CHArt and CADre Merger
We have BIG news to share!
The Center for Community-engaged Arts and Design Research (CADRe) and the Center for Community, Heritage, and the Arts (CHArt) are merging.
CADre and CHArt – both pilot research centers established last summer through the Division of Research’s Ignite for Centers program – have already been collaborating and co-sponsoring events. The two centers share faculty as well as interests, and our teams have concluded that we are stronger, more efficient, and more strategically situated to pursue funding and promote community-engaged, arts-based research as a combined entity.
The combined center will retain the name CHArt. We are entering a strategic planning period to shape this next chapter, but for now, we have identified three priority areas for the combined center.
- Heritage Placemaking through the Arts
- Elevating Community Stories
- Social Impact of the Arts
The leadership team that will guide the growing center is expanding to include the following:
- Emily Makas (Architecture) – Co-Director
- Carlos Cruz (Theatre) – Co-Director
- Vaughn Schmutz (Sociology) – Associate Director for Community and Civic Partnerships
- Tamara Williams (Dance) – Cadre Leader: Heritage Placemaking through the Arts
- Tina Shull (History) – Cadre Leader: Elevating Community Stories
- Meg Whalen (CoA+A) – Co-Cadre Leader: Social Impact of the Arts
- Jaclyn Piatak (Political Science + Public Administration) – Co-Cadre Leader: Social Impact of the Arts
We appreciate everyone who has joined the center’s leadership team. We look forward to the next chapter for CHArt and hope you will all continue to engage and participate in shaping the center’s future.