About us
FATE IS AN EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION DEDICATED TO THE PROMOTION OF EXCELLENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND TEACHING OF COLLEGE-LEVEL FOUNDATION COURSES IN BOTH STUDIO AND ART HISTORY.
FATE is a highly active association. If you have a keen interest in networking with others who are involved with the instruction of foundational art courses, FATE may be the organization for you. For over three decades FATE, a volunteer run organization, has been collectively sharpening the methodologies and theories of instruction during the first years of college.
FATE's reach extends throughout art and design programs in independent colleges, university departments, community colleges, and crossover, undergraduate-level high school opportunities throughout the United States & Canada and is represented at most major higher education conferences to promote the goals of the organization. For over 30 years, FATE has grown through its promotion of excellence and innovation in arts foundations.
Biennially, FATE hosts an expansive but immersive gathering of artists, designers, historians and educators who share in the goal of making the foundational experience in art a solid springboard for a successful academic and professional life. Additionally, FATE expands their mission of support to the creative arts educational community by hosting a variety of regional events across the United States, sharing discussion between educators through FATE's Positive Space Podcast and publishing the journal FATE in Review.
Foundations courses are an integral part of the undergraduate experience, and should emphasize the importance of developing concepts, craft and critical thinking skills.
Therefore, an Ad Hoc committee of FATE Members created a document for the purpose of setting guidelines for foundations that have received general consensus by members of the organization at the 11th Biennial Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2007. FATE is not an accrediting body, these issues are intended to be used as guidelines to help foundation faculty and administration as they strengthen, reorganize, seek administrative support, or as a guide for the development of fledgling foundation programs. They are, in essence, an opinion that has emerged from of our collective knowledge of foundations.