An experiential and culminating tagged course in advocacy and creative expression
Through CMST 3800: Arts, Media, and Advocacy, Professor Claire King invites students to explore how creative expression can be used as a tool for change while earning credit for Immersion Vanderbilt. After six weeks of shared readings on art, media, and design as forms of advocacy, students pursue independent research on a topic of their choice, communicating their findings through media texts, public speeches, and a culminating project.
Experiential learning is at the core of the course. Students engage with local Nashville artists and activists, take excursions such as a mural tour in North Nashville, and participate in hands-on workshops and peer critique sessions. The semester concludes with a symposium designed and hosted entirely by the students. At the symposium, students present their culminating projects to an audience of peers, faculty, and community members.
Since the course was first offered in 2019, students have created a wide variety of projects includes websites, short films, podcasts, children's books, and art installations.
Pictured left are students from Professor King's Spring 2024 section at the Frank K. Houston Project Symposium, where they presented their class projects.
