Global Arts Academy launches with first cohort

calendar icon22 Aug 2024    

Lincoln, Neb.--The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts welcomes the first cohort of students to the Global Arts Academy this fall.

The Global Arts Academy aims to recruit world-class students through a curated four-year program that will immerse a cohort of both international and domestic students in a transformative academic and co-curricular experiences. These partnerships will also provide opportunities for faculty exchanges, joint research and other collaborative efforts.

“The Global Arts Academy is important for two reasons,” said Emily Griffin Overocker, the senior director of student success and coordinator of the Global Arts Academy. “Primarily to globalize our college so that we can have an expansive perspective embedded throughout our student population so we can be thinking globally, and we can prepare our students to be global artists. The second part is about tapping into untapped recruiting markets.”

The three international students in the first cohort come from India, Nepal and Vietnam and will be studying graphic design, emerging media arts and acting. They will be joined by four domestic students from Colorado, Nevada and Nebraska, who are studying dance, music and theatre (B.A.).

Griffin Overocker said that exchange between international and domestic students in a single cohort is the key to the program.

“It’s about the exchange back and forth so that we can learn from each other. We are not trying to impart our culture on others,” she said.

The college made two important recruiting trips this past year to launch the Global Arts Academy. Dean Andy Belser traveled to Nepal and was then joined in India by Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film Director Hank Stratton, Johnny Carson Endowed Director in Emerging Media Arts Megan Elliott and Visual Communications Specialist Muskan Yadav in February. The four met with students, teachers and counselors, while also presenting masterclasses and meeting with partner institutions to explore new collaborations.

During the trip. Elliott secured paid internships for current emerging media arts students this summer at Infosys in Bangalore, India. The seven students selected will make documentaries and short-form videos.

Belser and Glenn Korff School of Music Director Felix Olschofka also traveled to China and Vietnam in March.

“The visits to both China and Vietnam were highly successful,” Olschofka said. “I have visited both countries multiple times over the past decade, forming strong relationships with faculty and administrators. This visit was focused on further strengthening those connections. We visited several music and art conservatories, their affiliated high schools, and independent high schools. The ongoing collaboration continues to enhance our ties and mutual understanding in the arts education sector. Our visit aimed not only to recruit future students but also to pave the way for internship opportunities, faculty exchanges, and creative and research collaborations. The prospect of students learning from each other’s diverse cultures while pursuing a degree at UNL generated significant interest.”

Strengthening these ties will continue this fall with additional trips planned to Nepal, India and Vietnam.

“We are planning a return trip to Vietnam in October with the aim of conducting masterclasses and giving presentations at the leading music conservatories and several selected high schools,” Olschofka said. “Additionally, we plan to perform a series of chamber music concerts featuring a diverse program of solo, duo, trio and quartet repertoire. Furthermore, we intend to showcase our degree offerings in the Glenn Korff School of Music, including our upcoming B.A. options, which are not currently available in most of the music conservatories in China or Vietnam. We are fortunate to have a private donor generously funding the trip to Vietnam, providing us with a wonderful opportunity to engage with students, faculty, administrators and audience members in Vietnam.”

As a former international student himself, Olschofka appreciates the establishment of the Global Arts Academy.

“I wish such an institution had existed when I first arrived in the U.S. to study,” he said. “The Global Arts Academy, with its experienced administrators and professional staff, is well-equipped to support students through the challenges that international students face. We are uniquely positioned to provide students from Nebraska and around the world with an enriching experience, allowing them to broaden their horizons and thrive in a creative, inclusive, interdisciplinary and safe environment.”

For more information on the program, visit https://arts.unl.edu/global-arts-academy.