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Course Description: The first seminar introduces Macaulay students to the arts and their roles in the life, history, and expression of New York. It provides students with a foundation in the critical liberal arts skills and attitudes that will support their learning throughout their college years and beyond. During the semester, students attend theatrical and musical performances, exhibitions of visual art, and other highlights of the current season. In addition to experiencing these art forms as an audience, students are encouraged to examine performances and exhibitions from the multiple perspectives of scholarship, creativity, and production. The historical and contemporary uses of works of art to inform and propel social change and protest will also form part of the seminar. The seminar will include examples and discussions of artistic endeavors from people of diverse racial, ethnic, class, gender, sexual, and other identity backgrounds, with attention to the intersectionality. Students from all campuses will attend an arts-related event at a NYC cultural institution, promoting critical attention, creative analysis, and clear communication through conversation. Visits to exhibits, performances, and artist encounters continue throughout the semester. The course includes a late-semester cross-campus celebration and sharing of seminar work.

Learning Goals/Outcomes: During this course students will:
• Explore the role of the arts in the lives of New Yorkers and their communities.
• Consider the diverse cultural perspectives communicated through art.
• Identify the key features of the different artistic forms studied in the class.
• Construct clearly written and well-reasoned analyses of these art forms for multiple audiences 
• Analyze artistic forms both for their formal qualities and as cultural products of New York City 
• Formulate their own individual aesthetic values after having studied the city’s wide range of artistic expressions.

A Note on Off-Campus Class Outings & Events: This course meets off-campus regularly, so we will not always meet in-person or online during our designated class meeting time. Please consult the syllabus schedule closely each week to confirm if/when/where we are meeting. I will also send lots of reminders and updates along the way. I expect that students will attend class outings, performances, and events scheduled off campus and beyond our designated class time. Please do your best to attend all of these events. If you cannot make it for any reason, please let your professor know in advance. 

Class Events Preview (Fall 2024): Suffs on Broadway (live!), New York Historical Society, Museum of the City of New York, Baruch Mishkin Gallery, The High Line, Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Madama Butterfly (online screening), Hamilton (online screening) 

STUDENT EVALUATION:
Participation and Attendance…………………..15%
Discussion Posts (6 @ 5%)…………………….30%
Weekly Group Debriefs (2 @ 5%)……………..10%
Creative Research Project % Presentation……….45%

Participation and Attendance (15%): Whether online or in-person, it is important that you attend each class having carefully prepared assigned materials and come with questions and/or comments ready to share. Participation will not be based solely on attendance or being present, but will include freewriting activities, share-outs, in-class group discussions, and other assessments throughout the semester. Good participation requires thoughtful and courteous responses to your colleagues as well as engaged listening. Remember: your input makes class more interesting and valuable for you and those around you. Meaningful participation generates meaningful class discussions. 

Since this course will be conducted both synchronously (class meetings and outings) and asynchronously (on your own or within your assigned small groups), it will be essential that you remain actively engaged with course content by maintaining communication with your group and completing viewings, readings, and assignments as well as attending class outings. This course requires attendance during class meetings, but also requires that you find time to engage with assigned materials at home and outside of class time. Please get in touch if you are worried about falling behind or if your personal circumstances have changed. 

Discussion Posts (6 @ 5%=30%): Six times over the course of the semester, you will write a short, 250-word prompted discussion post reflecting on the readings and artwork(s) we are engaging with that week or on the research you will be completing this semester for your creative project. Prompts and discussion post threads will be available online. Discussion posts need not only consist of written words, but may also contain images, video, or other innovative components to help capture your thoughts visually. These posts will be a valuable opportunity for you to share your thoughts, reflections, and questions before meeting for class or with your groups. 

Weekly Group Meetings & Debrief Reports: At the beginning of the semester, students will be assigned to a small group of 3 students with whom they will engage throughout the semester outside of class. On weeks where a debrief is scheduled, students will meet for roughly 30 minutes outside of class to engage in critical dialogue about the class readings, performances, screenings, and events. In these meetings, students should discuss the readings or other assigned materials in preparation for class and the Debrief Presentations (see below), exchanging ideas and questions. You should meet face-to-face either in person or online (not over text or group chat). 

