The Arts and Technology project emerged from a two-year planning process to transform the learning experience at Hamilton. Two of the priorities developed from the College’s strategic plan are Digital Hamilton – to change the way we teach, learn, and operate the College using digitally intensive courses and emerging digital technologies – and Experiential Hamilton – to provide direct, hands-on experiences to prepare students for fulfilling lives and careers.
“This grant will continue to put digital technologies at the forefront of students’ education, ensuring their readiness for successful careers after graduation,” President David Wippman said.
The foundation grant will allow faculty to combine arts disciplines and technologies to inspire and enhance creativity throughout the curriculum. Project plans include the establishment of digital hubs (spaces and equipment) across campus where students and faculty can experience new forms of representation and communication. Arts faculty will incorporate new technologies into prototype courses, promote enhanced curricular goals for students, and foster collaborations across campus to benefit all students.
Today’s ‘three Rs’ are augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality, and this grant will enable opportunities for students to use all three modes of accessing and encountering knowledge and experiences first-hand. By allowing students to engage with these new technologies, they will develop digital fluencies and skills necessary to communicate and work effectively in a rapidly changing, globally connected, 21st-century world.
Creative outputs will include 3D printing, 2D/3D animation, and 3D modeling; 3D/virtual sculpture and digitally constructed and printed sculpture; photography in virtual environments, virtual exhibitions, and multimedia projects using combinations of moving imagery, sound art, performance, installation, and collaboration. In addition to new programming at the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art and the display of student productions, the existing cinema facilities in Bradford Auditorium will be renovated to current digital cinema standards to support courses that emphasize theory and history of film.