14 / AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU MIKE CRUPI HIGHLIGHT / ACADEMICS A SHARED BEGINNING, A LASTING IMPACT As the first Shared Art cohort graduates, the Allen celebrates a growing campus tradition that begins with a single image—and grows into community. This year marked an important milestone in the Shared Art program: the first class to participate in the program graduated in May. Shared Art, a collaboration between the Allen’s Academic Programs staff and the College’s Director of Academic Advising Programs, began in 2021 after a review of orientation programming revealed interest in creatingmore traditions and shared experiences. Modeled after a common reading program, Shared Art asks: Can a single work of art build community? Each year, every incoming first-year student engages with one artwork selected by a student committee and displayed in themuseum for the semester. During orientation, themuseum hosts a Block Party for the entire class. Students view the work, explore the galleries, enjoy crafts, and play games, among other activities. Introducing themuseumduring the first week on campus builds community and helps the students see the museumas a space for joy, contemplation, and learning. Throughout the fall semester, Peer Advising Leaders (PALs, upper-class students who help first years transition to college life) lead a series of small group conversations. Early in the semester they discuss “Thriving in Diverse Communities,” in which the Shared Art work serves as the starting point for conversation about belonging and the ways our roles within a community can fluctuate. In the spring, a committee of students selects the Shared Art work for the next incoming class. Members are nominated by offices across campus, bringing in students from a range of backgrounds: some are arts and humanities majors, others STEM, and they participate in various sports, religious groups, and clubs and co-ops. The common denominator among these students is not a background in art or art history, but rather a passion for creative thinking and community building. The Shared Art Committee meets twice during the spring semester. In the first meeting, they discuss the program and a shortlist of artworks created in consultation with the Allen’s staff and student workers. The committee members share their impressions of each work, imagine what conversations it can spark, and evaluate its possible strengths and limitations for discussions. The committee members then vote on the artworks, and in the secondmeeting discuss the chosen work further and brainstormpotential programming and ideas for the Block Party. To mark the program’s four-year-milestone, members of the graduating class were sent a message of congratulations along with an image of their Shared Art piece, LaToya Ruby Frazier’s 2007 photograph, Grandma Ruby’s Refrigerator. “LaToya Ruby Frazier’s work has stuck with me and continues to come up in my life because of the Shared Art program,” said one student. Academic Programs staff at the Allen look forward to seeing where the next four years take this engaging program.
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