SCAD delivers 'Guests and Gusto'
SCAD launches a virtual series for students featuring innovative content and conversations with celebrities, artists, and creative leaders.
SCAD VIRTUAL — The Savannah College of Art and Design presents Guests and Gusto, a new Zoom series programmed exclusively for SCAD students during the university's virtual spring quarter 2020. The dynamic series features new weekly content that represents all of SCAD's 40+ top-ranked degree programs through illuminating conversations, surprise drop-ins, and interactive games.
Due to safety and wellness precautions related to COVID-19, spring quarter classes are being held online for students at all SCAD locations. Guests and Gusto offers new educational and social experiences that encourage students to stay safe, hopeful, and passionate, while providing mentorship and engagement that will help them succeed in their creative professions. The initiative epitomizes the university's commitment to leading the way into a new future for art and design in higher education. "Our alumni frequently mention the assets and advantages that SCAD provides. We bring the greats to them while they're students, and after graduation, alumni capitalize on our university's well-established friendships. We provide the introductions, and students build their own relationships with these elite leaders during their time at the university and beyond," said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. "SCAD has invited our uber-extensive network of elite leaders in film, design, art, writing, and architecture to contribute to teaching and learning during the spring quarter. Guest educators join with our renowned faculty to give students insider tips relevant to all the professions we teach."
The series launched March 30 with a video compilation from numerous actors and artists, including Aldis Hodge, Alan Cumming, and J. Alexander, offering positive messages of encouragement and creativity to the entire SCAD community. In addition to the video, the first week of Guests and Gusto programming includes presentations and conversations with Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic and New York Times best-selling author Jerry Saltz (How to Be an Artist), celebrated mixed-media pop artist Ashley Longshore (I Do Not Cook, I Do Not Clean, I Do Not Fly Commercial), Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer/composer Tricky Stewart ("Umbrella" and "Single Ladies"), and resiliency expert Jenny Evans (The Resiliency rEvolution).
Other creative and industry leaders, including costume designer Ane Crabtree (The Handmaid's Tale), style icon Carson Kressley, actor and writer Tommy Dewey, Refinery29 founder Christene Barberich, director and writer Morgan Neville (Won't You Be My Neighbor?), and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner and SCAD grad Christopher John Rogers, are also confirmed to take part in the series throughout the 10-week academic quarter.
In addition to its ongoing creative engagement, Guests and Gusto will feature a wellness component called "Bee Well Fridays." A virtual retool of the popular, informative Bee Well initiative, "Bee Well Fridays" will feature a different luminary from the health and wellness sector each week in support of the university's commitment to comprehensive care for emotional, physical, and social health.
With programming like Guests and Gusto, SCAD is proud to usher in a better tomorrow — designed by SCAD students.
SCAD: The University for Creative Careers
The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited university offering more than 100 academic degree programs in more than 40 majors across its locations in the U.S., Europe, and online via SCAD eLearning.
SCAD enrolls more than 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 115 countries. The innovative SCAD curriculum is enhanced by advanced, professional-level technology, equipment, and learning resources, as well as opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and collaborative projects with corporate partners. In 2019, the prestigious Red Dot Design Rankings placed SCAD as the No. 1 university in the U.S. and in the top two universities in the Americas and Europe for the third consecutive year, and The Rookies ranked SCAD as the Best 3D Motion Graphics School for the fourth consecutive year. Career preparation is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. In a study of Spring 2018 SCAD graduates, 99% were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation.