Performing Arts and Social Change (Minor)
The Performing Arts and Social Change minor is designed to harness the transformative power of performing arts to promote community-engaged learning and drive social change. Students cultivate creativity as a form of resistance, engaging with key concepts from performance studies to connect with their broader communities. Students work in partnerships with community organizations such as Alter Theater, which are dedicated to the pursuit of equity and justice for marginalized communities. Guided by literary scholars, spoken word poets, social justice advocates, and seasoned professionals in dance, theater, music and more, students connect theory to practice through specialized coursework in which they actively engage in issues of social justice involving the intersections of race, class, disability, sexuality, and gender.
Program Learning Outcomes
Students will:
- Reflect critically on their identity as a person, a professional, and a community member.
- Analyze the relationship between agency and structures that produce inequity in diverse communities.
- Act creatively and collaboratively to learn within diverse community contexts.
- Co-create artistic and restorative practices through performance that promote equity and enhance well-being.
Required Courses:
| CASC 3400 | Theory and Practice for Community Action and Social Change | 4.00 units |
Group 1 Electives:
Select two from the following. Other courses may be approved by the department.
| ENGL 2300/ENGL 3300 | Advanced Writing & Research: Film & Drama | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 2015 | Advanced Writing & Research: Shakespeare | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 2037 | Advanced Writing & Research: Feminist Crip Ethics | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 2107 | Advanced Writing & Research: Writing the Body | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 2108 | Advanced Writing & Research: Literary Monsters | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 2109 | Advanced Writing & Research: Politics of Body | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 3015 | Advanced Writing & Research: Shakespeare | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 3016 | Performance Studies | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 3107 | Advanced Writing & Research: Writing the Body | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 3108 | Advanced Writing & Research: Literary Monsters | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 3331 | Expressive Writing | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 3405/ENGL 4405 | Poetry Writing | 4.00 units |
| ENGL 3413 | Spoken Word | 4.00 units |
Group 2 Electives
Select one from the following. Other courses may be approved by the department.
| MUS 1012 | Piano: Healing Art of Music | 4.00 units |
| MUS 1013 | Listen & Compose: Diverse World of Music | 4.00 units |
| MUS 1021 | Musical Cultures and Songwriting | 4.00 units |
| MUS 3012 | Piano: Healing Art of Music | 4.00 units |
| MUS 3013 | Listen & Compose: Diverse World of Music | 4.00 units |
| MUS 3021 | Musical Cultures and Songwriting | 4.00 units |
| PHIL 2101 | The Power of Words: Culture, Conditioning | 4.00 units |
| PHIL 2104 | Ethics from the Margins | 4.00 units |
| PHIL 2124 | Othering and Belonging | 4.00 units |
| PHIL 2520 | Self, Community and Ethical Action | 4.00 units |
| PHIL 3124 | Othering and Belonging | 4.00 units |
| PHIL 3520 | Self, Community and Ethical Action | 4.00 units |
| RLGN 3076 | Religion & Social Movements | 4.00 units |
Total Credit Hours: 16