Welcome from David Bogen and Sammy Hoi, Convocation Speakers Announced, and Orientation Parking!
Welcome from the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
David Bogen, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Maryland Institute College of Art
"On behalf of the MICA community—a community of artists, designers, media makers, activists, scholars and educators—it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to graduate study at MICA. We have been preparing all summer for your arrival and are every bit as excited as you are to begin our work together!
As a group, you represent a wide spectrum of talents, interests, and experiences, and you have been selected for your programs not only for what you bring to these particular areas of work and study, but also, for what you will contribute to the larger MICA graduate community. The graduate experience at MICA emphasizes both the rigor and depth of individual programs and the vitality and richness that comes from the interconnections between specific fields of study and the shared community of graduate students, faculty, and staff. In addition to courses in your own program, you will have the opportunity to take electives with students from other programs, to participate in research projects and teaching experiences, and make use of facilities and attend exhibitions and events across the entire College.
The MICA graduate experience also extends throughout the city of Baltimore, through our community-based projects and programs, our alumni, and our professional and research networks, and nationally and internationally, through our visiting artist programs and travel and research opportunities.
MICA is deeply committed to the role that artists and designers can play in the cultural and economic development of the city of Baltimore. Several years ago, the Lazarus Graduate Center was created as a hub for MICA’s presence in the vibrant and growing Station North Art and Entertainment District. Additional programs and spaces were added each year to the Graduate Center, providing a total of more than 150,000 square feet of shops, labs, studio, seminar, gallery and office space that makes this one of the premiere facilities for graduate education in North America. In August 2015, we opened the new Film Center just up the street from Lazarus. Built around a collaboration with Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Film Festival, the Film Center houses our MFA in Filmmaking and provides a state-of- the-art facility for film and media production in the heart of Station North. That same year, Motor House opened across the street from the Lazarus providing event and studio space for the Baltimore arts and non-profit communities. And in 2016, a new community-based maker space and studio facility called “Open Works” opened on Greenmount Avenue, just blocks away from one of our key educational partners, the Baltimore Design School, and we have worked with both of these organizations to build a long-term educational partnership that will provide additional opportunities for MICA graduate students, such as access to discounted production facilities, space and teaching experiences.
All of this is to say, we are immensely pleased that you have chosen to pursue your graduate studies at MICA and we aim to support you in every way possible in developing your work, your own unique voice, and your place within your chosen field. I look forward to meeting all of you at Orientation and to welcoming you in person to this amazing community in this amazing place!
Sincerely,
David Bogen
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs"
President's Welcome
Click here to view a special welcome video from President Sammy Hoi!
Convocation Speakers Announced
Convocation, an annual kick-off event to Graduate Orientation, celebrates graduate community and welcomes a new class of graduate students to MICA and Baltimore. This year, President Sammy Hoi will lead a conversation reflecting on the people, places and resources in Baltimore that support emerging arts leaders including Sheri Parks, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, and MICA Alumni and Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Melani Douglass.
Sheri Parks comes to MICA from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), where she was the inaugural Associate Dean for Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship, and Programming for the College of Arts and Humanities. Through her position, she helped raise the profile of the college in the nation, as well as its levels of sponsored research and community engagement. An active and leading presence in Baltimore, she currently serves as the president of the board of directors for the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.
Among her many achievements, Parks initiated and directed the annual Baltimore Thinkathon and Baltimore Stories: Narrative and the Life of an American City, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Baltimore Stories, involving partnerships with the Maryland Humanities Council and 27 other organizations and institutions (including MICA), was cited as a national model for deep community conversations and followed by cities like Boston, New York and Charlotte. In addition, she co-led Synergies among Digital Humanities and African American History and Culture, supported by a $1.2 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
"Art and culture are extraordinarily strong tools for Baltimore and well beyond. MICA, with its longstanding history of excellence and growing investment in sophisticated social artistic and cultural engagement, is positioned to be a major voice in the urgent developments of our time. I enthusiastically join President Hoi and MICA in such important work," said Parks.
A noted public intellectual, Parks has appeared frequently in national and international media, and is a regular cultural critic for WYPR-NPR and the Baltimore Sun podcast, Roughly Speaking.
Melani Douglass earned her BA in English from Morgan State University in Baltimore. Upon graduation, she taught middle school and adult education and was designated as a master teacher by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, Maryland. During a brief sabbatical, Douglass took the MICA course Exhibition Development Seminar with Professor George Ciscle. The class produced the award winning exhibition, At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland. As soon as life allowed, Douglass returned to MICA to join the MFA in Curatorial Practice class of 2015. Douglass has presented her artwork and lectured at the Dallas Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Friends School, TEDxWDC, The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, and various locations across the United States. Her Curatorial Practice thesis work focused on home as curated space and the art and ritual of family.
We look forward to seeing everyone at Graduate Convocation, Monday, August 19th.
Arrival begins at 3:30PM - Convocation begins at 4PM.
Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Avenue
Orientation Parking
Free parking for the Lazarus Center is available on each side of the building, in the Studio Center East and West parking lots. Parking is also available in the Maryland Ave parking lot, in any space that says "MICA". The Maryland Ave lot is in front of "The Walbert" building
In order to give students time to request/pick up their parking permit, Campus Safety will allow for a grace period for the Maryland Ave lot until 8/23/19. This means they will not be administering any tickets during this time. Campus Safety will give a grace period for the Lazarus Studio Center lots for Tuesday only and the gates will be open. Campus Safety will be on site at orientation on Tuesday to hand out parking permits to any students who have already completed the online permit request form and you will also be able to apply for a parking permit on the spot if you still need to do so!
Below is a map of campus with information about the various parking lots on campus (We're building 19!)
MICARD Solution Center at Lazarus Center
The MICARD Solution Center will be stationed at the Lazarus Center on Tuesday, August 20th, for your convenience. If you did not send your ID photo in advance, you may have your ID made on the spot. You can also stop by the Solution Center to request a MICA parking permit. Representatives from Campus Safety and Student Accounts will be available! The MICARD Solution Center will be located in Lazarus Center room L175 on Tuesday, August 20th, 2PM - 4PM.
Orientation Reminders
Preview the REQUIRED and CUSTOMIZABLE activities here! Complete this quick form and help us plan for the many tours, social events, and skill building exercises to choose from during the week - let us know which are particular interest to you!
**Please note: PLAN to attend the GRAD LAB orientation assigned to your program. Mark your calendars now for the required and customizable activities the week of August 19th!
Key Dates & Locations RECAP:
{Monday August 19th, 3:30pm
Convocation @ The Parkway, 5 W. North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201
The Parkway Theater is 2 blocks east of the Lazarus Center, MICA
Tuesday August 20th, 9:00am
Be at the Lazarus Center, 131 W. North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201