The Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership is collaborating with the Arts + Design Initiative on a Masters of Engineering Capstone Course for Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 with UC Berkeley students Luna Izpisua-Rodriguez, Alexandre Vincent, Jiahe Zhou, Yuyang Pan, and Shuo You Chang. The team of students will simulate the experience of a start up company to develop a Digital Arts Engagement Platform through designing a mobile application that will aim to increase participation in arts and design activities at UC Berkeley and in the Bay Area. The team has already started the research and development phases and are looking forward to user testing by engaging students attending arts experiences as part of arts and design related classes.
Directed by Wayne Delker, Director of Corporate Capstone Experience at the Fung Institute, advised by William Allison, Chief Technology Officer at UC Berkeley; Nicholas Mathew, Associate Professor of Music History; and Sarah Fullerton, Communications Manager, Arts + Design, the Fung mobile arts app team will create digital engagement experiences to engage the public in Berkeley’s diverse arts activities; such as attending a theater performance, visiting an art gallery, or going to a museum with discounted or free admission. The app seeks to subsidize arts experiences for students, through which it will collaborate with on-and off-campus organizations for supplying students with discounted or free admission and membership. Moreover, it will encourage students to explore new technological modes of arts engagement.
Ideally, the application will also encourage faculty and students, curators and museum visitors, and presenters and audience members alike to share historical, philosophical, and artistic content linked to timely arts events on-campus and in the region. The app team will seek to partner with various campus arts organizations in it's research and development phase, including Cal Performances, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Department of Music, Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, and a variety of other on-campus and external partners.
The technological aspects of the Digital Arts Engagement Platform will be built in the Masters of Engineering capstone projects. From its conception to its release, the team working on developing the platform will work as a startup company, designing the mobile app and back-end infrastructure. The Fung Institute and campus collaborators will provide the team with initial ideas, critical business objectives, and provide support and mentorship, as well as an honorary membership in Berkeley’s SkyDeck technology incubator. In addition to the mobile app and back-end infrastructure, the team is also encouraged to imagine a brand new, innovative option for those less involved in the arts community using any of the technology being developed and invented at UC Berkeley, from virtual reality to 3D fabricated objects.
The Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership serves to transform engineers and scientists into leaders who can take risks and develop technical, social, and economic innovations. It achieves this mission through teaching, research, and service activities, as well as offering programs that combine leadership coursework with intensive study in any of the seven engineering disciplines offered by the College. The Fung Institute was launched in January 2010 and is headquartered at UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering.
Berkeley Arts + Design features, fortifies, and mobilizes existing excellence in the arts and design at Berkeley, while fostering dynamic collaboration, innovation, and public access across all arts and design fields, on campus and in public life.