Core Beliefs
At the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, we believe that:
1. Creative practice is an essential expression of the dignity, aspirations, and achievements of individuals, communities, and societies.
2. The many valuable outcomes of creative practice include those that:
- empower through education and self-realization;
- inspire through beauty and awe;
- confront injustice and advance social change;
- encourage empathy for other perspectives and ways of life;
- affirm and celebrate personal identity; and
- affirm and celebrate collective humanity.
3. People of every class, race, geography, age, ability, gender and sexual orientation have an equal right to pursue these outcomes through creative practice. This right remains at threat and requires active defense.
4. Equitable access to, and distribution of, capital and training for creative practice is required for healthy societies to flourish.
5. Healthy arts ecologies require collaboration between, and investment from, individuals, institutions, and government.
6. Art – and the dialogue it provokes – is an instrument of peace. Pro-active support for creative practice as a platform for intercultural, and international, cooperation is required in a healthy global society.