Maine School Of Art Unveils New Name, Inventive Identification, and the Envisioning Our Long run 2027 Strategic Strategy

“In the course of the strategic organizing procedure we set out as a group to establish challenges and possibilities for the foreseeable future of the Faculty,” claimed Laura Freid, President of Maine Higher education of Art & Design. “Collectively, we envisioned a environment enriched by artists and designers who are empowered to generate with profound and functional influence. At a single point we all understood that it was time to develop our name, restate our determination to all artists and designers, embrace our evolution and area the price of inclusivity at the forefront of our do the job. I see the ‘&D’ as a symbol of that process—it reinforces our society of shared accountability, visibility and collaborative results.”

Design and style has been embedded in the College’s coursework, along with fine arts and crafts, considering that the initially official curriculum was introduced about 140 years in the past.

“We have a lengthy record of grounding our schooling in the fundamentals of visible layout, but it truly is only in the past 10 years we have witnessed much more than 60% of our learners pursue style careers,” claimed Ian Anderson, Vice President of Tutorial Affairs and Dean of the College or university. “The title Maine Faculty of Artwork & Layout conveys the College’s total array of offerings and is far more inclusive of and comprehensively displays all our students’ design and style pursuits from animation and game art, illustration, and graphic design and style to textile and style layout and woodworking and home furnishings style.”

MECA&D Strategic Strategy: Envisioning Our Long run 2027, Tested For Nowadays and Tomorrow
The Maine School of Art & Design and style Strategic Plan: Envisioning Our Foreseeable future 2027 clearly lays out its mission to educate artists and designers for daily life. 

In addition to updating the College’s Mission, Eyesight, and Main Values, the program also outlines the adhering to 5 strategic ambitions to guideline growth more than the following ten years:

  1. Advance academic excellence
  2. Additional create a culture of social change, racial justice, and inclusion
  3. Broaden its attain on the net by distance learning
  4. Make a residing and understanding heart and,
  5. Dedicate to a sustainable money strategy for the coming many years.

“At Maine College of Art and Design we teach our pupils how to inquire questions and remedy challenges to develop into brokers of societal transform outfitted with the expertise and the instruments to make a variation,” explained Freid. “This is the precise solution we took when we questioned ‘how do we grow in excess of the following 10 years?’ and all over again we requested ‘will this strategy be effective in a write-up-pandemic planet?’ We’re assured that as we head into the long term anchored by our five strategic goals we will accelerate the College’s advancement and be capable to teach, guideline, and inspire tomorrow’s creative leaders to make art, make an impression, and inspire change in the globe.”

MECA&D Inventive Identity: Created From the Within Out
MECA&D learners, team, faculty, and alumni designed the College’s new seem from the inside out.

School customers Drew Hodges and Steve Bowden ’97 are the artistic directors at the rear of the new MECA&D wordmark structure, with contributions from alum designer Hallie Mitchell ’17. Founder of Drewdesignco and SpotCo, Drew is recognized for his celebrated function on Broadway brands, together with Rent, Chicago, and Hamilton. Bowden, in addition to his roles on the two the faculty and workers for the University, introduced a unique viewpoint to the homegrown branding crew as a graduate of MECA&D and seasoned, international graphic designer. 

MECA&D’s newly branded merchandise showcases college student artwork and was thoroughly selected to help the College continue being environmentally conscious, reflecting sustainability values held by MECA&D college students. The College also benefited from its working connection with imaginative company,  By means of and neighborhood artistic associates to support execute concepts locally.

Yr Ahead
This fall, the School will be launching a quantity of new initiatives to encourage the reaffirmed values, these as range, inclusion, and academic excellence.

  • Checking out Artists: MECA&D will welcome a diverse team of international visiting artists and school to perform with pupils this fall, which include Yazan Kalili, Ghada Amer, Alyson Shotz, Lee Mingwei.
  • & Lab: MECA&D students will have entry to new interdisciplinary studying options, including a system known as & Lab, the place college students collaborate from throughout all art disciplines to address actual-planet issues, giving learners functional knowledge.
  • New Faculty: On the educational side, the University has recruited some noteworthy new school hires, such as:
    • Zenab Bastawala, an award-profitable typographer and intercontinental speaker as an Assistant Professor in Graphic Design. She’ll be relocating from India.
    • Patrick Coughlin as an Associate Professor in Ceramics. His function has been exhibited about the entire world, and Coughlin previously labored as a professor at Saint John’s University and the University of Arts in Philadelphia, PA.

To discover much more about Maine College of Artwork & Structure, remember to check out meca.edu and for inspiration adhere to @mecaart.

MEDIA Kit

ABOUT MAINE School OF Art & Design (MECA&D)
Maine College or university of Art & Design and style has been activating college students of all pursuits to make artwork, make an effects, and encourage transform given that its founding as  Portland Faculty of Art in 1882.  Positioned in Portland’s thriving Arts District, college students have entry to state-of-the-art amenities, 24-hour-a-day studios, a 10:1 university student-to-faculty ratio, and a group-based mostly Artists at Do the job program—making MECA&D the correct-sized university in the suitable-sized city for each individual student who wants to make their mark and be witnessed. MECA&D offers BFA Majors and Minors, Graduate Applications, Continuing Studies, Pre-College or university, and consists of the Salt Institute for Documentary Reports and the Institute for Contemporary Art. MECA&D (pronounced: Maine Faculty of Artwork and Design). Abide by us at @mecaart.

Supply Maine Faculty of Art & Design

Relevant Links

https://www.meca.edu

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