RISD : Rhode Island School of Design :

The Summer Institute for Publicly Engaged Studies (SIPES) is a unique opportunity for students, cultural leaders, teachers and public intellectuals to immerse themselves in an interdisciplinary approach to an investigation of the emerging fields of public arts practices. As a part of this learning community, students experiment in a rigorous grounding of theoretical, art historical and practicum-based collaborations with Providence-area communities.

The Institute offers four immersive two-week courses that focus on the core practices of public engagement in the arts. Courses may be taken separately or in combination. A nationally renowned visiting artist or scholar leads each course as an “Artist-in-Residence” and classes utilize a think-tank style working-group arrangement to produce a completed group project at the conclusion of each two-week period.

Geared towards students concluding their undergraduate degrees, currently enrolled or recently graduated masters students, as well as teaching or cultural professionals seeking a unique professional development opportunity in publicly engaged practice, it is the Institute’s goal to build, develop, support and disseminate new scholarship within the field of public arts practices. The visiting artists and scholars’ collaboration with enrolled participants strengthens and deepens students’ individual practices while collectively archiving, innovating, and researching new models of practice. The Institute also acts as a professional development tool, as the work and study of the summer is documented and made available as a resource for the growth of the public practices in the arts.

>> search all SIPES courses
>> get registration information and forms
>> get Summer Studies program information

Please note: SIPES courses are offered during four consecutive schedules.

· June 26-July 7: Collaboration: Spaces, Strategies + Practices
taught by Alfredo Jaar
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· July 10-21: Social Entrepreneurship + Creative Businesses
taught by Peter Hocking
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· July 24-August 4: Ethics, Philosophy + Cultural Theory in the Arts
taught by Henry Giroux
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· August 7-18: Exhibition + Curatorial Practice
taught by Bruce Price + Cydney Peyton
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