Arts Intensive: Overview

LET YOUR CREATIVITY COME ALIVE!

The Arts Intensive (AI) Program offers students the opportunity to study intensively with Stanford arts faculty and small groups of other Stanford students passionate about art. The AI program takes place over three weeks in September before the start of Autumn Quarter. See 2011 Interactive Catalog.

Click to launch the full edition of this year's AI Interactive Catalog in a new window. 

Click Here to watch Stanford students talk about their Arts Intensive experience!

Rising Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors are encouraged to apply for AI. Regardless of your artistic training or experience, there may be an AI course suited to your interests.

All courses engage students in the theory and practice of a particular artistic discipline (Acting, Ballet, Design Thinking, Filmmaking, Fiction Writing, Photography, Sound, and Digital Arts). Students live on campus with the other students in their course in a designated AI Program Residence. Opportunities for Seniors, Co-Terms, and Graduate Students to work as AI Program Staff are also available.

Program Overview 

Each Arts Intensive course enrolls 10 to 15 students who receive 2 units of academic credit. In addition to faculty instructors, upper-class AI Program Assistants in each class work with the faculty and serve as peer advisors to the participants.

AI courses meet daily over three weeks. Field trips, workshops, film screenings, studio sessions, or other arts events may also be scheduled in the afternoons, evenings, and on weekends. Advising workshops help reorient students as they begin Fall Quarter, with a focus on integrating their AI experience into their final years of study at Stanford. Whether you are an arts major, minor, or simply an arts lover, the AI Program will transform your academic experience at Stanford!

Participating students benefit from the following:

• Intense artistic experience with a small group led by a talented arts faculty member
• Immersion into the art form of interest to you without the burden of other academic courses
• An opportunity to hone an artistic skill or creative method
• An opportunity to create a work in progress or other artistic product from the workshop experience
• Collaborating and forming relationships with faculty and peers

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Program Dates for 2011

Participating students must arrive on campus between noon and 5 p.m. on Monday, September 5, 2011 (Labor Day). Arts Intensive class sessions begin September 6, 2011, and will continue to meet until Monday, September 19; however, students are required to attend additional class events scheduled after this date, such as class sessions, presentations, or field trips, through Friday, September 23. Class presentations and field trips may extend through September 23, 2011.

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Program Cost 

The program fee covers tuition, room, board, books, and class-required travel arranged by the program. The total fee is $1,400.  Through the generous support of Stanford donors all students will automatically receive an $800 scholarship. Each student will pay the remaining $600, which will be included in their University bill.

Financial aid is available to help defray the $600 remaining program fee; students should indicate interest in aid on the application form. (These grants cannot be applied toward other personal expenses or travel as described above.) The Financial Aid Office will determine eligibility. Financial need will have no bearing on course applications. (Please note: We may not be able to consider financial aid requests received after April 24, 2011.)

For students on financial aid, the Financial Aid Office has also agreed to replace the portion of expected summer earnings lost due to participation in Arts Intensive with either grants or loans, depending on the family financial situation. If you are accepted to the Arts Intensive Program, contact the Financial Aid Office at [email protected] when you return to campus in the fall. They will work with you to determine how loans or grants may be used to offset your lost earnings.

Note:  Students are also responsible for travel to campus (or the off-campus site for some off-campus seminars), phone, network activation fees, class project materials, and other personal expenses.

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Application Enrollment Policies and Procedures 

Eligibility

Eligible students will be Sophomores, Juniors, or Seniors in the Autumn Quarter after the program. They will also meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Have been enrolled for at least three academic quarters
• Be in good academic standing
• Will have completed at least 36 units of academic work by the end of Spring Quarter the year applying to the AI Program
• Must be enrolled for Autumn Quarter of AI program year in which they are applying
• Students must have an on-campus housing assignment for 2011–2012 or else make their own living arrangements for the time period following students moving into fall housing (Friday, September 16) through the conclusion of the program (Friday September 23).  (Students planning to enroll in Overseas Study for fall 2011 are eligible. These students must make living arrangements for the time period following students moving into fall housing, Friday, September 16, through the conclusion of the program, September 23.)

Application Process

Students may apply to up to three classes, but a separate application is required for each. If they apply to more than one, they must rank their choices. Students may view their application status on the web on approximately May 2, 2011 after 5 p.m. Those selected to participate will be asked to complete a registration commitment form by 5 p.m. on May 9, 2011.

Please note that the application web site times out after 20 minutes. We heartily recommend drafting and revising your essays on a computer and cutting-and-pasting them into the browser, or as an alternative, you can save and return to your application within the 20-minute time frame.

If  you are currently, or plan to coterm, you must include on your application a brief explanation of courses (number of undergraduate and/or graduate) you expect to take in 2011-12.

Selection Process

Faculty instructors select their students from the applicants. They seek to create a diverse group of participants to facilitate lively and productive exchanges during the program.

Prior artistic training is not required unless otherwise noted in the course description and application.

The better the instructor can understand your motivations and approach, the more likely he or she will be to keep you in mind in constructing the final class list.

Selected students must accept or decline the offered spots by 5:00 p.m. Monday, May 9.  Please note that once a student declines an offer, that spot will no longer be available to the student.

Students who commit to attend and then withdraw will be charged a $600 withdrawal assessment fee. If a student withdraws from Arts Intensive prior to June 1 and a student from the waitlist agrees to fill the vacated spot, the withdrawal assessment fee will be reduced to $300. Beginning June 1, the withdrawal assessment fee of $600 will be imposed whether or not the vacated spot is filled. Note: The student will also be charged for the cost of all distributed reading materials if these materials are not returned to the program. Exceptions due to illness require a doctor’s letter in order to waive the withdrawal fee. In other circumstances students must work with the Associate Director of September Studies to discuss having the fee reduced or waived.

Waiting List

Students wait-listed for a course will be contacted should a space open up before the program begins.

Credit

Student participants receive 2 units of credit for academic work in the course. Credit will be earned in the lead instructor's home department if the course is interdisciplinary.

Enrollment

Students will be automatically enrolled in their Arts Intensive course for Autumn Quarter, with the enrollment registered in mid-November. This will not affect the 20-unit limit for Autumn Quarter registration. No student action is required.

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Student Commitment 

Students are expected to be fully committed to the Arts Intensive  program for the duration of the three weeks. This means attending all class sessions, class field trips, and mandatory program-wide activities.Arts Intensive participants cannot work a full- or part-time job or travel outside of required class activities during the program. Summer jobs must be completed before September Studies begins; September Studies participants cannot work at Stanford Sierra Camp, for example, which overlaps.  Because of conflicts with required training schedules, RA and RCC roles preclude participation, as do some other dorm staff positions. Any dorm staff positions should be disclosed as possible conflicts on your commitment form.

Students must arrive on campus on September 5 (Labor Day) between noon and 5 p.m. Students must remain on campus from September 5 until the professor no longer requires class sessions, class field trips, or mandatory class activities. Exceptions to this policy must be pre-approved by the faculty instructor and the Associate Director of September Studies.

Student conduct is guided by the Fundamental Standard and Honor Code. Admission may be revoked at any point if a student is found to be ineligible or in violation of the Fundamental Standard or Honor Code.

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Further Resources

AI Student Participant Info  (2011 program info will be updated later in early April)

Staff Opportunities

Courses and Faculty

For Faculty and Administrators

Have a question? Contact AI Program Administrator at 650-724-4667 or [email protected].

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