The University of the Arts Courses & FeesPhiladelphia, USA

In today’s global music industry, the tasks of recording, producing, mixing, financing, marketing and promoting music are becoming more entrepreneurial than corporate. And in the top-ranked Music Business, Entrepreneurship & Technology (MBET) Bachelor of Science (BS) degree program at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, you’ll learn the most up-to-date and comprehensive skills you’ll need to succeed and excel in where the industry’s going. 

Our music business program is especially suited for those willing to experiment, push boundaries and envision new models for the future of the industry. Whether it’s running a recording studio, building audio electronics, marketing for artists and venues, or working with licensing and publishing, the MBET curriculum can be molded to fit your individual needs while preparing you for your desired career.

The Museum Exhibition Planning and Design MFA degree program provides a boutique learning experience: Class sizes are kept small to allow for personalized attention from an impressive faculty of working museum professionals. Theory is put into action through inclusive practice, with opportunities to work with real-world clients and in cross-disciplinary teams.

Our classroom is Philadelphia, the nation’s first UNESCO World Heritage City, with behind-the-scenes access to hundreds of museums, cultural institutions and historical sites that are as lively and active today as they were in the 1700s. Our national network of alumni and partnering museums provides students with valuable and practical internship experiences.

The Masters in Museum Studies program prepares students to apply critical thinking and strategy in the museum field. As expert storytellers, creators and designers, our grads lead the way for museums, creative agencies, and nonprofits to communicate their missions, expand their audiences, reach out to communities and increase their financial resources.

This 36-credit master's program takes one year, full time, to complete, featuring two-degree emphases, Education and Engagement. The program allows for greater networking opportunities and a scaffolded approach to experiential learning—from coursework and curriculum integrated in museums and cultural institutions, to a culminating internship that can take place anywhere. Our cohorts model provides a boutique educational experience: Class sizes are kept small to allow for personalized attention from an impressive faculty of working museum professionals. Studies frequently delve into current topics such as diversity advocacy, accessibility for all, emerging technologies, and staff equity. Students will engage in design and strategic thinking in order to generate solutions and applications to the current challenges facing museums.

Animation is now, more than ever, ubiquitous in our daily lives. From the fantastic stories that entertain us at the movies, on television and mobile devices, to the interactivity of characters in games and new immersive media, to the motion graphics and visual effects of every video production, advertisement, and graphical user interface, an animator’s skills have been utilized to produce them. The Animation program prepares students to create innovative work in computer, traditional, stop-motion, and experimental animation. The basic principles of animation can be applied to all forms of image and object manipulation. The program grounds its graduates in a strong understanding of timing and motion, a thorough awareness of the wide variety of techniques available to current professional animators, and knowledge of the history and potential of the medium. Animation majors obtain a solid background in life drawing and traditional modes of animation, as well as 2D and 3D computer animation. Students choose an emphasis to focus on one of three areas: 2D, 3D, or Stop-Motion/Experimental as they design and complete short films in their sophomore and junior years before their capstone senior thesis animated film.

University of the Arts’ BFA program in Art is a flexible, multidisciplinary major that allows you to explore media, practices and courses throughout the School of Art without the need to declare one of the school’s specific disciplines. You can choose ​​from any courses available in the School of Art curriculum, including Ceramics, Crafts, Creative Writing, Drawing, Fibers, Painting, Photography, Sculpture and courses offered in the university’s Makerspace.

Curiosity, exploration and self-directed research are the pillars of the BFA in Art program. You’ll be able to form your own educational path, built around a few courses all BFA in Art students will share. You can choose from a range of artistic practices and explore many forms of media, diverse contemporary makers and compelling art-historical influences.

By prioritizing your passions and interests, the BFA in Art helps you find your distinct, individual artistic voice and prepares you for creating in the contemporary art world, where most artists draw on a mix of media to create their work. Screen-printing can inform your approach to photography; photography can be integrated with painting; drawing, writing and objects can live in a work together. These options strengthen your skill set and your self-expression, while creating possibilities for interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary creative practices.

BFA in Art graduates will begin their professional lives prepared to make significant cultural contributions, exhibit work in art institutions of all kinds, effect social change, and become entrepreneurs and collaborators.

