By LAURA CARELESS

In a fast-paced society that tends to celebrate destinations over journeys, the cost of an education in the arts—in terms of time, money, and commitment—begs for justification. Admittedly, the educational approach befitting even the most forward-looking conservatory aims to re-establish the lessons learned from the past by passing them on to its students as an integral and imperative part of their education. Today's young artists enter a field whose predominantly white-European origins are often viewed with indifference, if not suspicion, as the uphill struggle towards multicultural integration continues throughout the globe. As interest in, and financial support for, the arts appear to wane, there's pressure from many angles—financial, political, personal—to live self-sufficient lives that contribute to the overall good of society without sponging off the members of the population whose "real jobs" sustain the common livelihood.

The pedagogical and financial support of Juilliard is invaluable, now as ever, to the artists who walk its hallways, sweat in its studios—and increasingly realize the importance of their individual contributions toward a unified, articulate, and respected voice for the arts community in a broader societal context. Many Juilliard students have initiated groups and projects that, through collaboration and educational outreach, explore the potential of the arts as a force for positive change in the world. Call us idealistic, but our hope is to ensure that, by extending our educational aspirations and opportunities beyond the four walls of the studio or practice room, we will gain a clearer and deeper idea of why it is that we do what we do, and how we can help guarantee a successful future for the art forms we love so deeply.

In the spirit of empowering the artistic community as a whole, an increasing number of students are developing an interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. The Collaborative Artist's Union, affectionately known as CAU (pronounced like the animal), is a year-old group initiated and supported by the Meredith Willson Residence Hall student staff in response to concern that there was not enough space within the already-packed Juilliard curriculum for experimentation and performance involving members of two or more divisions. In accordance with the original vision for the residence hall as a thriving and supportive artistic community, CAU's mission is to "seek to improve inter-artist communication, encouraging its members and audiences to utilize the traditional and non-traditional performance spaces within and outside The Juilliard School." Upcoming CAU events (which will be advertised in the residence hall and in the Juilliard building) include improv and jam sessions, and an evening of "CAU Bells and Cocoa," a festive occasion for students to show and watch interdisciplinary experiments.

Antonio Brown, assistant residence coordinator for initiatives in the residence hall, points out that learning how members of other divisions work may "give us, as performers, more choices on and off stage, because our eyes are opened to a new approach to our own art form." By giving imagination a new space to breathe, CAU hopes to serve as a laboratory to generate new ideas and refresh the way we approach our practice.

Juilliard has long upheld the tradition of educating great performers, but our generation is beginning to realize that, with governments worldwide cutting funding for school arts programs, we must also make space in our learning to understand the principles behind good teaching and administration. Without these links to society at large, great performers are rendered largely inaccessible and the results of hundreds of thousands of hours of practice, devotion, and soul-searching will be lost to an uninformed public. Alison Scott-Williams, director of diversity, inclusion, and outreach at Juilliard, stresses the desperate need for artistic administrators and teachers as skilled as the performers themselves. A conservatory graduate herself, she says that she made a "conscious, definite switch" into administration and education because she "didn't see enough people on the other side of the desk who understood the life of a performing artist, and who were passionate enough" about the arts to effectively bridge the gap between performers and their potential audience with sufficient consideration for the integrity of the artists' work.

Juilliard's Summer Grant program reflects this sensibility by awarding preference to proposals that include a community outreach component. (App-lication information is available in the Dean's Office; proposals are due March 1.) William Harvey (M.M.'06, violin) was inspired to create his organization Music for the People (www.musicforthepeople.org) after giving a performance for members of the Fighting 69th on September 16, 2001.

Juilliard students have the power to crush the all-too-commonly held idea that an active interest in arts outreach and education bespeaks a failed performance career.

Inspired by the power of artists to "improve our own little corner of the world," Harvey's vision for the impact of his art form extends outward from the highest personal standards in his own playing (he was the winner of Juilliard's spring 2006 violin concerto competition) to international tours of musical performance and educational experiences for local people. The activities of Music for the People use music as a language of cultural diplomacy to provide "emotional solace to those in need of it, while transcending the political, cultural, and linguistic barriers that people erect between each other." The organization's most recent project addressed issues such as the plight of AIDS orphans and the need for clean drinking water in Zimbabwe.Previous projects involved efforts combining music and cultural diplomacy in Moldova, Tunisia, and the Philippines. Addressing the concerns closest to the heart of our own generation is, as Harvey says, "the least we can do, and the most anyone can do."

Balancing an artistic process of the highest quality with a commitment to outside projects is difficult but, evidently, possible. As some of the most technically proficient young artists in the world, Juilliard students have the power to crush the all-too-commonly held idea that an active interest in arts outreach and education bespeaks a failed performance career. As Harvey asks, "If you're not out in the real world working tirelessly as a missionary for your art and its communicative and expressive power, how do you look yourself in the mirror in the morning?"

We must also trust that, however much we do to "promote" the arts, at a certain point they will take on a power of their own that speaks in a manner more articulate than could ever be accomplished through language, with personal rewards we could never have anticipated. This summer, dance student Amelia Uzategui Bonilla led a group of Juilliard dance students on a two-week dance tour of Peru, where they gave free public performances and workshops. Looking back on the months of preparation required for the project, Amelia says she is able to recognize her own "total capability" to carve a career for herself that "enriches my own life as well as the lives of others." Memories of her time in Peru act as a constant reminder of "what it is about dance that I'm passionate about."

Uzategui Bonilla and Scott-Williams agree that sharing the knowledge and love we have for the arts with others is a renewal of the spirit in the midst of a repetitive and demanding schedule. Seen in this light, every opportunity we have to interact with others through our art refreshes the commitment we have made to a life of artistic journeying, as it gives new reasons and meaning to the next trip to the practice room or studio.

In reciprocation, the technique that we develop in private then becomes a template of efficient, well-motivated decision-making that feeds our ability to initiate positive change in the "outside" world. A belief that the world can be a better place is a macrocosmic manifestation of the simple faith that today will be an improvement from yesterday, a faith that forms the foundation of our daily routine as artists. The student-run group ArtReach, open to all Juilliard students, exists as a sounding board for students to generate, develop, and realize projects that address the issues closest to their hearts. (The group meets monthly in the Juilliard building; look for posters on bulletin boards for dates and times.) These range from performing at local prisons to raising awareness about the current situation in Darfur, and from volunteering at local soup kitchens to planning free summer arts camps for children in low-income areas in the U.S. and abroad.

By expanding our foundation of experiences and attitudes, and by working to improve lines of communication between ourselves and with our audiences, we become involved in a daily redefinition of true and complete artistry that keeps up with the world's own speed. Upon graduation, when we are asked to justify a profession whose "results" are not as tangible as society might like, we will be prepared with an answer.

Laura Careless is a fourth-year dance student.