In Fall 2009 advanced ceramics students will be involved in a collaborative project with students from the USC Thornton School of Music. Ceramics students will be asked to create unique percussion and wind objects. Music students will then learn to play these creations and compose a specific musical score for each piece. In conjunction with this collaboration, a USC cultural Visions and Voices grant will feature a concert by percussion group The Antenna Repairmen. They will perform music from their CD, Ghatam, played exclusively on ceramic vessels and sculptural objects. Art Javinen, member of the group, will be a guest lecturer in the fall Galen Ceramics Lecture series. Also invited to speak to the advanced class will be Susan Rawcliffe, ceramic artist/master flute maker and musician. In preparation for this assignment, students will be exposed to the long multi-cultural history of handmade ceramic instruments and learn about the many contemporary ceramic artists that continue to make musical objects.

Since 2001 the Galen Ceramics Lecture Series has brought noted national and international artists, curators and critics to campus. The 2008–2009 Galen Ceramics Lecture Series included:Glenn Adamson, Deputy Head of Research & Graduate Studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum; Charles Long, sculptor; John Mason, sculptor; Io Palmer, mixed-media artist / faculty member at Washington State University; Susan Rawcliffe, musician and master flute maker; and Kim Tucker, figurative ceramic artist.

This year, the Galen Ceramics Lecture Series will include artist Myungjin Kim; Steve Davis, presenting a Kazegama Ash Firing workshop; Tony Marsh, artist and head of ceramics at Cal State Long Beach; and artist Shio Kusaka.

Students have many opportunities to exhibit their work in the undergraduate program. Every other year Advanced Ceramics students have the occasion to mount a group exhibition of their work in USC's Helen Lindhurst Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibition's theme is determined by the class, and students gain not only experience of creating works for a specific show, but also personal involvement in the other important elements of mounting a successful exhibition. At the Roski School, student exhibitions provide the valuable experience of, and insight into, the process of presenting artwork.

Gallery visits to a variety of Los Angeles museums and galleries are an integral part of course curriculum.