Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru)
Create. Connect. Change.
a2ru builds community and drives transformative culture change for the arts and arts integration in higher education, while fostering innovative and generative connections between ideas, disciplines, people and institutions. Our passionate and generous community shares insights, best practices, tools, experiences, and more.
a2ru advances the full range of arts-integrative research, curricula, programs, and creative practice to acknowledge, articulate, and expand the vital role of higher education in our global society.
a2ru envisions a world in which universities – students, faculty, and leaders – acknowledge, deeply embed, and seamlessly integrate the arts in the pursuit of basic knowledge and in everyday practice.
As an organization, we value the arts as core to higher education, deep disciplinary knowledge and applied research in the arts, interdisciplinary creativity, durable collaboration, diverse community, and the research university as a driver toward a better world.
As a unit within the University of Michigan, our work is inseparable from our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is central to our mission to ensure that each member of our community has full opportunity to thrive in our environment, for we believe that diversity is key to individual flourishing, programmatic excellence, and the advancement of knowledge via the arts. To read a2ru’s statement on dismantling racist practices, visit https://a2ruconnect.wpengine.com/equity-statement/.
Programs & Activities
a2ru Conference (fall, annually)
Emerging Creatives Student Summit
Webinar Series
Topical Working Groups
Research
Workshops