UC San Diego

ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

Creative Connectivity: Defining a Practice in the Arts

by

Ethan Eldred

Master of Fine Arts in Theatre and Dance (Design)University of California San Diego, 2024 Professor Bobby McElver, Chair

In this thesis, I’ll propose a model of practice in the arts centered on my concept of Creative Connectivity, for use as a rubric and tool in observing and evaluating creative work. Where connectivity is commonly conceptualized as only relating to information technology, my Creative Connectivity model is inspired by technological connectivity and expands to define three categories of connectivity. Curiosity, community, and cognition are used as concepts to observe connections created in an artistic work, respectively: connections among ideas and knowledge, people and populations, and the mind and senses.In individual chapters with case-study examples, I examine how each of the categories of connectivity can be used to observe my own artistic work in three different aspects: the process, the product, and the artist’s practice. The three categories of connectivity and the three aspects of a work combine to form my Creative Connectivity Matrix, a rubric for observing artistic work.

In a case study of a culminating production experience at UCSD, Alistair McDowall’s X, directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert, I examine the production through the lens of this model of practice, exploring the impact of each kind of connectivity on process, product and practice, as well as ways in which the categories of connectivity overlap to form new forms of connection.In final reflections, I propose this model of practice as a useful tool in my own practice and pedagogy of theatrical design, supporting a healthy, fulfilling, and sustainable practice over time.