Do you want to go behind the scenes of a folk festival? Are you interested in museums, event management, or digital approaches to the humanities? Wondering how you can use the humanities to engage with the public? The Certificate in Curation and Cultural Programming (CCP) might be for you!
Director: Dr. Carla Cevasco,
Do you want to go behind the scenes of a folk festival? Are you interested in museums, event management, or digital approaches to the humanities? Wondering how you can use the humanities to engage with the public? The Certificate in Curation and Cultural Programming (CCP) might be for you!
Description:
The CCP certificate draws on the American Studies department’s strengths in public humanities, digital humanities, folklore, curation, and visual and material culture. Over twelve credits, the CCP certificate prepares students to apply humanities frameworks to careers in event management, project management, museums and other cultural institutions, libraries, nonprofits, education, and more.
The CCP certificate defines “curation” and “cultural programming” very broadly. “Curation” is the process of arranging content for public consumption. It is a concept commonly associated with museum exhibits and other public programming, but given the explosion of content in the digital age, the ability to synthesize and organize information in a user-friendly manner has become important across a wide variety of fields. “Cultural programming” refers to public humanities careers in cultural institutions, event management, and collaborative engagement with communities, but also conceives more widely of “programming” to encompass digital humanities and other forms of media production and analysis rooted in humanistic study.
The backbone of the certificate engages students in the American Studies department’s annual production of the New Jersey Folk Festival, a public humanities event that features performances and education from the diverse cultures and communities of New Jersey. This six-credit portion of the certificate will be a sequence of required courses giving students experience in the three main phases of the festival: curation, ethnographic fieldwork, and the project management of mounting the festival. In addition to the Folk Festival sequence, students will complete six additional credits from American Studies or other units.
Requirements for Curation and Cultural Programming Undergraduate Certificate Program (12 credits total):
1) Complete 6 credits of Folk Festival-related courses from the list below with a grade of C or higher
2) Complete 6 credits of other certificate-eligible courses from the list below with a grade of C or higher
Folk Festival Courses (6 credits required):
- AMST 350 Folk Festival Curation (3 credits): Teaches students the fundamentals of curating a public event, from developing research questions, to conducting background research, to finding community partners and considering ethical issues. The class culminates in a formal presentation and report of curatorial recommendations used to guide further research for the festival.
- AMST 263 American Folklore (3 credits): Surveys the genres, methods, and topics of the discipline of folklore. Students will learn to analyze folk arts in relation to the histories, values, and cultures of North America. This class focuses on ethnographic methodology and engages students in conducting a fieldwork project.
- AMST 264 American Folklife: Communities and Cultures in America (1.5 credits): Introduces students to the ways folk traditions, customs, art, and life have been incorporated into public sphere of the United States in institutions at the national and local level. Students think critically about how life and art are characterized as “folk” or “traditional” and question how people and practices become recognized as part of our country’s cultural heritage.
- AMST 449 (1.5 credits) and 450 (3 credits): Principles of Festival Management: A project-centered internship in which students coordinate the Folk Festival through a variety of individual internship positions such as graphic design, logistics, finance, and community relations. Each student will design and execute a project related to their role, culminating in a portfolio. The course will also introduce students to the fundamentals of hands-on public humanities and nonprofit practice, including public relations and marketing.
Other Certificate-Eligible Courses (6 credits required):
- AMST 333: Cultures of Consumption
- AMST 355: Museums, Monuments, and American Culture
- AMST 389: Junior Seminar: Digital Humanities
- History 301: Public History: Theory, Method, Practice
- History 451: Public History Internship
- History 302: Oral History
- History 303: Digital History
- History 310: New Jersey History
- Art History 430: Foundations in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies
- Art History 563: Curatorial Training
- Art History 441: Topics in Historical Preservation: Museums, Collections, & Preservation
- Art History 442: Topics in Historical Preservation: Methods in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies
- Other courses at discretion of certificate director, Dr. Carla Cevasco
Curation and Cultural Programming Undergraduate Certificate Worksheet
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