The arts and design fields encourage risk and creativity; teach collaboration and compassion; join the conceptual with the pragmatic; bring international cultures into bracing dialogue. For these reasons alone, arts and design plays a critical role in higher education and will continue to do so. Berkeley Arts + Design features, fortifies, and mobilizes existing excellence in the arts and design at UC Berkeley, while fostering dynamic collaboration, innovation, and public access across all arts and design fields, on campus and in public life.