[Art-instructors] Kick Off, please share!

[Jeff Beekman]

Dear All,

Our inaugural Kick Off event, rescheduled due to the hurricane, is just around the corner. I'm reaching out to request your help in generating excitement among our students. The most effective way to ensure widespread attendance is for each of you to promote it within your classes.

While I've already discussed the purpose of this event  with full-time faculty, adjuncts, and graduate instructors, it's worth reiterating:

  1.
Engender a greater sense of community among students: I recall how my experience in art school greatly improved when I became socially connected with fellow students in the department. We laughed, collaborated, stayed up all night working together, and pushed each other in ways faculty couldn't. Passion is contagious, our work ethics deepened, and that drive led many of us to our current positions.

Many of our current students seem not to share the same level of community and urgency. Whether this is a legacy of Covid-19 era shutdowns, a Gen Z-thing, or that our buildings lack communal "hang out" spaces that we know facilitate peer interaction - the primary function of the Kick Off is to foster connections between students and the department that extend beyond classroom.

  2.
Celebrate who we are and what we are doing: We have exceptional faculty, staff, and resources, an impressive lineup of visiting artists, and numerous opportunities for students to engage more deeply with both the department and each other. The first half hour of the Kick Off next Wednesday will be dedicated to showcasing as much of this as possible. Following that, the FAB Gallery will be open and at least five different student clubs will set up tables in the atrium and directly outside. These clubs will run activities, potentially sell their stuff, and recruit new members. Since this is our first time organizing such an event, I predict it'll be chaotic and messy, but also a fantastic experience.

Please hype this up to your students and be there yourselves! With your help it will be amazing.

All Best,
Jeff

[cid:5e6be070-ca79-4570-8e33-159c73f3ffe5]


Jeff Beekman
he/him/his
Associate Professor, Department Chair
Department of Art
Florida State University
405.650.9276 (cell)

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.fsu.edu/pipermail/art-instructors/attachments/20231018/249eccb7/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 10-25_ART_Fall_KickOff (2).jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 322539 bytes
Desc: 10-25_ART_Fall_KickOff (2).jpg
URL: <http://lists.fsu.edu/pipermail/art-instructors/attachments/20231018/249eccb7/attachment.jpg>