University of the Arts (Philadelphia)

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University of the Arts


Established	1985, 1877, 1870
Faculty	114 full time, 420 part time
Students	2,300
Location	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Campus	Urban
Website	http://www.uarts.edu

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The University of the Arts (UArts) is one of the nation’s oldest universities dedicated to the arts. Its campus makes up a significant part of the Avenue of the Arts in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia. The University is composed of three colleges: the College of Art and Design, the College of Performing Arts and the College of Media and Communication.

1 History
2 Academic divisions
3 Notable Alumni
4 Facilities
5 USP exchange agreement
6 External links

[edit] History

Year	History
1870	Philadelphia Musical Academy founded
1876	Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (PaMSIA) founded
1877	Philadelphia Conservatory of Music founded
1893	PaMSIA moves into Broad and Pine streets building designed by John Haviland in 1824
1938	PaMSIA becomes the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (PhMSIA) and begins to grant academic degrees
1918	The Shubert Theater opens on South Broad
1947	Philadelphia Dance Academy founded
1949	PhMSIA becomes the Philadelphia Museum School of Art
1950	Philadelphia Musical Academy begins to grant Bachelor of Music degrees
1959	Philadelphia Museum School of Art receives accreditation and becomes the Philadelphia Museum College of Art
1962	Philadelphia Musical Academy merges with Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and continues under the name of the Philadelphia Musical Academy
1964	Philadelphia Museum College of Art separates from the Museum to become the Philadelphia College of Art (PCA)
1972	Philadelphia Musical Academy acquires Broad Street’s Shubert Theater
1976	Philadelphia Musical Academy becomes the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (PCPA)
1977	Philadelphia Dance Academy joins PCPA and becomes the School of Dance
1983	PCPA introduces School of Theater Arts
1985	PCA and PCPA join to become the Philadelphia Colleges of the Arts
1987	Philadelphia Colleges of the Arts is granted university status by the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Thomas Gilhool and becomes The University of the Arts; Peter Solmssen named first president
1991	The Shubert Theater renamed Merriam Theater
1994	The University opens the Philadelphia Arts Bank Theater
1996	The College of Media and Communication is founded
1998	The University purchases the 211 South Broad Street Building and dedicates it to Ambassador Daniel J. Terra
2005	The University of the Arts Center for the Creative Economy established

The University was created in 1985 with the merger of the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (PCPA) and the Philadelphia College of Art (PCA). These founding institutions have a long history.

In 1870, the Philadelphia Musical Academy (PMA) was created. Seven years later, the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music (PCM) was founded. In 1944, the Children's Dance Theatre, later known as the Philadelphia Dance Academy (PDA), was founded by Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck. In 1962, the PCM was merged into the PMA. In 1976, the PMA acquired the PDA and renamed itself the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (PCPA). After establishing a School of Theater in 1983, the institution became the first performing arts college in Pennsylvania to offer a comprehensive range of majors in music, dance and theater. This institution is now the College of Performing Arts.

In 1876, the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (PaMSIA) was founded as both a museum and an art school. In 1938, the museum changed its name to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the school became the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. In 1964, the school became independent of the museum and renamed itself the Philadelphia College of Art (PCA). This institution is now the College of Art and Design.

Twelve years after the merger, in 1997, the University added a third academic division, the College of Media and Communication.

[edit] Academic divisions

Undergraduate students take two thirds of their classes from one of the three component colleges of UArts and one third of their classes from the Division of Liberal Arts. Graduate students work within one of the colleges.

[edit] College of Performing Arts

Majors: Dance, Music and Theater Arts
Minors: Music Education and E-Music
Graduate programs: Jazz Studies, Music Education

[edit] College of Art and Design

Majors: Animation, Crafts, Film/Animation, Film/Digital Video, Graphic Design, Illustration, Industrial Design, Painting/Drawing. Photography, Printmaking/Book Arts and Sculpture
Minors: Animation, Book Arts, Figurative Illustration, Film/Digital Video, Narrative Video, Photography, Studio Photography and Typography
Concentrations: Digital Fine Arts, Art Education Pre-Certification and Art Therapy
Graduate programs: Art Education/Teaching, Book Arts/Printmaking, Ceramics, Crafts Post-Baccalaureate, Industrial Design, Museum Studies, Painting and Sculpture

[edit] College of Media and Communication

Majors: Communication, Multimedia and Writing for Film & Television</a>
Minors: Documentary Video, E-Music, E-Publishing, Game Design, Information Architecture, Multimedia, Narrative Video, Screenwriting, Strategic Advertising, Web Design, Web Drama

The college is divided into the following major disciplines: Multimedia, Communication, and Writing for Film & Television. The Multimedia program is directed by Chris Garvin and Communication and Writing for Film & Television is directed by Jeff Ryder.

