In our "breakfast with the deans" meeting this morning, we had a lively and wide-ranging discussion with faculty in the applied and performing arts areas. Many themes emerged, including how to recapture the "distinction" our arts programs have historically enjoyed, how to develop the audiences, financial support and the time needed to train and mentor our students for their own arts careers, and the ways in which all of these issues touch the ever-present reality of scarcity in the modern university. I've offered a few tenative ideas, and tried to open the door for broader discussions among the faculty at large. One thing is crystal clear from this morning's discussions, however: we must move with a laser focus toward building institutional, community, and regional support for the arts at Southern Miss and the arts in general. It is critical to the success of our university as well as our society.
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