The University of the Arts - Overview
The University
The University of the Arts (UArts) is located in the heart of Philadelphia's vibrant professional arts community. For more than 135 years, UArts has been a leader in educating artists, performers and creative individuals in a wide range of disciplines. More than 2,300 students from 40 states and 30 countries are enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate programs in the visual and performing arts, film and design. Comprising the College of Media, Art, and Design (CAMD) and the College of Performing Arts (CPA), the university offers intensive concentration within a major field, as well as creative challenges in multidisciplinary exploration. CAMD is one of the country's leading art colleges, with nationally renowned design, fine arts, crafts, and film programs. CPA features outstanding programs in dance, music, and theater arts.
The university sponsors a variety of activities and regular gallery and museum trips to New York City and Washington, D.C. One fourth of the students live in university housing, which provides coed apartment-style accommodations with complete kitchen and bath facilities and laundry rooms on the premises. Resident advisers live on each floor, and there is 24-hour security. Out-of-town freshmen are guaranteed housing if their contracts are received by May 1. The university also assists students in finding off-campus residences. Dining services are offered in several welcoming facilities across the campus and are available to all students.
The graduate programs of the University of the Arts offer an impressive combination of strengths: exceptionally accomplished faculty members, a remarkably individualized and interactive learning environment, access to outstanding facilities and resources, specialized studios, and programs of study that are both highly focused and highly flexible. UArts offers graduate degrees in art education; book arts/printmaking; ceramics, painting and sculpture; industrial design; jazz studies; museum communication; museum education; museum exhibition, planning, and design; music education; and teaching visual arts. A post baccalaureate certificate in crafts is also offered.
Location
The university's campus spans the vibrant Avenue of the Arts from South Street to Walnut Street and is the cultural hub of Center City Philadelphia. Next door to the university's historic Hamilton Hall is the city's magnificent Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts; in adjacent blocks are the famous Academy of Music, Wilma Theater, Suzanne Roberts Theater, and the university's historic Merriam Theater, which books touring Broadway shows for the public and hosts UArts student performances. The area also has excellent museums (Philadelphia Museum of Art and Barnes Museum), galleries, music and dance facilities, superb restaurants, and retail stores. Of historic importance, but also modern and sophisticated, the city is at the same time one of the nation's major metropolitan centers and a series of small, close-knit neighborhoods with beautiful tree-lined squares. Fairmount Park, one of the country's largest public park systems, provides facilities for sports activities and picnicking. Statistics show that UArts is one of the safest campuses in the city.
Majors and Degrees
The College of Art, Media, and Design confers degrees in three areas: Film (the BFA degree in animation, film and video, and writing for film and television); Visual Arts (the BFA degree in crafts, illustration, multidisciplinary fine arts, painting/drawing, photography, printmaking, and sculpture) and Design (the BFA degree in graphic design, interactive design, and motion design); and the BS degree in industrial design. It also offers a certificate program in art education and a concentration in art therapy. The School of Music confers the BM in composition, instrumental performance (with a jazz/contemporary focus), and vocal performance. A 4-year diploma in music is also available. The School of Dance offers the BFA in ballet, dance education, jazz dance, and modern dance. The School of Theater Arts offers the BFA in acting, musical theater, theater design and technology, and directing, playwriting, and production. A 2-year certificate is available in dance and music.
Academic Programs
Students are attracted to the University of the Arts because of its dynamic, creative atmosphere. Whether majoring in dance, sculpture, graphic design, or multimedia, they enjoy interacting and collaborating with their talented peers in other disciplines. Students are encouraged, to the extent that their busy schedules allow, to take elective courses outside their chosen majors, and many participate in collaborative projects with students from a range of other programs. All students take 42 credits in liberal arts, which gives them vital exposure to humanities, social science, and science, and provides them with the historical and theoretical frameworks of their major fields.
