A dance professor is leading a new campus-wide initiative to expand the arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the surrounding area.
Cynthia Oliver joined the Illinois dance faculty in 2000. Five years ago, she became associate vice chancellor for research and innovation in the humanities, arts and related fields.
Many artists on campus, including herself, are advocating for the arts to play a more significant role, she said.
“There are brilliant, skilled artists on campus doing fascinating work, both on and off campus. And so many people don’t know about these stories. What I’m interested in is getting those stories out there,” Oliver said.
She pitched the idea of an arts initiative to Chancellor Robert Jones, and he agreed to support it.
This initiative is different from projects at other schools, Oliver said, because it spans the entire campus, and is not limited to a single department or college.
At the beginning of the school year, Oliver was appointed special advisor to the chancellor on arts integration. As part of his role, Oliver said he is working with UIUC administrators to create a plan to integrate the arts with research.
One of the goals of the initiative is to encourage collaboration between artists and scholars in other disciplines.
Oliver said other scientists can benefit from working with artists because artists aren’t afraid to fail.
“Those of us in the performing arts who have to deal with auditions and getting others to appreciate what we do are very used to failure. We’re a little stubborn because we keep coming back,” she said. “So I think that kind of determination is important.”
Oliver added that a diverse mix of perspectives can lead to innovative solutions to a range of challenges
“Just being in a room with different people makes you think differently, people ask questions differently. Having that kind of friction can lead to an opportunity that one might not have thought of before. So I think the important thing is to make sure we’re in a situation where a lot of different methods meet,” she said.
Oliver said “cetacean (whale)” is an example of this approach. This performance, created by artists Deke Weaver and Jennifer Allen, is part of a larger project that features an endangered animal or habitat for each letter of the alphabet.
Weaver looked at what affects whales and their environment, and Allen looked at the movement of the systems the animals live in and reflected that through choreography with other performers, Oliver said.
Other people involved in the project specialized in sustainability and helped find materials for the kit.
Oliver said the project has been successful in engaging the community with art.
“Over 2,000 people in our community saw it. So it not only inspired and ignited interest in our future disciplines, but also benefited the entire community. That’s what art does,” she said.
In addition to incorporating the arts with research and other academic fields, Oliver hopes to give students more opportunities to incorporate the arts into their education.
Oliver says her dream is to enable all future UIUC students to major in an art field that can complement their major.
She said creating and studying art can help students become better at solving problems.
Although the initiative started on campus, Oliver said he wants the university to collaborate with community partners to showcase local art.
“My goal is for art to be everywhere. Art changes the world. Art makes our very existence possible, palatable, pleasant,” she said. “And I want to make sure we have more of it everywhere.”
