Invitation: Curriculum & Student Focus Groups

Dear Shenandoah Conservatory students,

As you know, our conservatory faculty spent a good bit of time last semester gathering information as we undertook an intensive and year-long initiative to make our undergraduate curriculum leaner and stronger.

I'm partnering with the Shenandoah Conservatory Student Council to seek additional student input in our process and invite you to participate in one of four Focus Groups centered on each of the core recommendations as outlined and described below.

These focus groups will take place on Wednesday, April 3 from 3 to 3:50 p.m. See below for room locations. Please sign up in advance for a Focus Group as each is limited to 15 student participants to allow for robust and in-depth conversation. Additional students may attend and observe.

Shenandoah Conservatory will commit to a culture of holistic wellness through proactive student, faculty and staff development. It strongly supports nurture, attractiveness, career preparation, financial sustainability and ongoing faculty development while benefitting the entire conservatory community as individuals, a school and larger university community, and greater local, national and global community. We will seek to be healthy, well-rounded humans who proactively address well-being.

Glaize Studio Theatre

Conservatory 101 would be an ongoing course that replaces Performance Forum. For example, all students are enrolled and exposed to all conservatory disciplines; learn about college/conservatory preparedness and soft skills; and explore the ideas of artist, audience and performance. Collaborative projects are undertaken in subsequent semester. This concept strongly supports collaboration, entrepreneurship, soft skills, mental health and well being, and provides students the opportunity to experience all Shenandoah Conservatory performance and academic resources, and ultimately builds a community that ensures students are more prepared for success.

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The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Collaborative Arts opens up access to high quality conservatory education for a new cohort of incoming students who wish to push their artistic boundaries through collaborative thinking and art making in both traditional and commercial art forms. By creating a new incoming conservatory student population with innovative collaborative energies and skills, this will greatly embolden student-led and created artistic endeavors, and strongly help with recruitment and retention.

This degree acknowledges that our collective industries are increasingly seeking students who have multiple skill sets that extend beyond a single art focus. In addition, this new population of creative thinkers (many students who have interest in multiple instruments or genres and who we are not currently serving) will help to inspire current faculty and students in their varied artistic endeavors that will enrich the educational and creative experience for all involved. The program opens up a variety of opportunities for students to engage in new artistic energies that exists outside of the traditional conservatory box; to collaborate across traditional boundaries; to explore new technologies; to study music of all genres; and provide opportunities to create the next "big thing."

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