Apply new ideas about sustainment, transition, justice, spirituality and activism. Learn first-hand from MSU partners in Costa Rica and across the United States to weave together a wealth of human experience and ideas for change through dialogue, making and applied arts and humanities practice and theory.
Work with communities in Costa Rica, seasoned activists, a faculty guide and some of the top community artists in the world to apply the freshest ideas about community engagement and radical reciprocity to harness emergent futures and catalyze positive social change. In this program you will use co-learning, dialogue and dissemination to apply community imagination, activism, and forms of justice-oriented emergent futures in collaboration with a partner community in Costa Rica. Each clinic involves arts-based community participatory project(s); reflection and dialogue; and engagement with at least one contemporary idea in sustainability, justice, spirituality and/or community engagement. These ideas can include: Repair and Reparations (Spring 2027), Emergent Strategy, Ubuntu, Grace Lee Boggs’ (re)volution, Pluralversal Design, Zapatista Autonomy, Campesinx Resilience and many others. All clinics are guided by Oaxaca’s concept of comunalidad and:
- co-build a ‘we’ through travel, dialogue and co-learning about the ‘root(s)’ of a particular community futures concept
- co-build tool, experience and knowledge exchanges through community-based art collaborations focused on root-cause issues with (a) community partner(s) in Costa Rica.
- connect learning and experience to everyday/remembrance/hope through a making project that involves the co-development of a design, a publication, art project, or video to share a critical learning from the clinic.
The program is open to CAL and School of RCAH majors at Michigan State University. Students must participate in both the course, RCAH326/AL400, and the education abroad program.
Due to the support of a generous donor, the program fee will be completely covered. In addition, a scholarship in the amount of the estimated total out-of-pocket expenses, as seen in the program cost sheet, will be applied to each committed student’s account.
Participation is capped at 8. Contact Vincent Delgado (delgado1@msu.edu) for more information about the course, program, and how to apply.
PROGRAM CONTACTS
For questions about academics:
- Vincent Delgado, School of Residential Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities
For questions about application process:
- Hope Kroll (krollhop@msu.edu), Office for Education Abroad
