Through the ages, artists, thinkers, and art lovers have acknowledged the interconnectedness of all arts. Music, dance, theatre, painting, poetry, sculpture—all are born of the same spirit, from man’s need for expression often combined with a quest for beauty and perfection, engaging with form, dynamics, contrast, and emotion. The Chitra Sutra of the Vishnu Dharmottara Purana states that understanding painting (Chitra) requires knowledge of dancing (Nrtya), which, in turn, requires knowledge of instrumental music (Vadya), which ultimately depends on a deep understanding of vocal music (Gana).
This amalgam of art forms heightens one’s knowledge of a subject under study. It prepares one’s sensibility for the new creative industry. The new Integrated Arts programme at Ahmedabad University, which blends creativity with focused learning, allows students to engage with and specialise in multiple art forms.
The programme is designed to deliver a rigorous and holistic education across two broad Pathways: (a) Performing Arts; and (b) Visual Arts, each defined to target a particular set of artistic concentrations, including Music, Theatre, Painting, and Photography. It will expose students to a range of artistic practices and simultaneously train them in art history, technical aspects of art production, and critical analyses.
In keeping with the interdisciplinary thrust of education and research at Ahmedabad University, the Integrated Arts dual degree programme advocates and offers an interdisciplinary texture in the programme layout and course offerings. It provides intellectual preparation within the liberal arts tradition while building skills and capabilities within specific art forms. The programme is multidisciplinary, practice-driven, and dedicated to educating a new generation of arts practitioners, policymakers, art curators, managers, and academics. Additionally, it allows for an understanding of how the arts engage with and offer solutions to grand challenges faced by society.
The programme is based on the vision of the interconnectedness of the arts. It will train students and give them hands-on experience in the fundamentals of music, movement, storytelling, drawing and painting, theatre, and photography. With such exposure, a student interested in painting can draw upon her explorations of music or movement and apply them in her art or create artworks that integrate other arts at various levels. The flexible programme structure offers options for the student to design a bouquet of courses to fit her talent, inclination, and career aspirations. However, in all cases, the programme is designed to deliver an integrated sense of the arts; this is only appropriate in a world where solutions are increasingly only found with multiple perspectives and by drawing upon diverse expertise.