Overview and Mission

The School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut provides the University community, as well as the State of Connecticut, an artistic and cultural environment that offers unique expressions of emotion, intellect, and spirit. Antione de Saint-Exupéry, in his book Flight to Arra, states that “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” It is the intrinsic vision in arts activities that is essential to a Research I institution. Students and faculty in the School of Fine Arts have the artistic vision and the artistic imagination to create “cathedrals.” Artistic skills, technique, analytic processes, and historical investigations are all a part of the Fine Arts educational environment, but it is the vision that makes art. It is the visionary image that creates the play, the symphony, or the piece of sculpture.

The School of Fine Arts balances artistic and cultural legacies with the innovative approaches and techniques of contemporary art. In so doing, the School of Fine Arts serves students at the University of Connecticut in both their educational and professional development. As a corner stone of our teaching philosophy, The School of Fine Arts is particularly committed to creating an intersection between our educational activity and the various professional industries connected with our disciplines. This approach emphasizes various forms of experiential learning, and includes faculty and institutional engagement with the professional arts world outside the university.

The School of Fine Arts reaches out to the student body as a whole and to our larger community that extends from Storrs around the world. The School of Fine Arts is committed to reflecting the cultural and racial diversity of our constituency through the content of our programs as well as the recruitment of faculty, staff, and students.

Our Mission

The School of Fine Arts has five primary goals that emerged directly from the Academic Plan of the University of Connecticut.

To give undergraduate and graduate students the highest possible level of professional training in the various fields of the performing and visual arts.
To function as a network of major arts organizations in the production of new and classical works throughout the fine and performing arts for the enrichment of the students, faculty, and staff of the University and the citizens of the State and region.
To encourage faculty excellence in research whether it is measured by publications or by creative achievements and to thus have a significant impact on the practice of the arts nationally and internationally.
To enrich the cultural life at the State, region, and the world through an extensive outreach program of off campus performances, exhibitions, and lectures.
To serve as a resource center in the arts primarily for the citizens of Connecticut providing access to the latest developments in art, music, and dramatic arts as they may be applied to professional, educational, or vocational interests. As a progressive arts center, fund raising continues to be a major priority for the School, particularly as a means of increasing the School’s scholarship and fellowship support as well as support for artists in residence from the United States and foreign countries and for important and needed renovations and additions to the present Fine Arts facilities.

The School of Fine Arts is a professional school dedicated to training University students in music, drama, performance, design, the visual arts, the histories of art, music, and drama; theoretical aspects of artistic forms and the pedagogical fundamentals of music, drama, and art. The School of Fine Arts is an internationally recognized School and Conservatory for advanced professional education and training in specific artistic areas as designated by the three academic departments. The University of Connecticut community greatly benefits on many levels from having a professional-quality School of Fine Arts on its campus as a cultural and intellectual center for the benefit of the general University student, faculty, and the general population of the region.