A2RU
A2RU
Research

Emerging Creatives Workshop

Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Workshops

In this four-day collaborative experience, students from an array of disciplines gather around a theme (past themes include Food, Spectacle, and Learning in Liminal Spaces), then form smaller teams to explore a specific area of this theme. Over the course of the workshop, these teams make something that represents their exploration: syllabus, cookbook, podcast, app, opera, shoes, urban blueprint, pop-up store, musical score, website…the list of possible outcomes is endless.

At Emerging Creatives, students not only envision and create their project; they also take field trips, visit with extraordinary interdisciplinary thinkers, practice presenting their work, and exchange ideas about their project with peers and experts. With its intentional broad mix of disciplines as well as both undergraduate and graduate students, the event’s built-in diversity provides generative encounters with different perspectives. Students also build collaboration skills in brief instructional modules with a2ru staff. These modules are grounded in best practices for interdisciplinary collaboration, and students can immediately apply skills for communication, decision-making, and conflict management as they work with their teams.

a2ru has honed the Emerging Creatives session plan over ten years, offering it to students across its member universities annually. Now this workshop is available on individual campuses. a2ru Emerging Creatives staff will work closely with on-campus organizers to tailor this workshop with a theme, field trips, and guests that speak to their institution and region’s unique interests and assets. Check out recent Emerging Creatives hosted by Virginia Tech (2022) and the University of Cincinnati (2023) for examples of the event’s potential. (Note that these a2ru events hosted participants from across the a2ru network; your event would invite students from a range of disciplines at your institution only.)

For information about hosting Emerging Creatives, contact Veronica Stanich, a2ru Research Program Manager, at vstanich@umich.edu. The price of all workshops is reduced for a2ru member institutions.

Participant Testimonials

  • “Emerging Creatives brought me out of a shell created by my discipline. It showed me new ways to approach issues, communicate with others, and solve problems. It gave me new friends & colleagues and allowed me to grow both personally and professionally.”
  • “A great opportunity to establish meaningful connections and showcase how the world can be positively impacted with a trans-disciplinary creative community!”
  • “The Emerging Creatives student summit was an unforgettable and inspiring experience that I wish everybody to have. Time flew by as we developed relationships and learned from very different and interesting people every day”.”