FORMATION OF THE ARTIST’S INTELLECT UNDER GLOBAL CULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Abstract

The article analyzes key challenges faced by Ukraine’s academic art education amid global cultural transformations. It explores the balance between the fundamental academic school and the growing role of projectbased thinking, digital technologies, and new artistic strategies. The loss of the workshop foundation is shown to weaken the analytical and humanistic dimensions of art education. The purpose of the study is to determine the role of the academic school in shaping the artist’s intellect as a bearer of critical thinking, aesthetic culture, and cultural responsibility. The scientific novelty lies in a systemic analysis of the interaction between traditional and contemporary educational models and in outlining ways to integrate Ukrainian art education into the European educational and research space without losing its identity. Methods. A set of general and specific research methods was used. The historical-comparative method made it possible to trace the development of academic art education in Ukraine in relation to European models, revealing their shared and distinctive features. The structural-analytical method was applied to systematize current approaches to workshop-based training and mentorship, which shape professional competencies of students. Content analysis of international documents and publications – The Florence Principles on the Doctorate in the Arts, Journal for Artistic Research, studies on digitalization, and the UNESCO report – was used to situate the Ukrainian context within the global cultural discourse. The comparative pedagogy method enabled the correlation of the academic model with the project-digital paradigm, identifying strengths and the risks of new practices such as superficiality, technological dependence, and value instability. The combination of these approaches provided a comprehensive view of the interrelation between academic tradition and current trends in the formation of the artist’s intellect. Findings. The academic school retains fundamental significance. The workshop system, personal mentorship, and core disciplines remain the foundation of an artist’s professional development and the prerequisite for integration into the global cultural space. The academic model, oriented toward mastery and analytical thinking, continues to prove its effectiveness in developing artistic intellect and pedagogical continuity. Contemporary challenges are transforming artistic training. Project-based approaches, ironic strategies, and digital practices shift the focus toward short-term effects, reducing analytical depth. At the same time, the expansion of artistic research and the use of technological media stimulate innovation while also creating the risk of superficial reflection without a solid professional foundation. Digitalization has a dual nature. It opens new opportunities for interdisciplinary experimentation, virtual collaboration, and international exchange, yet without an academic foundation – drawing, painting, composition – remains fragmentary and conceptually weak. Studies on the use of VR in art education confirm that technological innovation is effective only when grounded in classical professional mastery. The artist’s intellect emerges as a strategic goal. Academic education aims to cultivate the artist-intellectual – a bearer of critical thinking, aesthetic culture, and cultural responsibility. This approach aligns with The Florence Principles on the Doctorate in the Arts and EQ-Arts standards, emphasizing the unity of artistic practice, research, and reflection as a foundation for autonomous creative thinking. Education in wartime. The academic school forms not only professionals but also individuals capable of preserving cultural memory and social resilience. During the war, art education fulfills civic and humanistic missions – safeguarding identity, symbolic space, and cultural values that have become integral to national resistance. Conclusions. Academic art education in Ukraine remains the leading model for the artist’s comprehensive development – from technical mastery to intellectual autonomy. Its strategic goal is to form the artist-intellectual capable of cultural reflection, critical analysis, and understanding global processes through the lens of national identity. Contemporary challenges – project thinking, irony, and digitalization – can be integrated into the educational process only on the foundation of the academic school, which unites classical methods with innovative practices. In wartime, the artist’s intellect becomes a resource of spiritual resilience and cultural survival, affirming the strategic role of the academic tradition in sustaining professionalism, humanistic values, and the conti nuity of Ukrainian culture.