Strategic Plan 2021–2026

Strategic Plan 2021-2026

Many Voices. One Plan. A Roadmap for MICA’s Future

After collectively creating a new mission and vision that articulates the College’s foundational values, beliefs, and aspirations, the MICA community is now shaping its next strategic plan – a five-year action roadmap culminating in MICA’s bicentennial in 2026.

The strategic planning process calls out a transformative educational approach embraced by MICA – Integrative Education. We envision it as a proudly art and design-centered education that intersects with multiple fields and spheres, empowering MICA graduates to succeed and contribute in a diverse and changing world.

The goal of the Strategic Plan is to be a National and International Model of Integrative Education in Art and Design.

The strategic planning framework is built upon four themes, listed below. These themes will drive our strategic priorities for 2026.

Empower the Lives, Practices, and Futures of Artists, Designers, and Educators

through:

Anticipatory Curriculum

Program offerings that prepare students for social relevance, emerging careers, invention, and reinvention.

Flexible Delivery

Educational approaches that expand access and meet contemporary student needs through distributed and online learning, as well as variable models of residency and credentialing.

Holistic Learning

A commitment to the whole student and to synthesizing multiple elements that support the learning experience.

Transform MICA through DEIG (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Globalization)

in ways that are:

Structural

Changes in core institutional conventions, policies, culture, and behavior that reflect and amplify the DEIG agenda.

Substantive

Significant and transformative actions and initiatives that demonstrate DEIG impact in visible and measurable ways.

Sustainable

Long-term commitment with far-sighted planning and appropriate resource allocation.

Activate Creative Agency with Baltimore and the World

by being:

Strategically Engaged

Thoughtful engagement with critical partners, communities, organizations, agencies, and networks for mutually reinforcing efforts and service to larger causes.

Radically Partnered

Bold collaborations that assert the value of art and design in multiple fields and establish MICA as a creative hub in Baltimore and on the world stage.

Equitably Enriched

Equity and reciprocity in all partnered work with a focus on social justice and social cohesion.

Underpinning the three thematic pathways outlined above is theme #4, which focuses on the people that make up the MICA community, the systems that drive our work, and the culture that guides our actions.