This month marks my first year as assistant vice president for arts and humanities research. Over the past 12 months, I have had the privilege of working alongside an educator and poet who won an Emmy for his work on a Negro Leagues documentary; a vibraphonist and tech wizard who has composed one of the world’s first AI operas; a medical humanist who is extending palliative care techniques and addressing health disparities in Uganda; and a media theorist who is rewriting the history of race and American journalism.

Edward Dallis-Comentale.I have been deeply inspired by work on all IU campuses. I have witnessed how they each provide essential intellectual and cultural nourishment for our state’s diverse communities, through performances, exhibits, civic engagement programs, festivals and quality-of-place initiatives like the upcoming development of the Bloomington’s Trades District.

All in all, I am thrilled by the progress IU Research has made to expand arts and humanities endeavors across the university and Indiana at large.

Guided by the goals of the IU 2030 strategic plan, IU Research has been committed to supporting and celebrating arts and humanities faculty through new funding programs, professional training opportunities and integrated research initiatives. With support for a full arts and humanities research unit, office leadership has ensured that our enduring strengths in this area continue to grow through and alongside new investments in team-based research, community-engaged research, federally funded research and development, innovation and commercialization, and other areas.

Working closely with Proposal Development Services and the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations, we have significantly increased arts and humanities grant support and submissions from all IU campuses; deepened relations with agencies such as Lilly Endowment Inc. and the Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation; and launched a series of prestigious award workshops focused on opportunities such as the Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship and the Rome Prize.

These efforts are primarily located in the Office for Research Development, overseen by Associate Vice President Chris Liu. I’ve been most impressed by my new home’s faculty-first approach to research development. We know we work best when we work closely with our colleagues, and we have successfully maintained an open service policy that welcomes single researcher projects with field-defined deliverables, large multidisciplinary efforts with global impacts and everything in between.

To support and promote the arts and humanities, our full set of services includes:

• Managing internal funding and other support programs for faculty at all IU campuses.
• Hosting information sessions and workshops for external grantmaking and prestigious awards.
• Engaging with national agencies, corporate sponsors and private foundations to cultivate fundraising opportunities and institutional support mechanisms.
• Developing multidisciplinary and cross-campus research projects in areas of urgency and salience.
• Planning and directing public events, festivals and campus-community partnerships throughout the state.
• Partnering with university centers and community organizations to advance the value of the arts and humanities.

We are particularly proud to assist arts and humanities faculty who are actively engaged with local or regional communities, serving as university liaisons to the public and uplifting the state as a whole through their research and creative activity.

The Garfield Arts Center hosted the 2024 Spirit & Place Festival opening event ceremony on Nov. 1. Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana UniversityFaculty on the Indianapolis campus are leading these efforts through the good work of the Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute, the Center for Africana Studies and Culture, and the Spirit & Place Festival. Active since 1996, but new to IU Research, Spirit & Place hosts Indianapolis-area events that mobilize the arts, humanities and spiritual practice to break down ideological silos, inspire civic engagement and build better-connected communities.

At the same time, we have been demonstrating the power of the arts and humanities to address widescale social and cultural issues, both on their own and via larger team-based initiatives with significant scientific and sociological components. One of our most exciting initiatives is the Arts & Humanities Futures program. Launched in fall 2023, the program has quickly begun to address contemporary topics and issues in artificial intelligence, ecological change and indigenous cultures via multidisciplinary research projects, graduate student expos, new curricular programs and public programming.

When it comes to serving faculty, we have created an all-campus Arts and Humanities Strategic Grants and Awards Committee. This group has helped us expand several innovative internal funding sources available to support all stages of faculty work and careers.

Edward Dallis-Comentale, second from left, Indiana University President Pamela Whitten, fifth from left, and IU Vice President for Research Russell Mumper, third from right, hosted a luncheon for Presidential Arts and Humanities fellows on April 12. Photo by James Brosher, Indiana UniversityThese opportunities are open to faculty across all IU campuses, and I encourage exploring them:

• The Presidential Arts and Humanities Program provides funding to support research and creative activity through a variety of mechanisms, including travel grants and production grants. The high-powered Fellows Program provides research funding as well as professional training to help artists and scholars advance their careers and the impact of their work.
• The Public Arts and Humanities Project funds new research and creative activities that benefit communities and Indiana at large. This award requires partnering with civic or other community organizations, serving the needs of scholars and the community in tandem. It has radically transformed the Indiana landscape in the form of new conferences, exhibits, installations, music pavilions, arts corridors and parks.
• The Eastman House Residency Program provides residencies of up to four weeks at the IU-owned Eastman property on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Faculty pursuing arts and humanities projects that would benefit from quiet work in an inspiring setting are encouraged to apply. In 2024-5, we are sending over three dozen faculty to the Eastman House to develop high-level work.

Thanks to the scholarship and creative activity of our faculty, IU is pushing the arts and humanities forward, affirming their contemporary significance and extending our already stellar reputation into the future. Through expanded investments, institutional support, and a dedicated staff of research directors and program administrators, IU Research will continue to invest in arts and humanities faculty so they can extend their outstanding reputations in fostering creativity and advance knowledge.

I look forward to working with more of you in the coming year. Please reach out with any questions you have.

Edward Dallis-Comentale is IU’s assistant vice president for arts and humanities.