Computing in the Arts - The Algorithm is the Medium

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This project aims to redefine how we teach computer science to reach new kinds of computing students, students who apply computing to different fields in the arts, such as visual art (drawing, painting, photography), music, dance, sculpture, printmaking, art history, theater and performance art, among others. In this context, “the Algorithm is the Medium”, and as such young creators need to learn to think algorithmically and interweave algorithmic modeling and development of computational solutions into their art thinking and practice. Algorithms have existed for at least 2,000 years (e.g., Euclid's algorithm). In music and art, algorithms appear as early as Guido d'Arezzo (ca. 1000 A.D.), and in compositions by Bach, Mozart, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, among others. Modern examples include data sonification for scientific or aesthetic purposes, such as sonifying biosignals, images, orbits of planets, and human movement (e.g., dance), among others. This project will focus on Computing in the Arts (CITA), an NSF-funded model curriculum, which is part of the new movement to combine art and design with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM + Art = STEAM). The goal of this project is to build a strong, yet diversified community of CS+Art educators and practitioners with the ultimate goal of developing new curricular guidelines to synthesize the creativity and design of art with the mathematical rigor and formality of computer science, technology, and engineering. A six-year longitudinal study shows that the CITA model curriculum attracts and retains almost twice as many female students, compared to traditional CS degree programs, and graduates 45.6% women compared to the 19% national average in CS. This project consists of two workshops, one in Fall 2021, and one in Spring 2022. The project will produce a report as an outcome, and lay the foundation to develop curricular guidelines for building effective CITA degree programs in US universities and abroad.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.