During the first assigned group meeting, students should schedule/sign up for a Debrief Report Presentation (see below) for each week throughout the semester that these debriefs are scheduled. Each student will present twice during the semester. Weekly presenters should take detailed notes during their assigned meeting to then summarize and share in a short 3-minute Debrief Report Presentation at the beginning of the next class. I will reach out to your group to ask for your schedule in advance. 

I suggest setting up a group chat or email chain to make the scheduling process easier or choosing a regular weekly time to meet. These groupings offer every student the opportunity to do some close analysis of the readings and other materials in an informal atmosphere before class. It will also give students a chance to practice their public speaking skills and advance their understanding of core concepts. While I do not attend these weekly meetings, I will be checking in throughout the semester to see how things are going and providing anonymous surveys to make sure all group members are consistently participating.

3-minute Debrief Presentations (2 @ 5%): On weeks where presentations are scheduled (see schedule below), one member from each group will be responsible to provide a short report at the beginning of the next class about your discussions in an informal debrief presentation. What were your informal findings in the group discussion about the readings/screenings/performances/etc for that week? Presenters should take notes during the previous group meeting and organize these notes as a summary of your responses, keeping in mind the time limit of 3 minutes. These presentations should be brief and reflect upon what your group found most interesting or challenging about the materials and/or performances for that week. 

Creative Research Project (40%) & Final Presentation (5%):

The major creative research project for the semester consists of three parts completed over the course of the semester: 

1. a research paper of 6-8 pages in length contextualizing a work of art as well as conducting an aesthetic analysis (20%)
2. a creative art project including an Artist Statement responding to both the artwork and your research findings in an artistic format of your choice (20%) 
3. a final presentation of your work in class and during the STEAM Festival in December (5%) 

Your individual creative project for the semester consists of researching a piece of public art such as a mural, a monument, a painting, a sculpture, a memorial, graffiti, or some other aesthetic public object (i.e. with public access) and to contextualize as well as provide a formal aesthetic analysis in a 6-8 page research paper. Your research project should consider the form and function of this artwork and its cultural, political, and aesthetic significance. Your research should include both popular and scholarly articles (if available) on your chosen object. Several deadlines throughout the semester will help you complete this research essay in steps and allow for revision. 

Some questions to consider: Is this piece of public art controversial in any way? What does it signify? Where is it located? How has its meaning shifted over time and what does it mean now? What explicit political commentary (if any) is it making? Does it challenge traditional forms? Who made it and why? What is the medium of the work? How do its form and content relate? 

For the creative art component of the project, you will imagine that you are invited as an artist to contribute to an exhibition about your chosen public art. You might do any of the following: make a short documentary film about the work; curate a virtual art installation about it; create a collage, mosaic, poster, or sculpture; create a performance or visual art piece; create a sound installation to accompany the art piece; write a series of poems, a short story, or a song about the work; create a visual essay; or do something else entirely. The only requirement is that you engage in an artistic or creative mode for this segment of the project that is informed by the findings in your research and aesthetic analysis. Don’t forget to have fun! 

At the end of the semester, we will have an in-class exhibition of everyone’s and short final presentations of your research. A more detailed set of assignment guidelines will be provided on our course site.

List of Deadlines for Creative Research Project:

1. Creative Research Project Proposal: Oct 16
2. Artist Statement: Nov 18
3. Annotated Bibliography for Research Project: Nov 25
4. Creative Art Project & Optional Draft of Final Essay: Dec 4
5. Final Essay Submission: Dec 11

STEAM Festival: December 7-11, 2024

Seminar 1 concludes with the Macaulay-wide STEAM Festival (STEAM=Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) that is attended by students from Seminars 1 and 3. At this event, students in Seminar 1 exhibit their creative work art gallery style. Macaulay will have an in-person STEAM Festival, with one session online for accessibility purposes. More information on STEAM will be available later on in the semester. Students in this section will exhibit work from your creative research project on public art (see above).