Cultural Anchor

The Center for the Literary Arts is a transformational hub for creative writing and translation, as well as different forms of literary arts and creative practice across Washington University and the St. Louis community. As an initiative of the Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan, the Center explores all the ways in which literary art and creative practice can change the world around us. It seeks to unite communities within and beyond academia by reimagining vital literary art-making for the 21st century locally and globally.

Emily Rauh Pulitzer established an endowment in 2004 to support joint collaborative projects between the Sam Fox School and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation that enhance the creative life of St. Louis. This endowment has spurred a variety of collaborative endeavors including Design openings, an initiative open to Sam Fox School faculty that supports art and design projects and installations in the Grand Center Arts District.

The Design Futures Public Interest Design (PID) Student Leadership Forum from the Sam Fox School is an interdisciplinary convening that fosters capacity-building for future leaders hoping to use design as a tool for social equity and positive change in and with historically marginalized communities. Design Futures seeks to build the next generation of leadership in design; diversify the ecosystem of public interest design in terms of discipline, race, gender, and beyond; and curate a national network of thought leadership.

Washington University Libraries created exhibits in conjunction with a series of related events focusing on the history of slavery and the stories of enslaved individuals in St. Louis. The Slavery in St. Louis exhibition and the Archives of Resistance Event Series highlight primary source documents from the Julian Edison Department of Special Collections at University Libraries. A related display of Black Numismatics will be on display in the exhibition Coins Across Time: Ancient to American Numismatics. The exhibit and events arise from the WashU & Saver Project’s efforts to examine and address WashU’s historical entanglements with slavery, which include foundational research with contextualization of relevant collections in the library archives.

Revisit and reconstruct the history of Asian Americans in St. Louis utilizing an intuitive digital humanities tool, ArcGIS StoryMap. The story map, called Asia in Saint Louis, comprises images, interactive maps, narratives, and interview videos, and is conceptualized and structured around the four themes/sections: Historical traces, early Chinese Americans, early Japanese Americans, and Asian American civil rights. The story map will use primary sources from four local historical societies and archives: Washington University Libraries Special Collections, Missouri Historical Society, State Historical Society of Missouri-Saint Louis, and National Archives in Kansas City.

CityStudioSTL from the Sam Fox School at WashU supports a number of community engagement, student enrichment, and collaborations that bring students and faculty from different fields together with community partners. Fellowships support students in architecture, art, and design partnering with those in the St. Louis community to conceive, plan, design, and construct projects for local community groups and residents. Faculty can also receive support for community engaged scholarship and courses.

The Resilient Cities initiative from Sam Fox School engages the St. Louis community regarding complex issues of environmental and social resiliency. Current projects focus on the establishment of Peace Park in the College Hill neighborhood and engagement with the Great Rivers Greenway (GRG) Brickline Greenway Project.

Since 1986, Sam Fox has partnered with the Municipal Commission on Arts & Letters of University City to share their artwork with their community. For students, this poses an opportunity to explore the social aspects of University City and the civic responsibilities of being an artist.

Established in 1881, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum serves both WashU students and St. Louis residents as the one of the oldest teaching museums in the country. Through numerous and diverse programs and exhibitions, the Kemper Art Museum vast collection allows residents to peer into diverse artwork both in-person and virtual at little cost.

As a part of WashU’s first-year student orientation, called Bear Beginnings, WashU offers “In The Lou” experiences to provide students with opportunities to explore St. Louis and immerse themselves in the rich culture and experiences that that the region has to offer.