They make a way. - Maryland Institute College of Art

4
We take our
responsibility to the
greater society very
seriously— to produce
the leaders in culture,
commerce, and
community engagement
the world must have
at this unique moment
in history, when visual
communication can be
shared with and move
people like never before.
The College has spent the past year transforming
itself, again— building the infrastructure our
students demand to make the most of their
learning experience. On one side of North Avenue,
we have completed an approximately $20 million
renovation of the Graduate Studio Center, with
street-level galleries, a new auditorium, eatery,
and state-of-the-art studio and instructional
space. On the other side, we have begun construction
of a new student residence that will house
240 additional students, and we are renovating the
entire Commons complex to enhance the freshman
social and living experience— adding a multifunctional
black box performance space, a tiered lecture
hall, artist studios, a laundry center, mailboxes,
and a café lounge.
Transformation of our facilities is just a component
of the infrastructure we are building to support our
students’ ability to impact society. For example,
we also established the Launch Artists in Baltimore
program (LAB), which awards $10,000 each to
graduate alumni who stay in Baltimore to pursue
a creative project that improves the community.
We partnered with the Open Society Foundation
and Animating Democracy to launch the Baltimore
Art + Justice project, a first-in-the-nation initiative
to map artists who are working in communities
to make them better. And in partnership with
Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School,
we developed the MBA/MA in Design Leadership
program, the first such partnership between an
art college and a major research university.
In short, we are transforming how people think
about art and design education. Our focus is not
only on producing the most highly skilled visual
professionals in the world, we also take our
responsibility to the greater society very seriously—
to produce the leaders in culture, commerce,
and community engagement the world must
have at this unique moment in history, when visual
communication can be shared with and move
people like never before.
Like butterflies who emerge from cocoons to
go forward into the world and help pollinate it,
MICA students use their time at MICA to grow
themselves into leaders who transform the world.
They become global leaders and move others
to think and to act.
That is creative direction. And it has become the
hallmark of the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Your support makes the transformation process
possible for our students and alumni who always
find a way, or better yet, make one.
WE THANK YOU FOR BEING PART
OF THE MICA FAMILY.
Fred Lazarus IV, President
RIGHT: The class of 2012 included the largest number of master‘s degree recipients in MICA’s history.