The Arts Research Institute (ARI) at UC Santa Cruz champions the power of artistic inquiry to create meaning, inspire innovation, and challenge convention. Supporting faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students across the arts, ARI fosters a vibrant culture of creative research, scholarship, and publicly engaged practice.
Creativity and research thrive at UC Santa Cruz, where artists and scholars explore topics ranging from climate change, the environment, and sustainability to racial equity, social justice, and even monster studies. ARI strengthens this ecosystem by connecting and supporting an array of interdisciplinary initiatives and research centers, including the Institute of the Arts and Sciences, the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery, the Center for Creative Ecologies, the Social Practice Arts Research Center, OpenLab Collaborative Research Center, the E.A.R.T.H. Lab, the Contemporary Print Media Research Center, the Center for the Study of the Force Majeure, the Center for Monster Studies, and the Center for Documentary Arts and Research.
With equity and inclusion at its core, ARI cultivates an environment where artists and scholars can experiment, collaborate, and create work that engages communities and addresses the most pressing cultural and environmental challenges of our time. Through strategic planning, fundraising, and cross-campus partnerships, the Arts Research Institute elevates the visibility and impact of the arts at UC Santa Cruz and beyond.
A gift to the Arts Research Institute Art and Oppression Fund will support the ARI’s Visiting Artist program, Superheroes and Other Misfits; the bi-annual Freedom of Expression Student Comics Class, themed graduate student teaching fellowships and support for faculty and student research.
