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Interdisciplinary Arts Core Curriculum

The Interdisciplinary Arts Division offers a curriculum for students who wish to study more than one art form. Each student is enrolled in a daily Individual and Collaborative Studio class in addition to one Interdisciplinary Arts core class: Contemporary Arts Performance and Culture; Leadership and Management in the Arts; or Portfolio and Resume Development. Interdisciplinary Arts students take at least one arts elective each semester.

For information on graduation requirements and academic curriculum, please visit Academy Academics.

Required Courses: Interdisciplinary Arts Majors

Acting Foundations is a class for non-Theatre Majors to learn the craft of acting. Students will experience warm ups, games, exercises, and improvisations that illuminate the basic principles of acting, and apply their discoveries to scenes from plays culminating in a final in-class showcase.

This course explores how technology can be used to make artwork. With the understanding that technology can be defined as a paint brush or a computer, and that technology is not art, this class explores how the choices we make create a bridge between the viewer and the individual artist's desire to make a difference.


This project-based introductory course explores how artists take their ideas and expressive impulses and turn them into completed works. Daily and weekly "lightning rounds" of art making from prompts, collaborative work, and semester-long conceptual projects are the vehicle through which students discover the nature of idea-driven creation.

This class examines contemporary art movements, their historical underpinnings, and the cultural and social movements that shaped them. Students study art, performance, literature, and film from today and, through research and analysis, connect these artistic expressions to the history of aesthetics and culture. Performances, installations, and literature being made at Interlochen will also be used to illustrate discoveries made by student scholars.

This class examines contemporary art movements, their historical underpinnings, and the cultural and social movements that shaped them. Students study art, performance, literature, and film from today and, through research and analysis, connect these artistic expressions to the history of aesthetics and culture. Performances, installations, and literature being made at Interlochen will also be used to illustrate discoveries made by student scholars.

The Creative Work Project is the culminating experience and final project for Interdisciplinary Arts seniors and post-graduates. In consultation with the Interdisciplinary Arts Division Director, each senior or post-graduate proposes a Creative Work Project that reflects their artistic emphasis and studies while at Interlochen. This is a year-long class. In the fall semester, students develop their proposal in consultation with the Interdisciplinary Arts Division Director and other Interdisciplinary Arts faculty as appropriate. Spring semester is spent executing the proposal. There will be a final presentation in May during the Interdisciplinary Arts Showcase. Students may also be required to present their project as part of the Interlochen Festival. These projects may or may not have a performance component. This course replaces Individual and Collaborative Studio for a student's senior year.

Students participate in mentored studies in creative work, focusing on their chosen discipline(s). Each self-directed creative project culminates in a workshop for an in-house presentation each December. In the second semester, projects are developed and refined for presentation in the Interdisciplinary Arts Showcase.

This class explores the intersection among arts practice, social change, history and current cultural movements. Students explore these intersections through readings and research, projects and group assignments. Open to all majors.

This class examines the organizational and personnel structure of arts organizations. Positions and work of individual functions within an arts organization are studied utilizing Interlochen Center for the Arts as a model. Academy instructors and staff bring their perspective and expertise to the classroom as students explore the processes and individuals that make an arts organization run and grow. In addition, this class produces the Interdisciplinary Arts Division performance series Academy Café, an open mic performance series held throughout each semester, which is open to students from all divisions.

In this course, students engage in the supervised development of materials for writing, mixed media, and management portfolios and resumes. Students participate in workshops in presentation and interview techniques, and learn standard industry business practices, including the basics of unions and contracts. Students also receive arts career mentorship and assistance with college application preparation.

Electives

Interdisciplinary Arts students are required to take a minimum of one arts elective each semester.

Elements of Poetry
Elements of Fiction
Introduction to Screenwriting
Sense of Place
Hybrid Genres
Experiments in Poetry

Advanced Ballet
General Dance 
General Dance II

Character Drawing 
Experimental Animation

Orchestra
Band
Choir
Class Piano
Music Theory
Jazz History
Composition
Private Lessons

Fundamentals of Design
World Theatre
Stage Management
Acting Foundations
Dance for Musical Theatre (Beg/Int)
Dance for Musical Theatre (Int/Adv)

Art History
Digital Media
Intro to Drawing

Sample Interdisciplinary Curriculum for a Four-Year Student

Semester I

Elements of Poetry (Creative Writing Elective) / CRW301
Leadership and Management in the Arts / INT053
Individual and Collaborative Studio / INT101

Sample academic courses
Algebra I; Biology; English I; French I


Semester II

Jazz History (Music Elective) / MUS210
Interdisciplinary Performance Collaboration / INT057
Contemporary Arts Performance and Culture / INT052
Individual and Collaborative Studio / INT102

Sample academic courses
Algebra I; Biology; English I; French I


Semester III

Story (Film and New Media Elective) / MPA101
Class Piano (Music Elective) / MUS203
Leadership and Management in the Arts / INT053
Individual and Collaborative Studio / INT101

Sample academic courses
Geometry; World History; English II; French II


Semester IV

Music Theory (Music Elective) / MUS102
General Dance (Dance Elective) / DAN102
Contemporary Arts Performance and Culture / INT052
Individual and Collaborative Studio / INT102

Sample academic courses
Geometry; World History; English II; French II


Semester V

Theatre History (Theatre Elective) / THA303
Art History: Ancient Greek (Visual Arts Elective) / VA351
Leadership and Management in the Arts / INT053
Portfolio and Resume Development / INT055
Individual and Collaborative Studio / INT101

Sample academic courses
Algebra II; U.S. History; English III; Chemistry


Semester VI

Great Directors (Film and New Media Elective) / FIL316
Choir (Music Elective) / MUS056
Contemporary Arts Performance and Culture / INT052
Individual and Collaborative Studio / INT102

Sample academic courses
Algebra II; U.S. History; English III; Chemistry


Semester VII

Drawing and Painting Intensive (Visual Arts Elective) / VA211
Introduction to Screenwriting (Creative Writing Elective) / CRW306
Leadership and Management in the Arts / INT053
Portfolio and Resume Development / INT055
Creative Work Project / INT501

Sample academic courses 
Precalculus; Ecology; English IV


Semester VIII

Required Courses
Fundamentals of Design (Theatre Elective) / THA310
Citizen Artistry (Visual Arts Elective) / VA235
Contemporary Arts Performance and Culture / INT052
Creative Work Project / INT501

Sample academic courses
Precalculus; Ecology; English IV