Twelve New York Six students have received fellowships from the NY6 Think Tank for the Arts and Humanities to pursue projects that demonstrate the value of the arts and humanities. The selected projects include a Flickr and Instagram campaign to explore the intersection of the arts and social justice, a project on the use of writing and narrative in health and medicine, and the creation of a campaign called The ABCs of Being a Student. Two of these student projects are described below:
“Ruwimbo Makoni is a Senior, Psychology major at Union College. Originally from Vancouver, B.C. (Canada) and Zimbabwe, Ru has always loved the arts, language and learning about different cultures.
[She] plans to create and photograph a campaign entitled ‘The ABCs of a Being Student.’ It will capture the application of the arts and humanities in the everyday lives of students. [She] hopes to discover the activities that students would not automatically think to be associated with the arts and humanities. You will be able to follow this project on her blog and Instagram.”
“Yilun Zhang is a neuroscience major at Union College who is interested in a career in medicine, and enjoys music, writing and cooking.
[His] proposed project will focus around the use of writing and narrative in health and medicine. [He] would like to target stressed, college students, admittedly like [himself], and ask them to engage in an exercise in expressive writing and reflection.”
In addition, three students have been chosen as Next Generation Contributors for the Think Tank, and will contribute material for the NY6 Think Tank website and other platforms. A brief excerpt on each student is listed below:
“Elizabeth Marino is a junior at Colgate University, majoring in English and minoring in Film and Media. She spent last semester in London and hopes to live there in the near future!
Colgate University is, first and foremost, a liberal arts college, and Elizabeth would like to highlight the recent developments the university has made. She aims to showcase the Humanities and Arts and Colgate and their development over the years. […] Elizabeth wants to create a documentary that features the people that make these departments possible and the genius that allows them to thrive. Elizabeth hopes to interview students and professors on, as well as cinematographically display, the projects they have been working on so that these incredible feats can be displayed to the Colgate community and beyond.”
“Meghan Keator is an English major who is also working towards a Law & Humanities minor at Union College. [….] Her first aim to underscore the importance of the humanities and arts would stem from writing articles for the Concordy.”
Her project covers and advocates for local events that embody the creativity and inspiration that the arts and humanities promote. She will uncover different opinions on what the arts and humanities mean to students, staff, and advisors. She plans to start a blog that focuses on how the arts and humanities influence aspects of life that are not ordinarily associated with the discipline.
“Topics would include looking at how the arts and humanities cross over in many areas of life, such as politics, movies, news portrayal, architecture, and even the promotion of bettering society as a whole (such as by the article of Humans of New York). All of these areas of life and more hold an interesting and differing way in which arts and humanities is utilized and promoted. Also, she would like to use Snapchat, and potentially even Facebook as a quick means of reaching peers and showing them all of the potential and beauty that art, music, and words can offer, and perhaps even pose a philosophical question of the day to get people thinking outside the box.”
Megan Keator’s blog: Humans 4 Humanities