RISD INVITATION (from Ron to Dept. Head)

Barbara van Eckardt
Dean of Liberal Arts
Rhode Island School of Design
Two College Street
Providence, RI 02903-2784

Dear Barbara,

I write to invite you to the 2007 bi-annual conference of the Consortium for the Liberal Education of Artists (CLEA). The conference will be held at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, from April 11 – 13 . I extend this invitation on behalf of colleagues across the country who share a passion for their work educating young artists. We are certain that your attendance at our gathering will provide opportunities of mutual benefit to RISD and CLEA'S member schools.

CLEA was founded more than a decade ago to provide a forum for liberal arts teachers and scholars who have made their careers at conservatories and schools specializing in the training of artists. We are dedicated to conversation and exchange that will help us to better fulfill our mission on our respective campuses. Participating CLEA schools currently include Columbia College Chicago, Cornish College of the Arts, The Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, New World School of the Arts, North Carolina School of the Arts, the Peabody Conservatory, Purchase College--SUNY, and the University of the Arts.

Over the years, the brief our members carry has expanded. At first we met every other year to discuss issues of mutual interest, but over time we found new ways to help one another. For several years we worked with funders to support varied projects on our home campuses. In recent years teams assembled from member school have paid site visits to other CLEA institutions to help each other evaluate and develop curricula, and to partner with administrative leaders to advance our programs. At present, we are exploring how we can use new technologies to share teaching materials and courses electronically.

Our conferences have never--not once--hosted the reading of a paper! Conference sessions are designed around initiatives launched at member schools and around issues of common concern. Our April conference will follow this model--its explicit focus is currently under discussion, and we hope to speak with you about our planning as you consider the possibility of joining us.

We would like to invite you to contribute to our conversations in Philadelphia in April, with an eye, of course, to considering whether membership in CLEA would benefit your school.

We hope that you are intrigued. We intend to discuss this with you in a phone conversation within the next several weeks. My colleague Jon Esser (Associate Dean at School of the Arts of Purchase College) or I will try to reach you by phone sometime in very early December. Steve Tarantal, Dean of the College of Art and Design at U Arts, will also be contacting his friend, Jay Coogan, to explain his school's involvement with CLEA and solicit RISD's interest.

Thank you very much for your consideration, and we look forward to our conversations,

Sincerely,


Ron Levy