The freshman year in the Visual Art and Design programs in the College of Art, Media, and Design is devoted to the Foundation Program; its focus is exploratory, allowing students to investigate various disciplines before deciding on specific majors. Students are assigned to small sections, each with a team of three instructors. In the fall, students take 2-dimensional design, 3-dimensional design, and drawing; in the spring, a student may substitute a Time and Motion course for one of those aforementioned courses. General program requirements vary from department to department. At the end of the freshman year, students select majors from options such as animation, crafts, graphic design, illustration, painting/drawing, photography, printmaking/book arts, or sculpture, and they may add concentrations in art education or art therapy. In the BFA programs in interactive design and motion design, students learn about the integration of image, sound, text, and interactivity into works that tell stories, with opportunities to study varied areas including game design.
In the film programs (animation, film and video, and writing for film and television), freshmen may choose to enter directly into core studies programs that focus on the sensory bases of moving-image art, cinematic art, and storytelling. Through their senior years, students develop their knowledge and experience in areas including documentary video, narrative video, and screenwriting. Students produce portfolio quality work and learn to collaborate, as well as to combine different application areas. Film students take courses in film history, history of television, video production, and cinema arts. Internships in professional settings provide students with real-life experiences in the field. Writing for Film and Television students learn to create feature length screenplays, episodic television series, and movies for television.
A minimum of 123 credits is required by each student for graduation. These 123 credits must include 18 credits in the Foundation Program (or core studies for Film students), 42 credits in the major, 42 credits in liberal arts, 15 credits in electives (9 credits of which must be taken in departments other than the major), and 6 credits in other areas outside the major. Students may request credit by exam in liberal arts subjects and by portfolio exam in studio art subjects.
In the College of Performing Arts, the School of Music program stresses individualized training, with a performance emphasis. Students undergo intensive training in theory and musicianship. Private lessons are supplemented by master classes and ensemble work. In the School of Dance, 2 years of ballet, modern, and jazz dance are required before students choose majors in their junior years. Electives include improvisation, repertory, partnering, Spanish dance, ethnic dance, character, and mime. In the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts, students can choose 1 of 3 majors. Acting majors focus on developing strong rehearsal and performance processes through a wide range of acting, speech, and movement techniques. Musical theater majors train in similar foundation techniques while strengthening their skills in music and dance. Directing, playwriting, and production majors study a range of disciplines, such as stage management, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, production and arts administration, and mask and stage combat, preparing for careers or graduate study in these or related fields. The design and technology major explores the full spectrum of theatrical design and technical production.
In the College of Performing Arts, a minimum of 126 to 130 credits is required for graduation, 42 of which must be in liberal arts. Participation in the 17-credit MATPREP Program enables students to complete bachelor's and master's degrees in teaching music in five years. The university has close working relationships, including internships, with professional theater, dance, and music groups in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Students are also encouraged to seek professional roles.
Academic Facilities
The university facilities are composed of numerous buildings along Philadelphia's dynamic Avenue of the Arts, with studios, classrooms, galleries, theaters, lounges, cafes, dormitories, performance spaces, and administrative offices. Terra Hall provides 17 floors of studios, computer labs, classrooms, state-of-the-art performing spaces, and TV and video production and recording studios. All design departments provide individual workstations for seniors and exhibition spaces that feature student and faculty member work throughout the year. The university also maintains several public galleries, where students may exhibit their work along with curator-managed exhibitions of the work of distinguished guest artists. These include the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, the Arronson and Solmssen Court Galleries, and the Mednick Gallery. Student performances are held in the university's formal theaters, such as the 1,800-seat Merriam Theater, which is one of the city's most historic venues, as well as the 239-seat state-of-the-art Caplan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall and black box theater, the 200-seat Dance Theater, the Gershman Hall black box theater, the Arts Bank main theater and cabaret theater, and in the many informal spaces on campus.
