Mason Gross School of the Arts

The Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, serves as the university's conservatory for the arts. Mason W. Gross, who served as the sixteenth president of Rutgers, is honoured with the naming of this building. Mason Gross University confers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance, Theater, Digital Filmmaking, and Visual Arts; the Bachelor of Music degree; the Master of Fine Arts degree in Theater and Visual Arts; the Master of Education in Dance; the Master of Music degree; the Doctor of Musical Arts degree; the Artist Diploma in Music; and the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in composition, theory, and musicology. Mason Gross University only recently began offering a Bachelor of Design degree as part of a brand-new programme in the Visual Arts department.

Mason Gross was established in 1976 inside Rutgers University as a school of the artistic and performing arts. In the same year, Mason Gross transitioned from being a part of the undergraduate colleges to being an independent degree-granting institution.

In 1981, all of the other Rutgers colleges' fine arts departments were merged into Mason Gross. Since then, the school has grown to encompass more than 20 buildings, including the sizable visual arts studios at the Livingston campus and the Civic Square Building in the middle of New Brunswick, in addition to a variety of performing-arts spaces. The buildings are all located on the Rutgers Douglass College campus, with the exception of the Civic Square Building. Both of these buildings are located in the city of New Brunswick (on the Livingston campus).

Jack Bettenbender, who was active in the theatre as an actor, director, and writer, served as the school's first dean beginning in 1976 and continuing until his death in 1988. Both at Rutgers University and in New York City, Bettenbender was the director of hundreds of different stage performances. A green area outside of the Mason Gross School of the Arts that was named after and dedicated in 2002 to commemorate John Bettenbender, the school's first dean. The plaza serves as a meeting place for students in the breaks between courses, as well as a venue for spontaneous performances and nighttime activities during the summer months. The eulogy at the dedication was given by Avery Brooks.

Bettenbender Plaza The performing arts facility of Rutgers University in New Brunswick is called Nicholas Music Hall, and Bettenbender Plaza can be found just in front of it. The objective was to build a plaza that would not only serve as an entrance to the institution but would also complement the events that take place at the theatre.

As a study and reference library for all levels, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Music Library is home to roughly 15,000 recordings in addition to 30,000 monographs and scores. When the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center is finally finished being constructed in 2019, the school's studios and performance stages will move there.

Along with lessons, rehearsals, and a wide variety of leisure activities, the Mason Gross School of the Arts hosts more than 500 events each year on its campus.

Accepts just 1 in every 20 applications submitted.