The Multimedia Department runs a student curated gallery, which includes the following shows:

The Fall 2006 semester housed the show Splice, curated by Nichole Bartholomew, Dejha Mascellino, Alexander Schneider.
Spring 2006 semester housed the show Feed://, curated by Daniel Delaney and Nichole Bartholomew which was an exploration of a new broadcasting technology called RSS or Really Simply Syndication. More information on this show can be found at Multimedia Department Gallery.

[edit] Notable Alumni

Irene Bedard: Actress who played the model and voice of Disney's animated movie Pocahontas; has appeared in over 30 television and movie productions
Stan and Jan Berenstain: Authors and illustrators of the children’s books The Berenstain Bears
Ken Carbone and Leslie Smolan: Partners in their New York City strategic graphic design firm whose clients have included include the Louvre, Tiffany, Christie’s
Stanley Clarke: Emmy and Grammy-winning jazz bassist
Heather Donahue: Star of the groundbreaking independent film The Blair Witch Project
David Ewing: Emmy and HUGO award winner
Wharton Eschrick: Dean of American Craftsmen
Judith Jamison: Dancer, choreographer; artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; studied with Marion Cuyjet, discovered by Agnes de Mille and made her New York debut with American Ballet Theatre in 1964; Kennedy Center Honors recipient.
Rick Kidney: Produced Hollywood blockbusters Forrest Gump and Goodfellas.
Noel Mayo: Industrial design pioneer, founder and president of Noel Mayo Associates, whose clients include NASA, IBM, the U.S. departments of Commerce and Agriculture, Black and Decker, the Museum of American Jewish History and the Philadelphia International Airport.
Irving Penn: Leading American celebrity portraitist and fashion photographer; photographed over 100 covers of Vogue magazine; portraits include Martha Graham, Marcel Duchamp and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Florence Quivar: International mezzo soprano opera singer with New York’s Metropolitan Opera; has won critical acclaim for her performances in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Oedipus Rex, L’italiana in Algeri and Le prophète and as Serena in the Met’s historic first production of Porgy and Bess.
Arnold Roth: Cartoonist who worked for Time, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated and Playboy.
LaChanze: Broadway actress who won a Tony Award for her lead role in Oprah Winfrey’s production of A Color Purple.
Jared Leto: Actor and Musician. Acting credits include My So-Called Life, Fight Club and Girl, Interrupted. He is also the lead singer of the band 30 Seconds to Mars.

[edit] Facilities

The University's campus is located in Center City Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts cultural district and is comprised of 10 buildings with more than 850,000 square feet. UArts also maintains several collections, galleries, and theaters in the area that are of interest to students and/or patrons of the arts.

[edit] Collections

The Albert M. Greenfield Library houses 152,067 bound volumes, 6,936 CDs, 14,901 periodicals, 16,820 scores and 1965 videos and DVDs.
The Music Library collection holds approximately 20,000 scores, 15,000 books, 10,000 LP discs, and 5,000 CDs.
Visual resources collection includes 175,000 slides.
University Archives
Picture File
Book Arts and Textile Collections
Drawing Resource Center

[edit] Galleries

UArts has 10 galleries. Recent exhibitions include: Vito Acconci, Rosalyn Drexler, April Gornik, Alex Grey, James Hyde, Jon Kessler, Donald Lipski, Robert Motherwell, Stuart Netsky, Irving Penn, Jack Pierson, Anne and Patrick Poirer, Yvonne Rainer and Andy Warhol.

[edit] Theaters

UArts theaters include:

Merriam Theater (seats 1,840)
Levitt Auditorium (seats 850, with the floor cleared for standing-room only it can hold up to 1500)
Black Box Theater (seating varies)
the Arts Bank (seats 239).

[edit] USP exchange agreement

The University of the Arts and University of the Sciences in Philadelphia have an exchange agreement, effective Spring 2007. This agreement allows ten students from each university to take one course a semester at the other institution. Paying tuition to their home institution, students may take up to 18 credits of course work at the away campus over six semesters.