INDEX: Experiential Learning Opportunities
Ringling’s Commitment to Experiential Learning
INDEX (Industry Experience) is an experiential education initiative that provides enrolled students with the opportunity to gain professional experience by connecting them with leading businesses and organizations to solve real-world challenges.
INDEX opportunities allow students to build their portfolios, strengthen their resumes, and become familiar with industry best practices. The INDEX initiative represents the College’s long-standing priority and purpose: to focus on students’ futures in the creative industries and empower them to thrive as creative leaders.
*INDEX is an initiative developed by Ringling College in partnership with The Patterson Foundation.
Are you interested in partnering with Ringling College students through INDEX?
To submit your project request:
Contact
INDEX
Roskamp Center I
2700 N. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34234
index@ringling.edu
Current and Previous Partnerships
Project Examples
Smithsonian American Art Museum:
Drawn to Art: Ten Tales of Inspiring Women Artists Comic Series
Illustration students were selected to create a series of biographical sketches for the Smithsonian American Art Museum based upon the lives of women artists whose work is featured in the Museum’s collection.
Feld Entertainment
Monster Jam Campaign Strategy
Business of Art and Design students conducted a situational analysis of the Monster Jam business, environmental scan for industry assessment, consumer trends, and research to uncover insights, challenges, and areas of opportunity. Informed by data and research, the student team produced a leading campaign strategy focusing on growth opportunities for the Monster Jam brand.
Flight School:
Wet Dog Corp. Virtual Reality Game
Students across four majors came together to produce a brand activation launch of Wet Dog Corp. at South by Southwest (SXSW). The virtual reality game project required the creation of an entire graphics package, building a physical arcade game, and managing the production details of the event.
Maker’s Mark
Product Design Competition
Artistry and philanthropy united for a campus-wide competition that included students, faculty, and alumni. Bottles from Maker’s Mark served as the canvas where participants unleashed their imaginations and creativity to transform the specially created, limited edition bottles into captivating works of art. The unique creations were auctioned off at Ringling College’s esteemed Avant-Garde Gala to support student scholarships.
Rotary Club of Longboat Key
Aquaculture PSAs
Film students were tasked with creating three short public service announcements regarding the rich history of aquatic conservation in the Gulf Coast region. With a focus on prominent organizations such as Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, Save Our Seabirds, and Longboat Key Turtle Watch, each PSA aimed to raise awareness and inspire action for our region’s rescue, rehabilitation, education, and conservation services, offering real-time examples of their vital contributions to environmental preservation.
INDEX Opportunities
The award-winning ART Network—All Ringling Television Network—is the official, student-operated campus television network at Ringling College. Our ART Network students run the entire broadcasting process from start to finish, learning how to capture compelling content and produce final, professional work. And with so many events, speakers, exhibitions, artists, and presenters around campus, there is no shortage of topics to cover. Students not only gain real exposure to camerawork, programming, production, and post-production, but they acquire valuable communication and collaboration skills. They must work closely with each other and with clients, both internal and external, to produce stimulating content—commercials, promos, PSAs, and more—that meets real-world objectives. ART Network students can participate through the student club or the elective course that is open to all majors and class levels.
INDEX projects may be offered as full semester courses or as projects embedded within a course. These projects deliver customer-focused, design-based solutions for businesses. Students typically meet directly with clients to address a myriad of workplace challenges, including branding, positioning, user experience hurdles, service innovation, and product design issues.
The Makerspace is a collection of cross-disciplinary, educational studios where you can work cooperatively with faculty, staff, and other artists to learn manufacturing processes, realize your projects, and develop responsible working practices. The Makerspace studios provide a safe and friendly learning environment, as well as an opportunity to work with manufacturing equipment and machinery in a variety of fields.
We take every opportunity to propel our students to the top, including finding and supporting opportunities for participation in regional, national, and international clients to sponsor courses, competitions, and customized projects.
These opportunities put Ringling students in front of actual clients, often granting them high-level exposure to the industry and its leaders. Through previous opportunities, our students have designed award-winning product packaging for L’Oreal, developed travel and transportation solutions for Disney, and produced commercials for a new flavor of Doritos, just to name a few.
For Ringling students, Career Services offers training and career preparation services, such as job search strategies, resume reviewing, interview training, and portfolio building. This office brings recruiters from the top creative companies around the world to deliver presentations and interview students. Attend career events, ask questions, and get the information you need to make thoughtful choices about your future.
The Student Life Office, and Student Volunteerism and Service-Learning staff, provide community service opportunities for the growth and development of the entire Ringling College community. A great deal of your learning beyond the classroom can take place through volunteerism. Becoming a student volunteer will help you gain professional skills and experience; you will become more socially responsible, gain a sense of belonging, meet other volunteers with similar values and interests, learn leadership skills, embrace diversity, and gain perspective by seeing others with different or more severe challenges than your own. Your worldview will be expanded as you gain insight into the Sarasota community and beyond. As a Ringling College volunteer, you can share your strengths—artistic or otherwise—and have meaningful community experiences.
Contact Information:
Ulla Searing Student Center
Robert Perkins Student Life Wing
volunteerism@ringling.edu
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Upcoming events
Let INDEX put the PRO in your professional development.
Roskamp Center I
2700 N. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34234
index@ringling.edu