Students gain professional experience while providing much needed support to the non profit sectors. Although this structure can by implemented within any field, currently I am interested in directing the program towards arts and community programs. 

For example,  for a number of projects, a concerted effort of  students from various programs assisted in the creation of a sculpture park and esxhibition catalog or a non profit community arts program. Fine arts studio majors assisted the professional artists in finishing and installing the works. The art history majors were each assigned to one of the exhibiting artists to do background research and interview the artists and write the text for the catalog, the photography students documented the works and provided the final digital images for print, and the graphics students designed the layout of the catalog. The culmination of the students’ efforts provided a dynamic catalog to accompany a variety of exhibitions, from an inaugural exhibition of a community sculpture park to exhibits on Governor”s Island.  In turn, the students gain ‘real life’ experience working under tight deadlines, within very limited budgets as well as experience working in concert with their peers across disciplines. Students benefit by having a final printed professional product to include in their portfolios. This mutually beneficial model is beneficial on many levels not only for the arts organization, or the individual students but for the art department as well. It is an excellent form of community building forging a sense of interdependence among disciplines. For me, personally, seeing the pride and sense of accomplishment the students gain from this experience is nothing less than thrilling.