![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2016\/08\/BUL-AUG16-PG16-FACSaints.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Bryan Oller<\/p><\/div>\n
Imagine Colorado College faculty members integrating a collection of nearly 20,000 pieces of Southwestern Native American and Spanish colonial art into their curriculum, exploring new, innovative ways of developing experiential learning, and using objects to incorporate nontraditional and marginalized voices to enrich and deepen a student\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
Imagine connecting the broader regional community to Colorado College\u2019s academic life and providing learning opportunities through a series of targeted outreach activities designed to engage previously underserved populations, fostering diverse, multicultural perspectives, and creating a stronger arts and culture profile for the city.<\/p>\n
A pending alliance between Colorado College and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center would help achieve key Colorado College strategic objectives while also helping to create significant financial stability for the Fine Arts Center and solidify a community goal of sustainable, ongoing community fine arts programming. \u2028The partnership between the two provides vast opportunities to create a new future for the arts at CC and for the greater Colorado Springs region.<\/p>\n
Leaders at both institutions are reviewing the potential structure of such a partnership, which they term a \u201cwin-win-win\u201d for all involved. The FAC, located on the same block as CC\u2019s Packard Hall, includes a theatre, art school, and fully accredited museum that houses more than 20,000 art objects acquired over the last 80 years. This includes Alice Bemis Taylor\u2019s significant collection of Native American and early Hispanic art, as well as Western American, modern, and contemporary art. The physical proximity of the two organizations, as well as their aligned missions, reinforces Cascade Avenue as a cultural corridor in Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n
The established precedent of working together, dating back to the FAC\u2019s founding, makes it a natural alliance, says Colorado College President Jill Tiefenthaler. \u201cThis is a big undertaking and we want to do it right,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about the potential this has for all involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she did five years ago upon becoming president of CC, Tiefenthaler intends to listen before implementing changes. \u201cWe want to hear from those who are committed to the Fine Arts Center as well as bring in new voices,\u201d she says. She will embark on an initial Year of Planning before changes are made, and then will do so gradually, exploring museum operations the second year, the Bemis School of Art the third year, and theatre operations the fourth year.<\/p>\n
The partnership with the Fine Arts Center supports Colorado College\u2019s desire to capitalize on its sense of\u2028place, strengthen its ties within the community, and push the boundaries of learning beyond the classroom and into the field, all initiatives of CC\u2019s strategic plan.<\/p>\n
While a Colorado College alliance with the Fine Arts Center would strengthen programs such as Southwest studies, anthropology, art, and museum studies, students in other disciplines would benefit as well, says Professor of Art Rebecca Tucker. \u201cAny class interacting with objects can develop skills such as observation, analysis, interpretation, and framing of multidisciplinary questions,\u201d she says. \u201cThese skills apply to botany students as much as art students. Anything you show can spark questions around any topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our Block Plan, emphasis on field study, and experiential learning, CC would be a national leader in teaching with museums.\u201d<\/p>\n