Pop-up galleries, an Illinois writer’s festival, theater renovations and using virtual reality to teach performance are among the projects funded in a new, nearly $2 million initiative by the University of Illinois System aimed at emphasizing the impact and influence of the arts and humanities across Illinois.
Fourteen projects were selected from more than 50 proposals in the first year of the Presidential Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and the Humanities, launched last summer by President Tim Killeen to enhance and celebrate the arts and humanities at the system’s universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield.
About the Digital Humanities Initiative
New and emerging digital technologies have been changing the nature of scholarship in the humanities for the past few years. The Digital Humanities project will provide technical support to allow UIC faculty to develop new methods and technologies in their current research, to create new paradigms in future scholarship, and to increase graduate students’ exposure to digital techniques to enhance competitiveness in the job market. Funding will support workshops for faculty and students, a postdoctoral fellowship and software enhancements for research. The initiative will be hosted by UIC’s Institute for the Humanities and the Library. Expanding dissemination of humanities research across digital platforms also will enhance its impact by reaching larger audiences on a regional, national and global level.