Tag: arts and culture

Posted on

Spring 2019 Ball State Immersive Learning Projects

Ball State faculty, students, and community partners worked together this spring on a number of immersive learning projects in and around Muncie.

Bringing in and Branching out: Recruiting Employees and Building Community Connections (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Peggy Fisher, Department of Communication Studies
Community Partner:  Open Door Health Services

The Children Facing Challenges Literature Project
Faculty Mentor:  Carolyn Hitchens, Department of Elementary Education
Community Partner:  Wes Del Elementary

Cultural Identities and Community Engagement
Faculty Mentor:  Ruby Cain, Department of Educational Studies
Community Partners: Human Library Fort Wayne, Muncie Public Library, Purdue University Fort Wayne, It is Well With My Soul, Whitely Community Council, Industry Neighborhood, Fort Wayne Urban League

DANCE! Muncie After School (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Melanie Swihart, Department of Theatre and Dance
Community Partner:  Muncie Community Schools

Developing Healthy Neighborhoods
Faculty Mentor: Jane Ellery, Department of Kinesiology
Community Partner:  Building Better Neighborhoods

Energy Assessment for Small Commercial Buildings in Muncie
Faculty Mentor:  Sherif Attallah, Department of Construction Management
Community Partner:  Muncie Chamber of Commerce

Healthy Moms, Healthy Communities:  Understanding Perceptions and Evaluating Maternal Opiod Treatment in Muncie
Faculty Mentor:  Caitlyn Leonardson-Placek, Department of Anthropology
Community Partner:  Suzanne Gresham Center

Immersive Learning Video Project (Second Harvest Food Bank)
Faculty Mentor:  Tim Pollard, Department of Telecommunications; Suzanne Plesha, Office of Immersive Learning
Community Partner:  Second Harvest Food Bank

Making Housing Advocates with the 8-12 Coalition
Faculty Mentor:  John West, Department of Urban Planning
Community Partner:  Building Better Neighborhoods, Habitat for Humanity

Muncie Neighborhood Visual Identity Design (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Shantanu Suman, School of Art
Community Partners:  Building Better Neighborhoods, Muncie Action Plan

Partnering with the Whitely Community to Establish an Understanding of Community and Police Interactions
Faculty Mentor:  Kiesha Warren-Gordon, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Community Partners:  The Facing Project, Whitely Community Council

Philosophy for High School Students (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Sarah Vitale, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Community Partner:  Muncie Central High School

Purple Cow: Moving from Ordinary to Extraordinary Care for Children (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Stacey Allred, Department of Elementary Education
Community Partner:  Kidz Korner Child Care Center

Second Harvest School Pantries Study
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo, Department of Sociology
Community Partner: Second Harvest Food Bank

Serious Game Design with Minnetrista (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Paul Gestwicki, Department of Computer Science
Community Partner:  Minnetrista Cultural Center

Tips and Tactics on Prevention of Human Trafficking
Faculty Mentor:  Ronald Dolon, Department of Social Work
Community Partner:  A Better Way

Unmasked: Recovery and Redemption
Faculty Mentor: Juli Metzger, Department of Journalism
Community Partner: Ball Brothers Foundation

Posted on

Serious Game Design with Minnetrista

Student working on game design at a laptop

Spring 2019: A multidisciplinary team of undergraduates has worked with Minnetrista to develop an original, interactive, educational video game about food preservation. We have tied our research and development process into Minnetrista’s revision of Oakhurst, the historic home where the original Ball Blue Book canning recipes were developed. The team worked together to create a game for families who visit the museum, to get them working together in an exciting simulation of canning.

Fall 2018: The students in this semester’s Honors Colloquium on Serious Game Design worked with Minnetrista to create original games that explore regional history, culture, and themes. The students began the semester by studying fundamentals of game design with an emphasis on transformative and educational games. This included a formal analysis of Minnetrista Fairy Trails, a game created by an immersive learning course in Spring 2018. In the second half of the semester, each student identified a particular theme to explore through iterative game design and produced the playable prototypes that are presented at the showcase. Between semesters, faculty and staff from Ball State and Minnetrista will evaluate what was learned this semester to choose a project for production in a Spring game software production studio course.

