Welcome to Guhn Kim's Senior CIS Portfolio!
The Arts for Social Change major aims to incorporate a few disciplines – namely history/cultural studies, environmental science, ethics/religion and rigorous study in Fine Arts – to gain an integrative understanding of the key roles the arts has played in contemporary Western society in reflecting and encouraging social change. It will help me to connect the diverse teachings of the above disciplines, encouraging what St. Olaf College coins, “a global perspective...(that) focuses on what is ultimately worthwhile and fosters the development of the whole person in mind, body and spirit” (St. Olaf Mission Statement). This major, in conjunction with the goals of the college, focuses interdisciplinary elements of the liberal arts education with a heightened emphasis on social change in order to foster students in discovering a calling and a vocation that contribute to humanity’s efforts for peace, sustainability, and “shalom”.
Students with a major or concentration in a Fine Arts department, such as dance, music, and art/art history share a common hardship in relating their studies to real world vocation. The major will help a music major, myself, to connect with students and faculty of various departments, inspire dialogue regarding problems local and global communities share, and ultimately create a network of artists, philosophers, historians, and scientists seeking to commit to long-term projects that may bring about change in our communities.
My major benefits a college like St. Olaf because it gives students an opportunity to explore fine arts in the context of a larger academic stage. Often reflecting the sentiments of the times, the arts play an idealistic role within the liberal arts and the greater society. Mozart composed operas that were embedded with what was then forbidden, support of the Italian revolution, and in his novel Demian, Hermann Hesse wrote of modern man’s struggle to retain the human insight to do what is morally and ethically right although social conditions proved otherwise – the tragedy of the first World War. This art was possible because the creators had a well of integrated knowledge that allowed them to evaluate society. To put it in analogy, if the arts were a fire, integrated knowledge of society and various disciplines are the fuel that sustains the flame.
The Arts for Social Change major offers me an opportunity to carry out interdisciplinary artistic studies with a strong overtone of social awareness and change, as provides me with resources to “fuel” my art.
Navigation...
This webpage is structured around the senior project performance. The words in italics in the left column indicate major movements within the performance, and are links to the text presented in each movement. I’ve included activities, websites, and organizations related to Arts for Social Change in the right hand column.
Top of Page >>