Archive for the ‘Diversity’ Category

Diversity: good for education, good for business

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

GM Design Chief Ed Welburn (second from right) speaks with Transportation Design student.

Most Art Center students will tell you that being part of a diverse student body enriches their educational experience. The opportunity to collaborate with other artists and designers from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives is a hallmark of the Art Center experience. It’s one of the reasons that diversity and inclusion are included in the College’s six governing values and principles, and broadly represented throughout the College’s strategic plan.

Of course, diversity isn’t just good for education. It’s also good business. Many of Art Center’s corporate partners are choosing to enhance their philanthropic support of the College with scholarships that promote diversity – of experience, economic background, race, gender and more.

Art Center partner Sodexo is a case in point. The food services and facilities management company, which priorities diversity and inclusion, recently made a gift to continue its annual Sodexo Diversity Scholarship. Established in 2011, the scholarship provides financial assistance to qualifying students from diverse and historically underrepresented groups.

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For Art Center at Night director Dana L.Walker, “Diversity is really about all of us.”

Monday, February 25th, 2013

Dana L. Walker, Photography and Imaging alumna and Art Center at Night director. Photo: Ken Merfeld.

Many students who end up studying at Art Center are first introduced to the College through Art Center at Night (ACN)—Art Center’s continuing studies program headquartered at South Campus. And chances are that at some point many of those students also came into contact with Photography and Imaging alumna Dana L. Walker (PHOT 1995). Walker serves as both the director of ACN and the managing director of Public Programs, Art Center’s suite of programs that also includes Art Center for Kids (grades 4–8), Saturday High (grades 9–12) and Summer Institute for Teachers (for K–12 educators).

In addition to her Public Programs duties, Walker is also co-chair of Art Center’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion, which the College created in 2011 as part of its Create Change Strategic Plan. She’s also a board member of the 120 Group, an ethnically diverse, alumni-based organization that promotes educational and career opportunities in art and design for underrepresented minority populations.

We sat down recently with Dana to talk about diversity, her work as an artist and what it’s like to be a student in her own program.

Dotted Line: You’re on the College’s diversity council. How do you define diversity?

Dana Walker: I don’t define it. In fact, one of the things we’ve done on the Council is purposely not define it. Because once you define it, it becomes a quantity rather than a quality. Diversity is not just about race, ethnicity or religion. It’s also economics, geography, gender and more. In fact, diversity includes so much that it’s really about all of us. And that’s what makes it challenging. To become a better artist or designer, you need to understand the world that you live in and the people who live in it. Whether it’s learning about another culture or learning how to work with different people, you can’t design for the world if you don’t understand large parts of it.

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In Search of Textured Stories: An Illustration Student Explores Children’s Books by African-American Illustrators

Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

 

Art Center librarian Simone Fujita and Illustration student Kristina Halcromb discuss children’s books by African-American illustrators. Art Center photo by Sylvia Sukop

“You get a feeling of music. Totally music. Rhythm,” Kristina Halcromb muses out loud as she runs her fingers over Duke Ellington’s blazer, rendered in rich hues of purple, pink, blue and brown in a children’s book she is encountering for the first time. Emanating from the trombone pressed to the jazz musician’s lips, clouds of sound swirl across the page.

“The hand drawing makes it more appreciative,” says the Illustration major, in her final year at Art Center College of Design.

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Black History Month: A few things you might not know

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Carter G. Woodson

In terms of socio-political significance, February is also an important month in the United States. It is Black History Month. It is a time when the country recognizes the struggles, achievements and contributions of the African-American community. In the course of researching this topic, I learned something I didn’t know before. I want to pass it along.

Black History Week was founded at a time (the 1920s) when forces actively tried to write famous African-Americans, such as Harriet Tubman and Crispus Attucks, out of the history books.

The annual observance was created by Carter G. Woodson. He was an educator who graduated from the University of Chicago and was the second black man (behind W.E.B. Du Bois) to receive a doctorate from Harvard University.

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Trustee-produced ‘Red Tails’ wins motion picture prize at NAACP’s Image Awards

Monday, February 4th, 2013

The action-adventure World War II film “Red Tails” won the prize for best motion picture at the NAACP’s Image Awards.

The high-flying feature, produced by George Lucas and Art Center Trustee Charles Floyd Johnson, was inspired by the heroics of America’s first all African-American aerial unit.

“Look, I beat Quentin Tarantino,” joked the Star Wars creator upon accepting the award (Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” was also up for the honor).

Lucas choked up while thanking the Tuskeegee Airmen, whose story is chronicled in the film.

The 44th NAACP Image Awards, hosted by talk show host Steve Harvey, were held Friday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

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Trustee’s ‘Red Tails’ nominated for NAACP Image awards

Friday, December 14th, 2012

The action-adventure World War II film “Red Tails” was nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for outstanding motion picture and outstanding writing in a motion picture.

The high-flying feature, produced by George Lucas and Art Center Trustee Charles Floyd Johnson, was inspired by the heroics of Tuskeegee Airmen, America’s first all African-American aerial unit.

The film spent 23 years in development before premiering on the silver screen, and went on to earn $58 million at the box office.

“It’s a story that has resonance with a lot of people,” Johnson recently told Dotted Line. “These young men were not encouraged to fly for their country … but they triumphed over adversity” at home and abroad.

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