University of the Arts (Philadelphia)

The University of the Arts (UArts) is a university of visual and performing arts based 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, and the College of Performing Arts, as well as 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 College of Art, Media & Design is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, and the School of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.

History
The university was created in 1985 by the merger of the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts and the Philadelphia College of Art, two schools that trace their origins to the 1870s.

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

In 1985, the Philadelphia 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, which merged with the College of Art and Design in 2011 to become the College of Art, Media & Design.

Academics
The University of the Arts' nearly 1,900 students are enrolled in 41 undergraduate and graduate programs in six schools: Art, Design, Film, Dance, Music and the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts. In addition, the university's Division of Continuing Studies offers courses through its Continuing Education, Pre-College, and Professional Institute for Educators programs.

College of Performing Arts
 * Majors: Dance; Jazz Studies (Composition, Instrumental Performance, Vocal Performance); Music Business, Entrepreneurship + Technology; Acting; Musical Theater; Directing, Playwriting + Production; Theater Design + Technology
 * Graduate programs: MFA in Devised Performance, MM in Jazz Studies, MM in Music Education, MAT in Music Education

College of Art, Media & Design
 * Majors: Animation; Film + Animation; Photo + Film Media; Interdisciplinary Fine Arts; Craft + Material Studies; Design, Art + Technology; Film + Video; Advertising Design; Graphic Design; Illustration; Industrial Design; Photography; Film Design + Production
 * Graduate programs: Art Education/Teaching, Book Arts + Printmaking, Crafts Post-Baccalaureate, MDes in Design for Social Impact, MDes in Product Design, Museum Studies (programs in Museum Communication, Museum Education, and Museum Exhibition Planning + Design: http://museumstudies.uarts.edu/, Studio Art

Division of Liberal Arts
 * Majors: Creative Writing; Film + Media Studies; Writing for Film + Television

Facilities and collections
The university's campus, located in the Avenue of the Arts cultural district of Center City, Philadelphia, includes 10 buildings with more than 850000 sqft.

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.

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.

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.

Programs
Polyphone Festival

Polyphone is a festival in its fifth year that features developing and emerging musicals at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. Composers and lyricists are invited to campus to try new things and experiment with students. It is being run by the artistic director César Alvarez, the festival looks to push on the question "What is a musical?" Most shows take the form of a staged concert. "Watching eight hours of newly born musicals is a totally overwhelming experience, but it puts us into a sublime state of openness and reflection about our craft and our purpose" -César Alvarez. The festivals lineups include:

The festival was also recently featured on the American Theatre Wing's Working in the Theatre series.

Residence halls
The university has four on-campus residence halls located in the heart of Center City. Each dorm contains beds, dressers, desks, and chairs. They also contain a bathroom and mini kitchen with a mini fridge and cabinets. The halls include Furness, Pine, Spruce, and Juniper (reserved mainly for upperclassmen).

Notable alumni

 * Julian Abele, architect
 * Richard Amsel, illustrator, recipient of 2009 UArts "Silver Star Alumni Award"
 * Maxwell Atoms, animator, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
 * Katie Baldwin, artist
 * Robert Barber, member of musical group High Places
 * Bo Bartlett, contemporary realist painter
 * Bascove, painter and illustrator
 * Irene Bedard, actress, voice of Pocahontas
 * Howard Benson, rock music producer
 * Stan and Jan Berenstain, authors and illustrators, The Berenstain Bears
 * Adam Blackstone, bassist, music director Grammy Award winner
 * Marc Blitzstein, composer
 * Aliki Brandenberg, author and illustrator
 * Bryan Brinkman, cartoon animator
 * Claude Clark, artist, art educator
 * Stanley Clarke, jazz bassist, Emmy Award and Grammy Award winner
 * Du Chisiza, Malawian author, playwright, producer – Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture
 * Emory Cohen, actor, Brooklyn
 * Gil Cohen, aviation artist
 * Rachel Constantine, painter
 * William B. Cooper, organist, composer – Minister of Music at St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Harlem, New York) (1953–74)
 * Stephen Costello, tenor, Metropolitan Opera
 * Joe Dante, film director, Gremlins, The 'Burbs
 * Irv Docktor, artist and illustrator
 * Heather Donahue, actress, The Blair Witch Project
 * James Doolin, saturated photo realist painter
 * George Meade Easby, great-grandson of George Meade and a noted art and antique collector
 * Heather Mae Erickson, artist
 * Wharton Esherick, craftsman, printmaker
 * Robin Eubanks, jazz trombonist, composer and arranger, Grammy Award winner
 * Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, artist
 * Paul Felder, acting (2008), professional MMA fighter with the UFC
 * Kate Flannery, actress, The Office
 * Charles Fracé, wildlife painter
 * Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, sculptor
 * Paul Goldberg, drummer and producer


