Are you creative?

November 14, 2024

Are you actually fostering creativity in the classroom? This seems like a bold question for a third-year, undergrad art major named Ian McIlvain to be asking the College of Arts and Science; but I believe it’s the right one. Before I stepped foot onto Xavier, I knew that this university fostered a liberal arts education rooted in teaching diverse subjects. In my college education thus far, I have explored an array of different classes and developed skills throughout various departments and disciplines. Following these courses, I have had to figure out how to bring them all together to form my outlook on this complex, diverse, and chaotic world. 
 
This drove me into a thinking spiral one night in the fall of 2023. As the president of Art Society, what can I do to bring the campus together around creativity? What can I do to show students that creativity is not something that only arts majors possess? How do I show that we all need to be creative to face the future? I decided that I would found the first ever Art and Creativity Fair at Xavier. It went so well with 14 campus groups joining and 190 people attending that we decided to do it again and make it an annual tradition. Last Friday, November 8, we hosted the second edition of the Art and Creativity Fair with 25 campus groups and 180 people in attendance. We welcomed most of the campus centers, the CAS Dean’s office, many clubs, and other campus groups. They hosted a range of crafts, activities, and giveaways that displayed ways they incorporate creativity into their lives whether for self-care, self-expression, education, or something else. 
 
This event has led me to all of you reading this. I am calling on you to be more creative in the classroom and around campus. I know this sounds like a big task with solutions that may not be easy, but I also know that you have the creative potential to make it happen. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Collaborate with other classes and departments to bring diverse students together to develop creative thinking between majors
• Create safe and welcoming classroom settings where students are truly free to express their creativity and not be held back by restrictions
• Foster open discussions where students can build on each other’s unique ideas 

I believe these are jumping off points from the liberal arts education to show all students that they have the ability to be creative and work collectively as global citizens. When students unlock this power and confidence within them to be creative, the doors of possibility swing open. What can you do to assist students in empowering their creativity and developing interdisciplinary solutions to modern issues?
 
Ian McIlvain
Class of 2026
Art major
Arts Administration and Entrepreneurship and Innovation minors
Art Society President
LGBTQ+ Alliance Vice President
CAS Student Advisory Board member

(Photo: CAS student employees Olivia Meintel and Julia Hootman help staff the CAS Dean's table at the Art and Creativity Fair on November 8.)