BLOOMINGTON – Digital historian Kalani Craig and digital librarian Michelle Dalmau have been named co-directors of the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities at Indiana University Bloomington.
The Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities was established in 2007 by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at IU Bloomington. The institute works with faculty, students and others to foster the use of digital methods and tools in research and creative activities.
Located in the Scholars’ Commons, part of IU’s Herman B Wells Library, the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities serves as a campus hub for consultations, presentations, seminars, classes and programs related to digital arts and humanities. The institute partners with schools across campus including the College of Arts and Sciences; the School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering; The Media School; the School of Art, Architecture + Design; and the Jacobs School of Music. They also partner with IU Libraries and University Information Technology Services.
The joint appointment of Craig and Dalmau will integrate IU’s expertise in faculty-centered digital arts and humanities endeavors with world-class library expertise in digital distribution, preservation and sustainability.
“I’m very pleased that Kalani and Michelle have taken on IDAH co-leadership roles,” said Ed Comentale, associate vice provost for arts and humanities at IU Bloomington and director of the campus’s Arts and Humanities Council. “The campus’s commitment to fostering arts and humanities is expanding, as is interest in digital arts and humanities projects across the country and around the world. Under Kalani’s and Michelle’s direction, I’m confident that IDAH will continue to emerge as a leading digital arts and humanities institute in the nation.”
Craig is a clinical assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of History. She specializes in text and data mining and data visualization, as well as early medieval historiography and political history, medieval ritual, and conflict resolution. Craig has a Ph.D. in history from IU Bloomington.
Dalmau, a digital librarian at IU, is head of Digital Collections Services at IU Libraries. In this role, she facilitates digital library and digital humanities projects and services at IU Libraries and affiliated cultural heritage organizations on campus. Dalmau holds a Master of Library Science and a Master of Information Science from IU Bloomington, with undergraduate degrees in English and art history.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In an effort to foster Indiana University Bloomington’s longstanding strengths in the arts and humanities and celebrate their public value, the IU Bloomington Arts and Humanities Council has announced an unprecedented suite of new internal funding programs designed to advance the work of faculty artists and scholars.
The new funding programs join diverse arts and humanities initiatives recently launched by the Arts and Humanities Council, including the popular First Thursdays Festival at IU Bloomington’s Fine Arts Plaza and the annual Global Arts and Humanities Festival, which will focus on India in 2018.
Two of the new funding programs have a specific emphasis on public arts and humanities, a direction growing nationally over recent years. Public arts and humanities emphasize engagement and interaction with communities and individuals, focusing on creative placemaking projects as well as topics of relevance in contemporary America such as political polarization, the meaning of democracy, and ethical questions about war, food supply and biomedical technologies.
“The new programs are designed to support IU Bloomington faculty at their most adventurous and to affirm the public value and significance of their work,” said Ed Comentale, associate vice provost for arts and humanities in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at IU Bloomington and director of the Arts and Humanities Council. “Projects will be selected based on their ability to strengthen ties between community and campus and to help advance the regional mission of IU Bloomington as a whole.”
The faculty grant programs include:
- The Public Humanities Project, supporting research projects that benefit Bloomington and other southern Indiana communities, funded by the IU Office of the Vice President for Research through IU’s New Frontiers in Arts and Humanities program.
- Public Arts Grants for projects such as art installations and performances that enrich the Bloomington community, offered by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research in collaboration with the City of Bloomington’s Department of Economic and Sustainable Development.
- New fellowships in the arts and humanities offered through IU Bloomington’s Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities, an institute supported by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.
- An Open Access Monograph Digital Publishing program for manuscripts in the humanities and social sciences, offered in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, the Office of the Provost at IU Bloomington, the IU Libraries and IU Press.
By making new research freely available online, digital open-access publication of monographs will increase the visibility of high-quality humanities and social science research, said Carolyn Walters, the Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries for Indiana University.
“This funding indicates a commitment by Indiana University to extend knowledge beyond traditional academic communities,” Walters said. “Extended dissemination of humanities and social science scholarship broadens both the presence and impact of important work by our faculty.”
The new and recent investments in campus arts and humanities are a key part of the IU Bloomington Strategic Plan and the university’s Bicentennial Strategic Plan.
“The Bloomington campus has a long tradition of excellence in the arts and humanities thanks to the stellar scholarship and creative activity of our faculty,” said Lauren Robel, IU Bloomington provost and executive vice president. “The new funding opportunities offered through the Arts and Humanities Council reflect our ongoing commitment to supporting research and creative endeavors that make IU Bloomington a beacon for the arts and humanities. I am certain that these programs will lead to exciting new work from faculty across diverse disciplines.”
The programs add to the varied funding and support offered to Bloomington faculty through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, said Vice Provost Rick Van Kooten.
“These new initiatives are an important part of ongoing investments OVPR is making in resources that preserve and advance our artistic and cultural heritage, such as our support for the Mathers Museum,” he said. “OVPR is very pleased to join campus partners in supporting these new initiatives to further the success of IU Bloomington’s artists and humanists.”
For questions about any of the new grant programs, contact Comentale at ecomenta@indiana.edu.
Carolyn Walters, the Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries, is enthusiastic about the potential of this latest library collaboration and the opportunity for IU Libraries to engage even more deeply in digital arts and humanities.
“With the newly established co-director model for IDAH, Bloomington faculty and students are able to pursue digital research and pedagogy holistically, bringing together disciplinary, domain and technological expertise in ways that promote successful projects and campus-level initiatives,” she said.
Craig and Dalmau look forward to bolstering the services and resources that the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities provides to campus faculty. They have several programs planned, including:
- IDAH Faculty Fellowship Program – Designed to help faculty advance collaborative digital arts and humanities projects.
- Make the Arts and Humanities – A visiting-speaker series that explores how the arts and humanities contribute to the world around us by integrating theory and method into the digital-maker movement.
- Choosing a Digital Method – An annual series of workshops that focus on digital methods for research, creative activity and teaching; recent arts and humanities scholarship; and technical resources on campus.
- Summer Incubator – A weeklong summer workshop during which faculty and graduate students will get full-time technical and methodological support from the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities to kickstart a project and build a plan for completion.