Spring 2019

Faculty Mentors: Paul Gestwicki
Departments: Computer Science
Community Partners: Minnetrista Cultural Center
Students: Jawad Al Mamoon, Lauren Binnewies, Chris Bucker, Gabrielle Hogan, Makayla Hughes, Nick Manis, Lindsey Murphy, Eli Sokeland, Tanner Stanley, Austin Tinkel, Hunter Wallace, Julie Xiao

Fall 2018

Faculty Mentors: Paul Gestwicki
Departments: Computer Science
Community Partners: Minnetrista Cultural Center
Students: Ryland Babusiak, Lexi Benakovich, Katie Grieze, Nathan Hahn, Zachary Hughes, Sarah Humphrey, Kyle Jones, Ariel Meece, Mathias Miles, Eve Miller, Alex Ross, Samantha Stapleton, Christopher Zurisk

Posted on

Scenery in Space

In this project, a diverse group of students partnered with Muncie Civic Theatre to assist in the development of stock scenery. This scenery will be used within their regular production season and will be a significant upgrade in safety and efficiency over their current stock.

Faculty Mentors: Kerry Chipman, Mickie Marie
Departments: Theatre and Dance
Community Partners: Muncie Civic Theatre
Students: Sam Buchholz, Kathryn Burke, Chrstine Gordon, Jade Grady, Madeleine Hollinger, Jay Jeffcoat, Kali Marquart, Nicholas Maurer, Carlee Miller, Logan Niccum, Amanda Pecora, Laura Pierson, Amber Riggle, Mitch Smolek, Valerie Stoffer, Ashley Talcott

Posted on

Muncie Arts and Culture Council Video Project

Local art projects are a way for communities to create dialogue, share cultural experiences, solve problems and build relationships that enhance quality of place and local economic development efforts. Part of the Muncie Art and Culture Council’s (MACC) mission is to serve as an arts alliance that builds community among artists and arts organizations, and is a resource for professional growth and opportunity among Muncie artists. In this project, student teams created video to help MACC document Plyspace, its artist-in-residence program and promote other local art projects.

Faculty Mentors: Suzanne Plesha, Tim Pollard
Departments: Immersive Learning, Telecommunications
Community Partners: Muncie Arts and Culture Council
Students: Oscar Arriaga, Jacob Barajas, Matt Carson, Jason Franchville, Connor Hillestad, Grant Mountcastle, Benjamin Ritter, Melody Smith, Parker Stewart, Mason Whitis

Posted on

#keepmuncieweirdandwhimsical

This project was an immersive, service learning opportunity where students met with residents of the community to teach creative writing techniques and to collaboratively write a text. Objectives of the project included the enrichment of the creative writing students through engagement in the local community, scholarly study of memoir through relevant essays about creative nonfiction writing pedagogy and community engagement, and through the use of critical and creative examinations of the student’s own work and end project was a publish anthology of the writing generated by the students and residents along with several public community readings around Muncie. In the anthology, Muncie area residents shared their experiences, their memories, and their love of what makes Muncie unique.

Faculty Mentors: Darolyn Jones
Departments: English
Community Partners: Muncie residents
Students: Claire Bauserman, Audrey Bowers, Charlie Cain, Alyssa Clemento, Pam Fancher, Katharyn Fletcher, Vanessa Haro-Miracle, Nikki Kendall, Janie Obrochta, Eileen Porzuczeck, Kayln Reyer, Aidan Sacks, Matthew Swain

Posted on

Book Arts Collaborative 2018-19

Book Arts Collaborative is a community letterpress and book bindery located in the Madjax Building in downtown Muncie. Each semester, we preserve and teach apprentice-taught skills and run a small business. Students are taught analog design skills, business skills, and professionalization of all majors.

Faculty Mentors: Rai Peterson
Departments: English
Community Partners: Tribune Showprint Posters, Inc.
Students: Jodi Aleshire, Danielle Borst, Jessica Bowles, Lane Cary, Erin Davenport, Marie Drascic, Sarah Fox, Rachel Haywood, Morgan Kaufman, Carolyn Kelley, Whitney Kendall, Rayah O’Rear, Katie Obryan, Carrie Pawlovich, Bonnie Prindle, Aaron Stephens, Simeon Stults, Taylor Townsend, Kelli Turkupolis