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University leaders highlight arts as core to mission and community outreach
Summary
Provost Croson and campus presenters told regents the arts are central to teaching, research and community engagement; board members urged clearer systemwide promotion and greater community access to programs such as Weisman’s art-rental and Northrop’s in-school performances.
Provost Croson opened the presentation by saying the arts are integrated into teaching, research and outreach across all University of Minnesota campuses and argued they are foundational to creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration.
"The arts are core to the university's mission and are integrated into all aspects of teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement," Croson said.
Presenters described examples across campuses: museum–medical-school collaborations that use visual thinking to strengthen clinical communication; accessible, multisensory exhibitions developed for people with low vision; interdisciplinary labs that support interactive installations and scientific visualization; and Northrop's program that brings thousands of K–12 students to campus through subsidized tickets, busing and pre-visit materials.
Katie Covey, director of public engagement and learning at the Weisman Art Museum, described the art-rental program. "The art rental collection at the Weisman Art Museum... is available for all students, staff, and faculty," she said, and noted an online portal and in-person shop where campus users can curate selections and handle works.
Board members asked practical questions about how artists sell work and how campuses can better promote arts offerings. A regent asked whether museums sell art; a presenter replied that ethics rules constrain museum sales but pointed to art-rental programs and partnerships with local fairs and galleries as ways to support artists.
Members urged systemwide marketing to raise awareness of arts offerings and suggested leveraging arts residencies and community-facing events to strengthen recruitment, regional partnerships and the university's public profile. The presentation included campus-specific examples such as a multisite Indigenous arts exhibition curated by faculty and community partners, a Duluth accessible photography and poetry project, a fashion-from-recycled-materials course, and an art installation that translated Mars rover wind data into kinetic sculpture.
