Practice Areas & Projects

The College of Visual and Performing Arts at UMass Dartmouth has a long history of engagement with local communities. Since its inception the college’s art, design, and curatorial projects have brought together cutting-edge practices from students, faculty, and community partners and stakeholders in four areas of design & practice, curation & collaboration, social practice & community-engaged art, and heritage & history. These projects have cultivated responsible pedagogy and expanded learning for UMass Dartmouth students as well as our community partners. Samples of recent projects are featured below.

Design & Architecture

• Architecture and Urban Revitalization 
• Animating the City 
• Graphic Design in the Service of the Community 
• Participatory Printmaking 
• Social Justice and Fashion

Curation & Collaboration

• Art Residency at Labor Education Center 
• Celebrating the Legacy of the New Bedford Historical Society
• Collaboration with MassDiGi 
• Collaborative Exhibition with DATMA 
• Engineering Majors at the CVPA
• Exhibiting Local Ecologies
• Public Performance during the Pandemic
• Star Store Student Collective at 65 William St. in downtown New Bedford
• New Bedford Research & Robotics

Social Practice & Community-Engaged Art

• Ceramics in Public Service
• Colors of Pride
• Making Music with Local Communities
• Participatory Ceramics
• Seeking Justice Through Art Pedagogy
• The Art of Diversity and Equity

Heritage & History

• Archiving the Experience of Immigrant Communities
• Architecture in Antebellum New Bedford
• Art History at Local Archives
• Displaying Campus Heritage
• Engagement with Boston Art Archives
• From the Classroom to the City
• Learning from UMass Dartmouth Architecture
• Nancy Holt in the Southcoast