Participate in the Summer Social Justice & Creativity Institute 2023

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Beginning April 3rd, 2023, you can register for a scholarship-eligible Summer Social Justice and Creativity Institute class, and fulfill Core requirements too!

The idea of a Summer Social Justice Institute was introduced in 2022. This year there are several innovations. While the courses keep the interdisciplinary focus and bring together diverse faculty, the courses are more clearly tied to Chicago’s vibrant summer schedule, with lots of opportunities for students to engage with the City built into the curriculum.

These courses can be used for the completion of Columbia Core requirements. Enrolled students should work with Academic Advising to determine how the class can fulfill a Core requirement toward degree completion.

Any student who demonstrates financial need through a completed 2022-23 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be reviewed for scholarship eligibility.

Choose from two exciting classes during the 2nd 5-week summer session (UB). 

  • COLL 299 Topics in Creativity and Social Justice

    This interdisciplinary rotating topics course explores creative practice across the breadth of disciplines offered at Columbia College Chicago and the myriad ways in which artists engage with issues of power, privilege, and justice through their work. Students will research and discuss social justice issues and artists’ creative interventions, as well as how these events are shared and communicated with others. Through this engagement with artistic cultures, communities, and histories, students will respond by creating their own new creative work, analysis, and commentary.

    Section 01: Comedy for Social Justice
    Taught by Grace Overbeke (Theatre)
    Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., Room 618-503
    July 5 - August 5, 2023

     

    Comedy is a powerful tool, and when used strategically, it can make a big difference for activist movements. Comedians like Dick Gregory and Volodymyr Zelensky show a clear path between comedy and advocacy. Drawing on conversations with a diverse group of faculty and industry professionals, this course explores how comedians can apply their skills to change attitudes towards marginalized groups, spark conversation, and direct media discourse about issues ranging from climate change to sexual assault law. The course also includes site visits to comedy institutions like Second City and The Annoyance, and looks at applied comedy, like Clown Care, in which artists use improvisation techniques to engage in comic play with vulnerable populations like hospital patients or refugees. This upper-level course is both a discussion seminar and a practice-based class, culminating in an original piece of comedy designed to advance a social movement chosen by the student.

  • COLL 399 Advanced Topics in Creativity and Social Justice

    This interdisciplinary rotating topics course explores creative practice across the breadth of disciplines offered at Columbia College Chicago and the myriad ways in which artists engage equity-focused innovation that can drive sustained social, economic, and cultural impact. Through active engagement with artistic cultures, communities, and histories, students will collaborate in the creation of creative work and/or plan for a new social or business venture. 

    Section 01: Festivals in the Field
    Taught by Lauren Downing Peters (Fashion Studies)
    Wednesdays, 12 - 4:30 pm
    & Fridays, 2:30 - 7 pm, Room 618-505
    July 5 - August 5, 2023

    This interdisciplinary course uses the cornerstone of “Summertime Chi,” the festival, as a playground for experiencing the best of Chicago art, fashion, culture, and food, and a research site for understanding the history, politics, and sustainability of public gatherings. Through field trips to festivals such as the Square Roots Festival and Bantufest, among others, students will be fully immersed in Chicago’s diverse and dynamic communities. Seminars, workshops, and guest lessons taught by a diverse group of Columbia faculty and industry professionals will further deepen students’ understanding of the impact, good and bad, of festivals on Chicago civic life and their various entanglements with local creative and culinary economies. The course will culminate with a research festival in which students will pitch proposals for new festivals and offer creative solutions to some of the problems—social, structural, and environmental—posed by these rich but complicated community events.

Senior Associate Provost Nate Bakkum says, “The creative community of Columbia College Chicago is connected to so much artmaking and activism throughout the city. The Social Justice Institute gives us a great new opportunity to connect with diverse practitioners during the amazing flourishing of creativity that animates the city each summer.”

Visit the Summer Social Justice Initiative websiteto learn more about the program. 

Contact Columbia Central, your College Advisor, or Robin Whatley at rwhatley@colum.edu for more information about the Summer 2023 classes.

Related links: 
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion