A2ru Statement on Executive Orders and the Effect on Higher Education

Mar 11, 2025

Dear a2ru Members, Partners, and Friends,

“I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.”

—John Fitzgerald Kennedy (inscribed on the Kennedy Center)

At a2ru, we reaffirm our commitment to the essential role of the arts in shaping knowledge, driving discovery, and confronting the grand challenges of our time. Across the country, on university campuses and in communities, artists and researchers are leading bold, interdisciplinary innovations—pushing creative research beyond traditional boundaries and ensuring the arts remain central to human progress. As a national network, we recognize that these efforts are happening within a rapidly shifting landscape. Changes in funding structures, research priorities, and institutional policies have created new challenges for many in our fields.

At a2ru, we champion the arts as essential to higher education; deep disciplinary knowledge and applied research in the arts; interdisciplinary creativity; durable collaboration; diverse community; and the research university as a driver toward a better world.

At a2ru, the arts are not supplemental—they are foundational to education. As such, we are steadfast in our commitment to build, advocate for, and expand pathways for art-integrated research and creative practice to thrive. As we do this, we recognize the difficulties faced by artists and researchers whose work is challenged by abrupt shifts in funding and infrastructure. Changing our programming and the complex ways we practice and teach or ignoring inclusivity is not possible; these actions would be inimical to the nature of the arts disciplines and to interdisciplinarity.

Building community and combating isolation is also central to our mission. Many of our members hold unique roles on their campuses and in their communities—working across disciplines, forging new creative methodologies, or bridging the arts with STEM and humanities research. Within a2ru, these roles are not isolated but deeply interconnected. Through our working groups, conversations, and convenings, we strengthen the national network that sustains this vital work. At the same time, we continue to drive innovation through arts-integrated research, by expanding interdisciplinary collaborations that leverage the arts to address pressing societal issues, from climate change to artificial intelligence. The arts are simultaneously reflective and generative, shaping the future in ways that other disciplines alone cannot.

In this uncertain and rapidly evolving landscape, a2ru is not waiting for permission to lead. We are actively:

• Convening our Arts and AI Working Group to develop policy recommendations for the ethical and innovative use of AI in higher education.
• Preparing for the 2025 a2ru Conference, Creative Futures: Driving Interdisciplinary Innovation Through the Arts, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison—where we will showcase the groundbreaking work happening across our network.
• Launching new calls for conference proposals that imagine creative futures and push forward solutions-driven, arts-integrated research.
• Expanding our Emerging Creatives program, where students are already engaging in interdisciplinary collaboration in preparation for this year’s student summit, Resonate: Making Waves, at Georgia Tech.
• Developing new funding proposals that will sustain and grow arts-integrated initiatives across universities.

The future of the arts in higher education is not a passive outcome—it is something we create together.  Our recent conversations about the Arts-Informed University affirm this.  We invite you to share your stories—let us amplify the critical work happening on your campuses. Engage in a working group—connect with peers tackling similar challenges and opportunities. Attend an upcoming webinar—whether on Arts and AI, Arts in Health, or “Creating Knowledge in Common,” be part of the dialogue shaping the future. The arts are indispensable. Our collective work ensures that the future of higher education is one where creativity, innovation, and human flourishing remain at the center.

Since a2ru’s founding in 2012, we have worked to remove institutional barriers to arts-integrated research. Now, in our second decade, we are building something even more ambitious—a future where the arts are not just included in higher education but are recognized as the essential driver of interdisciplinary knowledge and societal transformation.

Join us. Let’s move forward together.

Sincerely,

The a2ru Executive Committee
Sonia Hirt and Dan Cavanagh, co-chairs