Community & Partnerships

In this Section

Our partnerships with industry and other organizations help us contribute to the greater good of Baltimore and enrich our students' learning experience.

As an anchor institution in our home city of Baltimore, MICA makes you an immediate insider with access to projects and networks that allow you to get involved and contribute your creativity in meaningful ways—right away. Not only is Baltimore ranked as one of the best places to go to college, it’s fittingly nicknamed B’More, which is exactly what you can do here — be more and do more.

Submission Form

Propose a Partnership Opportunity

In this form, we are looking for information about how our partnership with you would serve our students, Baltimore or both. If you are proposing a volunteer opportunity, please consider the following questions:

• What is the learning benefit to the student?
• Is there an opportunity for grant or other forms of funding?

In general, MICA does not endorse spec work or opportunities compensated with exposure.

Questions? Contact partnerships@mica.edu.

Examples of Ways to Partner

MICA’s Advancement Office builds strategic external partnerships with local and national foundations, industry and community organizations to support the mission of the College and advance and benefit the study and work of faculty, staff, and students. The Advancement team identifies, builds and maintains partnerships in support of the College’s strategic priorities and fundraising goals. MICA’s external partnerships invest in support for student scholarship, faculty research, curriculum enrichment, capital projects, student fellowships and internships and academic programming, to name a few initiatives.

Want to sponsor a project like the ones below? Contact Sara Warren in the Office of Advancement at swarren@mica.edu.

Academic (curricular)

Industry Partners: The Preakness Stakes, 1/ST company, PRofiles
Beneficiary: Park Heights Renaissance, a housing nonprofit organization

MICA has worked with these partners to organize an annual call for entries of original, two-dimensional visual art that depicts the unique elements of Thoroughbred racing and the Preakness Stakes. The winning entry, selected after a popular vote followed by a jury, receives a $4,000 stipend and is reproduced on a special edition of merchandise promoting the next Preakness race, the proceeds of which benefit a local nonprofit.

The project is curricular and extracurricular, in that the call for entry is embedded in some classes at the College, but is also open for anyone to submit.

Art of Racing Website

Interested in a similar partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Industry Partners: The Davis Group, LLC, Innovation Works
Beneficiary: Small Baltimore businesses Jazmine Kionna and Truth in this Art
Benefit to students: portfolio piece, professional experience, networking

For a credit-bearing residency, Business of Art and Design, Entrepreneurship students worked with design business consultant Douglas Davis to utilize a creative strategy framework to work on a challenge brought by a “client” small business. Challenges have asked small groups of students to practice creative strategy work as design teams to create pitch decks proposing a strategy answering the client’s request, including brand strategy, marketing plans, etc. Students gain hands-on experience with client work, build a portfolio piece, learn more about the industry, and network with other creative entrepreneurs.

Interested in a similar partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Industry Partner: Softrams
Beneficiary: students, Softrams

For a credit-bearing residency, UX Design students worked with local human-centered design and digital services firm Softrams in a hackathon/design sprint. Students worked in teams to solve a UX design challenge posed by Softrams, and pitched low-fidelity prototypes. The winning team were then hired as contractors by Softrams to implement the solution. Students benefited from hands-on industry experience, developing a portfolio piece, and the opportunity to network with working UX Designers and tech recruiters.

Interested in a similar partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Employer

If you would like to hire MICA students and alumni and/or advertise a fellowship, call for entry, or an exhibition opportunity, please create a MICAnetwork employer account. MICAnetwork is the best way to advertise your hiring needs and reach a large audience.

If you're not sure what you're looking for, this chart breaks down the difference between internships, freelance work, and jobs. MICA is not able to hand-select or place students with your organization. For questions or help with this process, email careerdevelopment@mica.edu.

	INTERNSHIP	FREELANCE/ CONTRACT	JOB
Description	learning experience	project based	regular paid employment
Reason for Hire	to assist with projects, talent pipeline, does not displace employee	to complete projects employer does not have the capacity for	to fill an open position
Length of employment	temporary, typically length of semester	temporary, until project is complete	permanent
Results of work	student learning	company success	company success
Who benefits most	student	employer	employer
Employee expectations	learn and develop new skills	fulfill project-based work organization cannot	fulfill job responsibilities
Employer expectations	supervise, mentor, educate	guide, advise	train, supervise
Salary	paid or unpaid*	paid	paid

Interested in a this kind of partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Community based

Community Partner: Bolton North Senior Living
Beneficiary: Bolton North residents
Funding Partner: France-Merrick Fellowship Endowment & Center for Student Engagement

Two students, a France-Merrick Fellow and a Community Site Leader, work collaboratively to plan and lead art activities for a group of senior residents in Bolton North Senior Living. The students receive input and feedback from the residents on what kinds of art mediums they’d like to explore and work on. Then, the students plan and collect supplies for the activities which they lead on a weekly basis. The seniors benefit from weekly engagement that allows them to express themselves creatively and explore various mediums. They also enjoy being able to spend time with each other and the students. The students gain skills in teamwork, communication, and problem solving. They also benefit from the opportunity to connect with and provide a creative outlet to their local neighbors.

Interested in a similar partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Volunteer opportunities can also be posted to MICAnetwork by creating an employer account. Occasionally, Community Art & Service seeks volunteer opportunities for MICA's Day of Service.

Interested in a this kind of partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Co-curricular

Industry Partners: The Aperture Foundation
Funding Partner: MICA Trustee Stuart B. Cooper ’72 and RL Besson

Thanks to the generosity and commitment of trustee Stuart B. Cooper, in 2014, the photography department at MICA established a partnership with the Aperture Foundation, one of contemporary photography’s most important publishers. This endowed partnership has enriched MICA students through visiting artist talks and workshops, paid internships at Aperture in NYC, an artist-in-residence program at MICA, a field trip to Aperture offices in NYC, and more.

MICA Photo

Interested in a similar partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Partners: Baltimore City Health Department, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Morgan State University, International Vaccine Access Center
Beneficiaries: Baltimore community members, including underserved older adults, people experiencing homelessness, the Latinx community, the Orthodox Jewish community, pregnant and lactating individuals, young men (18-34 yrs), immigrants and refugees, people with disabilities and underlying conditions, and teens
Funding Partner: Baltimore City Health Department

The MA in Social Design students participated in a design challenge addressing the question of how we might encourage Baltimore residents to get vaccinated. They used the human-centered design (HCD) process, a collaborative, creative process that aims to understand people’s needs and design interventions that better serve those needs. HCD positions lived experience as expertise, views problems through the perspective of people (directly impacted by issues), involves people in every step of the design process, considers people as co-creators & experts, opens up new ways of thinking, doing & making, and results in more meaningful & valuable outcomes. The interventions and outcomes included social media campaigns, an Ambassador program and Ambassador field toolkits, and COVID Chats.

Interested in a similar partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

Partners: See our list of CAC Partner Organizations

Beneficiaries: Baltimore City K-12 youth, families, and organizations

Benefit to students: CAC Members are a combination of community members and MICA Graduate students earning their MFA in Community Arts. Graduate students earn credit toward their degree through their CAC residency year.

Funding: Jointly funded by CAC/AmeriCorps (including healthcare and other benefits for members), and a Host Site Contribution

The Community Art Collaborative (CAC) AmeriCorps Program at MICA is the only program of its kind in Maryland that links artists, communities, and institutions of K-12 and higher education. Since 2004, the CAC program has partnered hundreds of talented Community Artists with nonprofit organizations, schools, museums, and community centers, serving thousands of Baltimore City residents through arts programming.

The service of CAC member artists provides youth and adults with the benefits of arts-based learning experiences and community art initiatives. Specifically, CAC members facilitate youth arts curricula that emphasize social-emotional learning.

We invite you to learn more about the program, including our current and previous partner organizations, at the Community Arts Collaborative page. Is your organization interested in hosting a CAC Member in the next program year? Contact Program Manager, Susan Tuberville at stuberville@mica.edu for more information.

Industry Pathways

MICA has an established program to support organizations in providing educational opportunities to its employees. MICA offers a 10% discount on program tuition to Partner's employees who enroll in MICA Open Studies graduate MPS programs. Through this partnership program, MICA demonstrates its commitment to supporting employees in their pursuit of advanced education, enabling them to thrive in their professional journeys.

Please contact Kevin Elliott at kelliot@mica.edu for more information.

Interested in a similar partnership with MICA? Propose an opportunity here.

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Community & Partnerships