About CIDAT

The creation of The Center for Interdisciplinary Arts and Technology was rooted in the vision of a group of faculty members from diverse departments within the College of Fine Arts. These artists/researchers, through their own interdisciplinary practices and teaching, saw the need to expand resources and opportunities for collaborative research, dissemination/presentation and discourse within the College and across the University of Utah campus.

The Center for Interdisciplinary Arts and Technology exists to promote, encourage and support the integration of innovative technologies and collaboration within the various visual and performing arts as well as between the arts and the sciences, thereby reframing creative inquiry, artistic practice and pedagogy for the 21st century.

There is a dynamic and reciprocal relationship between creative research and teaching in the arts and sciences. Creative inquiry provides an ongoing critical experience for faculty, which informs and shapes curriculum content. The Center will be a vital locus for research in the arts and sciences, nurturing not only creative inquiry, but also the quality and relevance of the curriculum within the College and University at large. The Center and those faculty and students involved will contribute to the intellectual and cultural environment of the University of Utah. Research pursued under CIDAT’s auspices utilizes creative inquiry and collaboration in its methodology to discover new applications for the sciences in the arts and the arts in the sciences.

The Center will:

• be an art-driven unit that utilizes new technologies to break the disciplinary boundaries of creative inquiry.
• foster collaboration between art forms and between the arts and sciences.
• create an environment for experimental creative research.
• provide faculty with new opportunities for creative thinking and problem solving.
• encourage innovative use of faculty resources.
• act as a conduit of contemporary national and international practices in the field.
• serve as an advocate of excellence in Interdisciplinary Arts Education and Research.
• provide mentorship to students for the creation of work outside the recognized traditional bounds of individual disciplines.

To meet the above goals the Center will:

• provide symposia, colloquia, exhibitions and performances pertaining to and rooted in interdisciplinary research and innovative uses of technology in the arts.
• provide research grants to faculty members.
• interface with the existing Arts Technology Certificate Program.
• provide release time to faculty members to conduct research
• partner with diverse colleges across campus (and at other universities) on research.
• partner with community organizations on projects and events that further the understanding of new and innovative practices in the arts and sciences.