ARTS Guidelines

All UNCA students must take 3.0 credits of ILSA (Integrated Liberal Studies/ARTS) or ARTS courses before they graduate.

Rationale: Central to the ILS Program, and to the philosophy of liberal education, is an intellectual engagement with the arts. ILS Arts courses examine the significance of the arts in the human experience, the cultural context of creative composition and performance, the foundations of aesthetic values, and the communicative function of the arts. This ILSA requirement can be fulfilled in one of four ways.

Within the new ILS program students have many choices in order to complete this requirement. Below is a list of ILSA course categories for students and advisors to consider as they plan for their ILSA course completion.

1. ARTS 310 - Arts and Ideas. This 3.0 credit course is now a varying topical course with many exciting subjects to choose from in order to satisfy student interests. Each of these courses covers at least 2 different art forms and addresses the contextual aspects of the arts and their social relevance. Students must have accumulated 60 credits or more before taking ARTS 310. Click here to check out the current ARTS 310 course listings in the online campus class schedule for titles and descriptions of the topics covered.

2. ARTS 322, Arts of the Ancient World; or ARTS 323, Arts of the Medieval and Renaissance World; or ARTS 324, Arts of the Modern World. These 3.o credit courses are linked to Humanities 124, 214 and 324, respectively, which are co- or pre-requisites for the appropriate Arts course. Click here to visit the online class schedule under ARTS in order to view scheduled courses.

3. Topical Cluster ILSA course. This is a 3.0 credit ILSA course designated as part of a Topical Cluster and taken as a component of a Topical Cluster. Click here to visit the Integrative Liberal Studies Web site and the individual Topical Clusters for ILSA courses approved for each cluster. Many ARTS 310 courses are now included in Topical Clusters, thereby helping students satisfy their Topical Cluster requirement while also satisfying their ILSA requirement. Students must apply for the Cluster and complete all Cluster requirements in order to fulfill this ILSA requirement.

4. Three credit hours of Studio/Workshop or Applied ARTS courses designated as ILSA approved courses within various departments on campus. There are a number of 1.0 to 3.0 credit courses in departments like Dance, Music, Drama, and Visual Arts that are approved as ILSA Applied ARTS courses. These courses provide students with the opportunity to apply various arts in a studio or practical environment while also providing students with valuable contextual connections between the art form and its social relevance. Click here to go to the current list of approved ILSA courses.

If you have any questions about the ILSA or Arts and Ideas courses, contact Laura Facciponti at 232-2992 or lfaccipo@unca.edu

Arts and Ideas Program