Karolina Karlic, Unseen California works in progress (2023)

What we do

Artists create meaning, solve problems, and challenge expectations. The Arts Research Institute at UC Santa Cruz supports UC faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students involved in creative research, scholarship, and publicly-engaged practice. We are particularly interested in fostering critical interdisciplinary collaborations that reach across disciplines and genres and engage a broad range of off-campus partners, organizations, and communities. We are committed to supporting the diverse artists and scholars of our campus in an environment of respect, support, innovation, and exploration. We do this by building and supporting Arts Division research initiatives, coordinating and managing strategic planning and fundraising to elevate the visibility of the arts, placing equity and inclusion at the center of our work, coordinating cross-divisional, multi-campus, and national arts research collaborations, administering the ARI faculty grant program.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion

The arts are a powerful vehicle for social change. As an institution, we are committed to supporting and promoting arts research, pedagogy, and cultural production that foster social justice and address historic and systemic inequities. We are committed to supporting projects that address the many critical environmental, human, economic, and cultural crises of today, including mass incarceration, racial and gender violence, economic disparity, climate chaos, displacement, gentrification, and more. Through our programs, we aim to change the status quo, inspire honest and rigorous reflection, and ensure a diversity of voices, subjects, and perspectives.

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Who we are

ARI Staff

Dr. Holly E. Unruh Executive Director Hannah Jasper Research Development Analyst

ARI Executive Committee

Nicol Hammond Assistant Professor, Cultural Musicology, ARI Faculty Director (2024-2027) Stacy Kamehiro Associate Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture Enrique Martinez Leal Professor of Art, Director of Graduate Studies (2022-2025) Pamela Rodríguez-Montero Acting Assistant Professor of Costume Design, Performance, Play & Design (2023-2026) Albert Narath Associate Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture (Interim 2024-2025) Susana Ruiz Associate Professor, Film & Digital Media (2023-2026)

ARI Fellows, 2023-2024

Each year ARI supports a small number of Faculty Fellows who are developing innovative projects, allowing them to continue their research, develop new collaborations, and bring their work to fruition. ARI Fellows deliver a public lecture or hold a seminar related to their work during the fellowship year.

The Arts Research Institute’s prestigious Graduate Fellows program offers professional and creative development in partnership with Strategic Planning Partners (SPP), the firm that created the professional development program for Creative Capital. This year-long program consists of 5 professional development workshops with the Strategic Planning Partners team – artists and arts professionals who share practical tips and tools, case studies, and personal examples from their own experience, providing tools and strategies needed to grow and maintain a successful artistic career.

ARI Fellows are paired with one of the mentors from Strategic Planning Partners (which may include Daniel Alexander Jones, Ela Troyano, Dread Scott, Beverly McIver, Nicol Hammond, Molly Surno, and more) who are available for individual consultation and mentoring up to twice per month throughout the academic year. Participation in the 5 core workshops and attendance at 4 of the events in the diversity speaker series is required. Fellows may apply for up to $5,000 of summer research funding. Applications for the Fellows program are available each Fall.

This program is funded by a UC Hispanic Serving Institution Doctoral Diversity grant.