The campus has a multifunctional telephone system and campus-wide wired and wireless Internet access. Academic computing resources include more than 20 labs on Macintosh and PC platforms that are used for special applications, such as animation, digital imaging, 3-D modeling, multimedia, music, CAD, Web page design, and more, as well as some for word processing and general purposes. A number of "smart" classrooms enable faculty members to use computer applications and Internet access in their presentations; smart studios allow students to function as they would in the professional world, with computers in studios or offices.
Students work in a large number and variety of specialized facilities -- both high-tech and containing more traditional technology -- throughout the campus that support the learning of their craft. Among these are the Typography Lab, the Borowsky Center for Publication Arts, digital video editing suites, photo/film/animation labs and darkrooms, a scanner lab, an SGI lab, a bronze foundry and plaster workshop, and crafts studios and workshops for ceramics, metals, wood, glassblowing, papermaking, and fibers. The performing arts facilities include a recording studio; music technology (MIDI) studios; editing suites; music studios and practice rooms; computer labs; dance and movement studios, with barres, mirrors, and resilient floors; and acting studios.
Library facilities include Albert M. Greenfield Library, which contains an extensive collection of books, journals, photographs, and videotapes devoted to the arts; a Picture Resource File; Special Collections, with special strengths in book arts and textiles; a slide library with a collection of more than 140,000 slides of art works and historical images; and a music library with manuscripts, journals, scores, and listening and viewing facilities. Holdings include books and periodicals, music scores, mounted pictures, slides, music recorded in LP and CD formats, videocassettes, videodiscs, and multimedia formats.
Costs
Tuition for the 2011-2012 academic year is $33,500. Accommodations in 3- or 4-person apartment-style dormitory units start at $8100. The 19 meal per week board plan is $4,200.
Financial Aid
Last year, UArts provided $9 million in scholarships and grants to new students, alone. About one third went to those demonstrating financial need; the balance was awarded in talent- or merit-based scholarships. Overall, UArts students receive more than $40 million in scholarships, grants, loans, and part-time employment each year. Typically, 83 percent of the students enrolled on a full-time basis are eligible for some type of need-based aid. All students should apply for financial aid using the FAFSA as early as possible after January 1. Financial need is defined as the difference between the cost of education and the family's federally calculated contribution to those costs, called the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Where need exists, UArts assists in meeting costs within its available resources.
The university funds Presidential Scholarships, Promising Young Artist Awards, and Artist Grants based on artistic potential and academic achievement. Financial aid is also available on the applicant's demonstrated financial need. As mentioned above, applicants must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). March 1 is the suggested filing date, though as soon as possible after January 1 is a good idea.
The university administers the following federal, campus-based student assistance programs: Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants. Applicants who wish to be considered for scholarships should complete applications for admission and financial aid prior to March 31. Families from many different income levels can each qualify for some type of financial assistance. In addition, the university's location in a large, active city provides students with diverse opportunities for part-time employment that can also help to alleviate financial burdens.
Faculty
Faculty members are practicing professionals who are deeply committed to and highly engaged with the development of their students. As active participants in the arts, many of them have successfully achieved recognition in their specific fields of study. This real-world experience gives them the knowledge and understanding so vital in the training of young, emerging artists, not just professionally but also in terms of personal growth. The faculty consists of 477 full- and part-time members; the majority of those members hold advanced degrees. The faculty member-student ratio is about 1:9.
Student Government
Student Council serves as the voice of the students within the university. It also supports a variety of student organizations, including a community service organization, a student-run gallery, and many others.
Admission Requirements
In addition to submitting a portfolio or auditioning, each applicant should submit his or her high school transcripts, SAT or ACT scores, one letter of recommendation, and a personal statement of purpose.
The placement of transfer students is made after evaluation of their portfolios or auditions and determination of their approved credits. Transfer students may be given advanced standing.
International applicants are required to submit scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL); a minimum score of 550 on the paper-based TOEFL or 213 on the computer-based TOEFL is required. Early entrance and deferred entrance are possible.