Hilary Robinson was named dean of the College of Fine Arts in August. Carnegie Mellon Today recently caught up with Robinson to gain a little insight into her life’s journey and her vision for the arts at Carnegie Mellon.
Who was your inspiration, setting you on the path to become who you are today?
My parents set the foundations for me. My mother, a high school teacher, taught me the importance of access to education for everyone, and my father, a bookbinder, the importance of excellence in the arts. Both of them have a deep sense of what constitutes intellectual and cultural democracy.
Tell us something that people might be surprised to know about you.
I used to play Irish fiddle. Badly. When I was younger I spent a number of summers on the west coast of Ireland with my tent and my fiddle going to Irish music summer schools!
What attracted you to Carnegie Mellon?
On a personal level, it was the right job at the right time. I had achieved a lot at the University of Ulster, and wanted to move forward from that. I am ambitious for the subject and want to help move it forward at the highest level. Carnegie Mellon provides great possibilities by having the creative and performing arts as an integral part of a research-intensive university. There is a real opportunity for CFA to provide leadership in the arts at a national level. The fundamental questions are: how do we advance the subject? How do we educate the next generations to do work and intervene in cultural activity and practices that we cannot fully anticipate? What are the relations between education, research and professional practice that ensure advances at the highest level?
Why are the arts important?
This really leads on from the last answer. Most of us think of the arts as the things that we might take part in or go to see on the weekends or in the evenings. They are that, and they enrich our lives and give pleasure and challenges in that environment, and they have well-established benchmarks for excellence. But the arts are also the activities that give us the full texture of our lives and allow us to mediate our identities and cultures. Look around your home. Everything there could—or should—have had an art graduate involved in its creation—from the architecture of the building, to the furniture, the TV and films you watch, the crockery, knives and forks you eat with, the Web sites you use, the music you listen to…. This demonstrates the need for excellence at all levels of the market. The relationships between personal pleasure, wider cultural identity and the economy form the subtle and shifting arena of the arts.
Related Links:
Hilary Robinson Named CFA Dean
College of Fine Arts
