• To develop creativity and innovation as a habit of being across a Carleton education
• To develop a curriculum that recognizes and embraces an emerging visual and media culture
• To create a center on campus, located in the former Northfield Middle School, that features classrooms with an array of up-to-date technology, the opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration, and a vibrant arts scene for the entire community
• To create opportunities for collaboration across disciplines

The curriculum that best supports students in a complex 21st century will feature creativity, critical thinking, effective communication, engagement with other cultures, and collaboration. No discipline can hope to succeed at this alone. While the ability to seek connections across disciplinary borders has always been a hallmark of a liberal arts education, the importance of these skills has never been greater. The synergy that arises from seeing problems from new informed perspectives is critical to a world
in which innovation will be increasingly valued.

The arts are fundamental to exploring complex and meaningful problems individually and in groups, understanding cultures and ways of thinking, and communicating ideas in innovative and effective ways. These are skills that every Carleton student should master, whether they are future CEOs, teachers, painters, chemists, or lawyers.

Several curricular initiatives are linked to building a consciously creative campus. Examples include expanding cinema and media studies into a major and creating the visuality initiative, an effort to integrate substantial visual components in courses in all disciplines.

Renovation of the former Northfield Middle School building is a priority for Carleton, as the College moves toward creating a comprehensive program in the arts. One of the key features of that building will be the Digital Assets Resource Center, a shared, interdisciplinary library that will house the College’s audio, video, and digital resources, such as art history slides and digital music files. Such a center will enable students and faculty members, with the assistance of a knowledgeable staff, to access the resources in a laboratory setting at the center or from their desktops in other locations on campus. It will also provide the production tools necessary for individual and team-based multimedia projects.

Also key to the transformation is an academic center featuring classrooms for multidisciplinary use and flexible common spaces where students and faculty members can interact spontaneously and collaborate on the creation, performance, and appreciation of one another’s work. Carleton is committed to achieving a technologically rich, dynamic space designed to foster collaboration and integration that will transform teaching and learning across the arts and beyond.

The renovated Northfield Middle School building will house the following programs and facilities:

• classrooms for use by faculty members in all disciplines
• Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching
• Digital Asset Resource Center
• Presentation, Events, and Production Support
• a teaching museum
• a dramatic theater
• a black box theater
• dance studios
• art studios
• a cinema theater
• KRLX, the student radio station
• cinema and media studies
• studio art and art history
• theater and dance
• English