion capture in creative physical applications highlighting concepts such as movement analysis, real-time object tracking, converting movement to sound, live performance, and device art.

Integrative Arts Faculty Cohort

In 2023, The College of Visual and Performing Arts welcomed ten new faculty in the School of Art, Design and Art History; School of Music; and School of Theatre and Dance with its Integrative Arts Cohort Hire.

CVPA Dean Rubén Graciani’s vision was to strategically connect faculty lines in all three schools across a common theme of integrative arts, conceived as combining artistic or disciplinary perspectives including cross/inter/multi/ and transdisciplinary collaborative work.

The Integrative Arts Cohort Hire complements and expands CVPA’s existing strengths in inclusive pedagogy, interdisciplinary artmaking, arts/design and technology, community engagement, culturally sustaining practice, inclusive design, design thinking, educator preparation, entrepreneurial thinking, and the development of arts and design entrepreneurship projects.

Integrative Arts Cohort