History

1975: Chancellor Edwin Young establishes the Arts Consortium (AC) to coordinate arts activities and units on campus
1995: First Awards in the Creative Arts presented to faculty and graduate students from UW Foundation arts-related bequests; AC hosts first artist-in-residence Meredith Monk
1998: Chancellor David Ward establishes the Arts Institute (AI) as a center with a half-time director
1999: AI organizes the first Wisconsin Film Festival; the Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program is established through the Cluster Hire Initiative
2010-2011: AI coordinates Illuminate: Year of the Arts
2012: The Studio: Creative Arts Community is established in Sellery Hall
2013: AI becomes a campus division with a full-time director
2015: AI takes over management of the Madison Early Music Festival
2016: Course subject listing “Integrated Arts” is created to serve AI programs
2018: AI is renamed Division of the Arts (DotA)
2020: DotA offers all programs in fully virtual formats for the first time due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021: Wisconsin Film Festival and Madison Early Music Festival move to new administrative homes; DotA refocuses its mission and intensifies commitment to IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility)