The Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA) is a university-wide cultural organization that provides a platform for the creation of and public discourse on the contemporary arts on campus. Through our annual grant program, exhibitions, public talks, artist residencies, special projects, and student awards, CCA promotes interdisciplinary, collaborative, and experimental artistic forms to inspire innovative and challenging projects by students, faculty, departments, and programs from all disciplines.

The Cornell Council for the Arts has taken many forms since its inception in 1965. In the words of founder James McConkey, the university and its populations in every field “constitute a laboratory affording exceptional experiences through thinking, making and doing;” fostering excellence at every level to be carried outside the walls of the institution to the greater community.

The mission of the Cornell Council for the Arts is to be the conduit for this effort in the creative disciplines, including but not limited to visual arts, performing arts, creative writing and spatial, geographical aesthetics such as architecture and the landscape. It is the job of the Council to insure that these arts and the scholarly activity associated with them are equal partners in the university’s public image, and that the creative products of students and faculty alike are proudly put forward in local, national and international professional arenas.

To that end, the Council is mandated to provide both financial and philosophical support for initiatives that carry the highest innovative, experimental and life-changing potential in the arts, funding such projects through a competitive annual grant process, and initiating programs that encourage interaction with a broad variety of outside entities.