University of the Arts (Philadelphia)

University of the Arts

University of the Arts in October 2009
Type	Private art university
Established	1870, 1876, 1985
Endowment	$54.1 million (2020)[1]
President	Kerry Walk
Academic staff	121 full time, 420 part time
Students	1,900
Location	Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States [ ⚑ ] 39°56′46″N 75°09′58″W / 39.946°N 75.166°W / 39.946; -75.166
Campus	Urban
|u}}rs	Red      White
Mascot	Unicorn
Website	www.uarts.edu

University of the Arts (UArts) is a private arts university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its campus makes up part of the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, Philadelphia. Dating back to the 1870s, it is one of the oldest schools of art or music in the United States.

The university is composed of two colleges and two Divisions: the College of Art, Media & Design; the College of Performing Arts; the Division of Liberal Arts; and the Division of Continuing Studies. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. In addition, the School of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.^[2]

In 1870, the Philadelphia Musical Academy was created. In 1876, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art was founded as a museum and art school. In 1877, the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music was founded.

In 1921, after graduating from South Philadelphia High School, contralto Marian Anderson applied to the Philadelphia Musical Academy but was turned away because she was "colored."^[3] Today the University's School of Music has a black dean, Kevin Haden.

In 1938, the museum changed its name to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the school became the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art.^[4] In 1964, the school became independent of the museum and renamed itself the Philadelphia Museum College of Art (PMCA).

In 1944, the Children's Dance Theatre, later known as the Philadelphia Dance Academy, was established by Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck. In 1962, the Conservatory of Music and the Musical Academy merged, then, in 1976, the combined organization acquired the Dance Academy, and renamed itself the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. 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 of the University of the Arts.

In 1985, the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts merged to become the Philadelphia Colleges of the Arts, and gained university status as the University of the Arts in 1987.

In 1996, the university added a third academic division, the College of Media and Communication.

In 2011, the College of Media and Communication merged with the College of Art and Design to become the College of Art, Media & Design.

The University of the Arts' approximately 1,500 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs in six schools: Art, Design, Film, Dance, Music, and the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts. In addition, the university offers a PhD in Creativity. The Division of Continuing Studies offers courses through its Continuing Education, Pre-College, Summer Music Studies, and Professional Institute for Educators programs.^[5][6]

The university's campus, in the Avenue of the Arts cultural district of Center City Philadelphia, includes six academic buildings and four residence halls. There are 10 performance venues and 12 exhibition/gallery spaces on campus.^[7]

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 about 20,000 scores, 15,000 books, 10,000 LP discs, and 8,000 CDs. The Visual Resources Collection includes 175,000 slides. Additional university collections include the University Archives, the Picture File, the Book Arts and Textile Collections, and the Drawing Resource Center.^{[citation needed]}

UArts' 10 galleries include one curated by students. Exhibitions have included the Quay Brothers, Vito Acconci, R. Crumb, Rosalyn Drexler, April Gornik, Alex Grey, James Hyde, Jon Kessler, Donald Lipski, Robert Motherwell, Stuart Netsky, Irving Penn, Jack Pierson, Anne and Patrick Poirier, Yvonne Rainer, Lenore Tawney and Andy Warhol.^{[citation needed]}

The University of the Arts currently has seven theaters. The Levitt Auditorium in Gershman Hall is the largest on campus with a seating capacity of 850. Also in Gershman Hall is a black box theater used for student-run productions. The university's Arts Bank Theater seats 230, and the Laurie Beechman Cabaret Theater is located in the same building. The university also utilizes the adjacent Drake Theater, primarily for dance productions. The Caplan Center for the Performing Arts, located on the 16 & 17th floor of Terra Hall – which opened in 2007, houses two theaters. Its black box theater seats 100 and a recital hall seats 250.^{[citation needed]}

The annual Polyphone Festival of New and Emerging Music, launched in 2016, focuses on the emerging musical. Composers, librettists, directors, choreographers and music directors are invited to the campus to work with students on developing musicals.^[8]

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (June 2023)

• Edna Andrade (1917–2008), American geometric abstract painter and early Op Artist, 1996 recipient of the College Art Association Distinguished Teaching of Art Award for her three decades of teaching at Philadelphia College of Art ^[17]
• Alexey Brodovitch (1930–1940), photographer, designer, art director
• Gil Cohen, aviation artist
• William Daley (born 1925), American ceramist, professor from 1957 until 1990.^[18]
• Aaron Levinson, Grammy Award-winning producer and musician
• Camille Paglia (born 1947), author and feminist social critic
• Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987), composer
• Ralph Peterson (1962-2021), jazz drummer
• LaVaughn Robinson (1927–2008), professor from 1980 to 2008, American tap dancer, recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a "Living National Treasure"
• Lizbeth Stewart (1948–2013), American ceramist
• Samuel Yellin (1884-1940), master blacksmith

• Arts education

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