The CAST minor is fueled by ideas that connect and drive each other. Gears are labeled with these 3 core ideas: Creative engagement, critical and strategic thinking, designing and assessing projects that contribute to more just and less violent societies. A fourth gear reads: CAST Minor

Graphic: Anna Cass, CAST ’21

Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation (CAST):

Learn about art-making. Learn to harness community power. Collaborate with teams of people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Become aware of yourself as a listener, and listen with qualities of presence that elicit difficult-to-tell stories. Identify sources of resilience.

Become a CAST minor. Learn about the projects of CAST minors who have come before. 

  • Anna standing at a mic onstage

    Anna Cass '21 - Project: "Voices of Comedy" - the production of a multi event program that brought standup comics from diverse backgrounds together for a show and workshops at Brandeis.

  • Rasheed headshot

    Rasheed Peters '20 - Project: "At the Heart of it All" - a video and monologue reflecting on Rasheed's work as a storyteller.

  • Haia headshot

    Haia R'nana Bchiri '20 - Project: "Comfort: Food" - a book of poetry and recipes paired with a senior thesis about mother-daughter relationships and the role of theatre in the Western family structure.

  • Zoe standing with her arms crossed

    Zoë Rose '20 - Project: "Zoë Rose Spills Her Guts" - a one-woman show about exploring identity.

  • Aviva sitting outside against a brick wall

    Aviva Davis '21 - Project: hosting of monthly Zoom conversations featuring a different Jewish creator of color each month to shine a much needed spotlight on the diversity of the Jewish community and to combat the microaggressions Jews of color face in their daily lives.

CAST Commitments, in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

The interdisciplinary program in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation (CAST) condemns white supremacy, anti-Black violence, police brutality, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the many additional everyday violences against Black people through which individuals, groups, and institutions in the United States perpetuate the legacy of slavery and benefit from doing so. Read more.

Spring 2022 Course Offerings

Courses for the Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation minor are from the creative arts, humanities, and social sciences.

View the Spring 2022 CAST offerings.

View the CAST informational flyer.

Jaime Black in a red dress in the forest in the snow

Photo Credit: Jaime Black

Jaime Black | between us

November 9, 2021- February 25, 2022
Kniznick Gallery

Curated by CAST Chair Dr. Toni Shapiro-Phim

Water. Stone. Twigs. Bodies. The color red. These elements appear throughout Jaime Black’s exhibition, between us, honoring the interdependence between humankind and the natural and spiritual worlds. The artist, of mixed Anishinaabe and Finnish descent, focuses special attention on Indigenous women’s potency in all these realms as nurturers, as trust-builders, as knowledge-holders and knowledge-givers.

Learn more...

Minor Requirements

Interested in the Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation minor? Find out what courses you'll need to complete.