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At the Meadows School, we challenge our students to use their gifts not for fame, but to make the world a better place for everyone. Few artists are famous. Almost all of the vast array of successful employed artists make their living locally. Outreach and community engagement are hardly a secondary part of an arts education; they are fundamental to what makes an artist employable and relevant.

Artists are citizens. Artists are community builders. Artists are advocates. We imagine other worlds and share them with audiences. Art is a way to change minds, influence decisions and make the world a better place.

A university is ultimately a place for learning, but also a model for how the encounter with learning can change lives. It is a place for dialogue and encounters with the shocking, the contradictory and the new. Art teaches us that there are possibilities beyond our own imagination, dreams that can be made real. 

At Meadows, we celebrate the gift of learning, of growing, of imagining all of the things that a community of scholars, thinkers, artists and dreamers can do for the greater good - locally, regionally and globally. We invite you to join us.

- José Antonio Bowen

José Antonio Bowen is a noted scholar, jazz performer, Pulitzer-nominated composer, editor and author. He recently published his latest book, Teaching Naked.