A Message from the Dean

Welcome to the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut, long recognized as one of the major artistic and cultural forces in New England.  The School of Fine Arts encompasses three academic areas including Art and Art History, Music, and the Dramatic Arts.  All of these programs offer degrees at the graduate and undergraduate levels with doctoral programs in Music.  In addition, the School of Fine Arts accommodates a full calendar of performances and exhibits on the campus.  The William Benton Museum of Art, the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, the Contemporary Art Galleries and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry provide exciting venues for students and visiting artists on the campus of the University of Connecticut.  Last year, over 200,000 people attended a myriad of School of Fine Arts exhibitions, performances and concerts. 

The School of Fine Arts is dedicated to the highest artistic and academic standards and has broadened its environment during the past five years.  In the Spring of 2004, the 7,500 square foot Evelyn Gilman Gallery was opened as an extension of the William Benton Museum of Art.  It features a new Museum Shop, a café, and a beautiful exhibition space.  In October, 2004, the intimate 241 seat Nafe Katter Thrust Theater was dedicated in the Department of Dramatic Arts. 

The School has been enriched with significant partnerships with art organizations throughout the region, including a curatorial partnership with the New Britain Museum of Art, a collaborative partnership with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, a partnership with the Berkshire Theater Festival, and a unique collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera of New York City. 

The School is also enriched by the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Competition which attracts young composers throughout the world, the Sackler Master Artists and Scholars Institute, the Sackler Master Artist Residency, and the Sackler Art and Archaeology Lecture Series.  Each year we celebrate the memory of Alice Heilig with a major memorial concert that attracts major new talent among pianists to our campus. 

Currently, the School of Fine Arts is involved in design planning for  a new Fine Arts Center being designed by Herbert Newman & Partners in New Haven, Connecticut and Frank Gehry Partners, Santa Monica, California.  This new building will be a unique artistic signature building on the campus of the University of Connecticut.  It will include new recital halls, a concert hall, a main stage theater, a black box theater, puppetry laboratories, art galleries, studios, classrooms, and rehearsal rooms.  It is a major undertaking which will serve and inspire our students while leading our faculty to new and greater heights.  This new building will attract many thousands of people to our campus as we emerge as a center of cultural life that enhances the entire state of Connecticut.

From the premiers of new plays to performances by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops to Human Rights exhibits in the Benton Museum of Art, to international print making conferences, the School of Fine Arts serves as a center for artistic development and exploration.  This website provides a unique glimpse into the creative life of the University of Connecticut campus.

Sincerely,

David G. Woods, Dean
School of Fine Arts