 * Cheryl Goldsleger, contemporary painter
 * Sidney Goodman, painter
 * David Graham, noted photographer of the American landscape
 * Roger Hane, book illustrator
 * Natalie Hinderas, professor, pianist and composer
 * Frances Tipton Hunter, artist and illustrator
 * Judith Jamison, dancer and choreographer, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and American Ballet Theatre
 * Carlton Jones Lake, conductor and choirmaster
 * Mohammed Kazem, conceptual artist
 * Elle King, singer and songwriter, author of Ex's & Oh's
 * Harold Knerr, cartoonist and illustrator for The Katzenjammer Kids
 * Courtney Lapresi, dancer, MasterChef (season 5) contestant & winner.
 * LaChanze, Broadway actress, Tony Award winner, (The Color Purple)
 * Linh Dinh, Poet
 * Amy Mathews, Australian actress on soap opera, Home and Away
 * Matt McAndrew, singer and musician, The Voice (U.S. season 7) contestant. Turned 3 chairs, landed on Team Adam Levine, & was 1st Runner-Up
 * John Mecray, American realism painter – marine art
 * Katherine Milhous, artist/illustrator, Caldecott Medal winner
 * Frank Modell (1917–2016), cartoonist
 * Ana Ortiz, actress, Ugly Betty & Devious Maids
 * Emi Ozawa, artist
 * Irving Penn, celebrity portraitist and fashion photographer
 * Flo Perkins, glass artist
 * Vincent Persichetti, composer, Juilliard professor
 * Steve Powers, graffiti artist. Known as ESPO. Painted "Love letter for you" murals in Philadelphia
 * Brothers Quay, Timothy and Steven, stop-motion illustrators and filmmakers
 * Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano opera singer, Metropolitan Opera
 * James Rolfe, creator, The Angry Video Game Nerd
 * Arnold Roth, cartoonist
 * Charles Santore, illustrator
 * Cal Schenkel, illustrator and graphic designer, Frank Zappa collaborator
 * Richard Schultz, furniture designer
 * Lucas Steele, Broadway performer famously known for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
 * Leslie Stetz, creator of Tabby Cat.
 * KaDee Strickland, actress, The Grudge. 2006 UArts’ "Silver Star Alumni Award"
 * Nicole Tranquillo, vocalist, American Idol (season 6) contestant
 * Samuel Yellin, blacksmith, sculptor and teacher
 * Joseph Menna, sculptor and engraver

Notable faculty

 * 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
 * Alexey Brodovitch (1930–1940), photographer, designer, art director
 * Gil Cohen, aviation artist
 * Aaron Levinson, Grammy Award-winning producer and musician
 * Camille Paglia (1947–), author and feminist social critic
 * Vincent Persichetti, composer
 * LaVaughn Robinson (1927–2008), professor from 1980–2008, American tap dancer, recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a "Living National Treasure"
 * Lizbeth Stewart (1948–2013), American ceramist
 * Samuel Yellin, master blacksmith