DPA:1000:0004 This course is required for students in the Arts Living Learning Community. All students in the ALLC should enroll in a section of the course. “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties" (Erich Fromm). The course is designed to help you cultivate your knowledge of and appreciation for the visual and performing arts, and to spark your ability to think creatively both about what you see and about why it matters. You will attend arts events on campus and respond to these experiences in class discussions and in writing. At the same time, we will ponder the nature of creativity and the creative process as they apply both to art making and to life. Assignments will include: attendance at four arts events (theater, dance, music, museum tour), reading Sarah Lewis's The Rise: Creativity, The Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, responding to the reading, class discussions, and performances in blog posts, and participating in all course activities. Course objectives: To help you cultivate and expand your understanding of and appreciation for the arts and gain confidence in relating to new or unfamiliar forms. To enhance your ability to engage with the arts, honing your skills as an observer and responder through discussion and writing. To expand your awareness of creative thinking and of the creative process. To foster creative and intellectual connections in our classroom. Reading, writing, discussion, and observation will be key components of the class with the goal of honing critical and analytical skills. Accordingly, active participation in all class activities is crucial to success in this class, and to the fostering of a classroom community. We will also have the benefit of working with UI Writing Fellows, who will assist you through several stages of drafting your culminating essay.