Criterion Five: Engagement and Service Core Component 5c: The organization demonstrates its responsiveness to those constituencies that depend on it for services.

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	Visual and Performing Arts UMKC carries the distinction of being named the official visual and performing arts campus within the University of Missouri System. With nationally recognized programs located at the Conservatory of Music and Dance and the Department of Theatre within the College of Arts and Sciences, our University serves as a cultural resource for both the campus community and the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. The College’s Department of Art and Art History is also part of our visual and performing arts mission and our commitment to the community. Access to the encyclopedic collections of the nearby Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art enhances student opportunities to study original works of art first-hand. Also a valuable resource for our arts students is the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Library, which contains more than 100,000 volumes. The Linda Hall Library of Science and Technology and the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection also provide important resources. The Department of Theatre was ranked 20 out of 400 graduate theatre programs by U.S. News & World Report in 1997, the last year that the magazine ranked theatre departments. Our Theatre Department trains professional actors, designers and technicians. Training is greatly enhanced by the presence of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre [The Rep], which shares facilities with UMKC and provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to work with theatre professionals. Our graduate students have served as dramaturges and assistants to the director, while others have held summer research internships. The Rep’s opening of its downtown venue in 2007, the Copaken Stage, expanded these opportunities.
Composers in the Schools [CITS], a project of the Conservatory of Music and Dance and the only program of its kind in the United States, was established in 1993 and serves students in urban and suburban schools within the Kansas City metropolitan area. Graduate students in music composition serve as Composers-in-Residence in schools with underserved populations, providing several types of learning opportunities: one-on-one mentorship for young composers; presentations on composition, improvisation and creativity; introduction of music from various cultures; and instruction on music-specific software. During the 2007-08 school year, CITS served seven area high schools, impacting 275 area students and placing 15 Composers-in-Residence. In tandem with CITS, Musical Bridges serves the musical needs of younger students. This free-of-charge program provides individualized music and dance training to students as early as the sixth grade. It is designed for students who are interested in pursuing a music or dance career, but who lack the resources or support to ensure success. Students who successfully complete the program, graduate from high school and wish to apply for admission to the Conservatory are eligible for scholarship support from a fund designated for urban and minority youth. The program had nine students in 2007- 08. Plans are currently in place to expand this program to other schools, with a top priority placed on securing additional funding to allow current students to remain in the program. CITS is one of many programs within the Conservatory’s Community Music and Dance Academy, whose collective programs currently offer private and group instruction to more than 600 area musicians and dancers using Conservatory graduate students, alumni and professionals as instructional personnel. The Academy’s general enrollment reaches approximately 2,300 students annually and includes outreach at various area schools that participate in CITS, Musical Bridges, and Ensembles in the Schools. The Academy regularly surveys the programs’ participants for feedback regarding academic quality, accessibility, communication, instructors’ expertise and interest, responsiveness, schedules, and policies. 2008 surveys reveal that 97 percent of Academy participants rated their experience as very satisfactory or satisfactory, the two highest options on the survey. (See survey results in Resource Room.) The Sublimated City, a project initiated in 2006 by UMKC’s former Center for Creative Studies, supported two of our mission areas. These are: visual and performing arts and community engagement. Five primary objectives served as the project’s foundation. These include: providing a creative visual statement around shared experiences; creating meaningful partnerships with local community organizations and cultural institutions; providing opportunities for meaningful correspondence across cultural boundaries mediated by contemporary technology; exploring the issue of community as it relates to metropolitan Kansas City and initiate public dialog across boundaries concerning community development; and connecting the UMKC campus into the greater Kansas City community. The project provided a structure that encouraged people to contribute answers to a series of questions from the perspective of sight, sound, smell, touch, emotion and color to better understand Kansas City and to examine the urban experience. Three public installations were created from the public’s responses. A symposium was held toward the end of the project to further explore issues and to engage participants in an active dialogue about the concept of urban space. An outcome of the project was the publication of a book, The Sublimated City. The success of the project was demonstrated by recognition from the Missouri Arts Council in its annual report, which cited the project as a primary example of the Council’s belief in the value of innovation and creative expression in the arts.
Established in 2002, UMKC’s Center for Creative Studies served as a resource for exploring creativity and innovation in all academic areas, and met to UMKC’s goal of providing national leadership in scholarship and creative activity. The Center served as a catalyst for exploring the creative process through interdisciplinary research, scholarship, and innovative projects for understanding the role creativity plays in shaping contemporary society. From 2002-08, the Center presented numerous artistic and educational programs focused on the creative process. These included lecture series exploring innovation within current artistic and scientific research, and art exhibitions. The Center received national grants from entities including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Arts, the Judith Rothschild Foundation, and the Missouri Arts Council. In 2008, at the request of the Board of Curators, centers and institutes were restructured and eliminated at all four campuses of the MU System. The Center for Creative Studies, being a relatively new center was among those eliminated.