The Center for Creative Research (CCR) was founded in 2004 as a multi-year pilot project designed to initiate, create and implement new strategies for long-term artist-university interaction that both complement and reengineer existing models. These strategies, including extended campus-based residency projects, facilitate the inter/trans-disciplinary contributions made by artists to the intellectual life of the university as scholars/researchers while enabling artists to access the resources of these institutions in ways which are meaningful to their individual investigations and inquiry. Specifically, CCR seeks to:

• Provide mature artists with a generative environment that supports their individual creative research, the re-examination of their aesthetic position and/or the development of choreographic material
• Provide colleges and universities with a unique catalytic agent that encourages students and faculty to deepen their engagement and experiential learning across departments and disciplines
• Facilitate meaningful and long-term exchanges among and between various campus communities engaged in the project
• Establish a level of public recognition for movement-based artists by acknowledging their roles as senior researchers and placing them in a parallel context to their peers in academic scholarship

Drawing its inspiration from extant research centers on university campuses that foster dialogue through fellowships, convenings, conferences and special projects, CCR is an independent entity currently working with three original partner institutions (Wesleyan University, University of Maryland, Dartmouth College) as well as two additional universities (University of Minnesota, Temple University). Similar to the work of traditional research centers, CCR offers the university community an opportunity to make internal connections between disciplines and practices, faculty, students and others, while also encouraging deeper relationships with other institutions. The Center is currently made up of 11 Founding Fellows and a 12th artist (Ain Gordon) responsible for documentation of the project, as well as one staff member (Project Director, Dana Whitco) and Sam Miller, President of LINC and CCR advisor. Support for the project during its pilot phase comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as well as CCR's pilot partners, the New England Foundation for the Art (NEFA) and Leveraging Investments in Creativity.