Community, Activism, and the Formation of Institutional Culture: Student Leadership at a Fine Arts School

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Arts Education in Higher Education

Abstract

The following case study examines the influence of student leaders on the developing institutional culture of a small, four-year, BFA-conferring arts college in a large Texas city. A theoretical framework combining campus ecology (Brofenbrenner, 1993; Renn & Patton, 2010) and validation theory (Rendón Linares & Muñoz, 2011) with hybridity (Bhabha, 1994) is utilized to analyze interviews with the five current members of the student government association. The factor of this college being only in its third year offered unique opportunity to explore how these student leaders viewed their role as leaders in terms of responsibilities toward their peers, influence on their college’s developing culture, and as artists and activists within the broader community.

Author

• Amelia Lynn King-Kostelac, The University of Texas - San Antonio