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"The arts, in their richest and riskiest embodiment, can be a channel for creativity, critical thinking and discipline. They can also serve as a haven for students to find their people, offering a skeleton key for access and community."
"I have seen my dance training as an essential component throughout my leadership career. Skills of focus, time management, collaboration, improvisation, iteration and deep and wondrous “what ifs?” have contributed to my capacity for leading and following, risk-taking and re-imagination. Dance has taught me how to be facile and efficient, curious and critical, playful in the face of failure/mistake/ache and how to do so willingly."
Quotes by Professor Erika Randall, Interim Dean of Undergraduate Students
Located in the beautiful and centrally-located Libby Hall, the Creative Minds Residential Academic Program (RAP) is a vibrant living and learning community that unites classes exploring a variety of arts disciplines with diverse courses fulfilling A&S Gen Ed and Major Requirements, dedicated to our core mission Creativity: Curriculum: Community and our Motto: Where Creative Minds Come Alive.
The Creative Minds RAP at Libby creates a supportive, welcoming academic environment for the first-year students in close collaboration with both Housing and Academic Units. It helps establish a home away from home for all our residents, making sure they feel valued, included, and important through attentive care from faculty and staff. The Creative Minds RAP helps learners succeed in their first-year college experience by closely monitoring their academic progress and providing proactive intervention when needed; builds strong faculty-student relationships so that residents will feel comfortable not only seeking academic support but also career support in terms of internships, job opportunities and letters of recommendation; and seeks to inspire a sense of pride and identity for all our students through the years.
Creative Minds RAP unites several arts disciplines and core requirement options in one program offering a curriculum where creative minds come alive. Our RAP’s founding was based on a visionary idea truly unique to this campus: an experiential learning program that broke down the walls between the diverse art disciplines and brought them all together in a singular forum to foster dialogue between them and give students easy exposure to a myriad of different arts experiences, especially those who do not choose the arts as their major.
Additionally, the Creative Minds RAP offers Co-Curricular Activities that provide learners with quality exposure to the arts and enrich the learners’ lives with events that celebrate a variety of cultural perspectives and foster academic excellence.
CREATIVITY
World Economic Forum states in their Future of Jobs 2023 report that analytical and creative thinking are the most important skills for workers today, with creative thinking becoming rapidly more important than analytical thinking. Creativity is essential for developing strategies to navigate our ever-changing world. Encouraging our students to be inventive, adaptable, and courageous enables them to face inevitable challenges and find new pathways to success in any field or endeavor. Our mission is to cultivate creative minds who become innovative leaders and active and engaged citizens.
CURRICULUM
Visit our courses page to learn more about our amazing courses and see our offerings. Our courses help students meet Gen Ed Major requirements. Class sizes are limited to 19 students per class, and our faculty who focus on offering an inclusive and outstanding first-year experience have offices right in Libby Hall.
COMMUNITY
We build community through small classes, engaged faculty, and a range of inclusive, co-curricular activities such as our beloved Wellness Fair, monthly diversity celebrations such as Lunar New Year, African drumming, and Drag Queen Bingo, as well as visits to museums, theater performances, and movie nights. Each semester culminates in a Celebration of the Arts, showcasing student work.
Questions about your housing application, roommate, or room?
Contact Housing Reservations at (303) 492-6673 or studenthousing@colorado.edu.