As a student in the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in Creative Writing at University of the Arts, you will study the writing of poetry, fiction, flash / memoir and nonfiction from award-winning authors, pursuing your interests in an ever-expanding list of courses such as Graphic Novel, Speculative Fiction, Screenplay Adaptation and many more. The Creative Writing BFA degree program utilizes the workshop model, which is a working session for your writing that includes a judgment-free discussion with your peers and faculty. While studying at UArts, you’ll be able to take advantage of a huge variety of minors and arts courses including music, theater and dance, and you’ll be able to collaborate with your peers in an inspiring, artistic environment.

Under the leadership of Donna Faye Burchfield, the School of Dance at University of the Arts in Philadelphia is a community of 300 talented, expressive students and an exceptional faculty of world-recognized artists with expansive and far-reaching abilities and experiences.

The school reimagines and reinvigorates curricular approaches to reflect the ever-expanding landscape of dance, while training and supporting the futures of young dance artists. Students are encouraged to discover their interests; articulate their perspectives; and situate themselves as participants capable of developing critical approaches to dance, performance and study. The curriculum takes the depth and rigor of a discipline-based dance conservatory, while actively interweaving practice and theory and maintaining international collaborations and exchanges at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Film & Animation at University of the Arts in Philadelphia allows you to study both ways to use moving images—whether you want to create narrative, documentary or experimental film, or traditional, stop-motion or computer-generated animation. You’ll learn film and animation techniques, explore various genres and styles, and create a capstone project that combines film and animation in innovative ways.

You'll also discover how your work fits into the canon of existing films and animations by studying the larger cultural, historical and aesthetic contexts of each field. Working closely with award-winning professional filmmakers and animators, and in collaboration with peers, major classes are a mixture of hands-on instruction, lectures, screenings and critiques. You can take advantage of internship and study abroad opportunities, and you'll graduate with the skills to confidently pursue creative careers in both fields.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film degree program at University of the Arts challenges traditional ideas about how moving images are created, inspired by the work of cutting-edge practitioners in the field, including our own faculty. Among our faculty are an Academy Award–nominated independent filmmaker and award-winning television producer; a narrative filmmaker whose last feature was a New York Times Critic’s Pick; and an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose most recent films were selected for the 2020 and 2021 Sundance Film Festivals. With a student-to-faculty ratio of just 8:1, you’ll have mentoring and individual attention as you develop your creative voice.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Film Design at University of the Arts in Philadelphia allows you to learn the creative and artistic areas of design involved in filmmaking.

You can become a production designer; an art director; or a designer of costumes, sets, lighting or sound. You’ll get a foundation in costumes, sets, lighting, sound and technical production, and then pick one or two chosen areas to concentrate on. Before you graduate, you’ll execute design work for a film project.

In University of the Arts’ Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program in Fine Arts, your personal vision and artistic innovation anchor the development of your work. You’ll be exposed to a wide range of historical and contemporary art and encouraged to choose techniques, processes and formats that are necessary for your artistic vision. You’ll develop a personal studio practice based on conceptual interests, expanding your technical skills, and integrating cultural and historical context into your perspective.

The Fine Arts curriculum is based on a framework of research, studio experimentation, artistic invention and daily practice. You’ll be prepared to produce significant cultural contributions and dialogue, exhibit art in galleries and museums, and create work for diverse communities and public spaces. You’ll complete assignments that will develop your conceptual skills, so you can master the processes and techniques you need to achieve your artistic vision.

As a student in the Fine Arts program, you can choose an emphasis in Painting, Expanded Drawing and Print Media or Sculpture. Each of these emphases has five required classes. Using elective classes, you can choose a broad field of study or acquire deep knowledge in your chosen discipline. Generally, you’ll take one class in your emphasis and one interdisciplinary class each semester. 

Critical thinking and visual analysis is combined with research into culturally important areas outside of the arts, such as, philosophy, psychology, history, sociology and science. Upon graduation, you’ll be prepared to add something of value to the human experience and make a mark on history.

Your senior thesis project/exhibition prepares you for successful entry into graduate-level programs or a variety of professional careers, as well as preparing you to be competitive in gaining other forms of support such as grants, residencies and gallery exhibitions.
 

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program in Game Art addresses an area of specialization with 2-D and 3-D graphics for real-time systems such as games and simulations.

In the Game Art Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program, you’ll express your creativity and prepare for a productive career. Our students enter the Game Art degree program with experience in traditional art or design. Prior experience in game art is not necessary, as you’ll learn those skills and techniques during your studies. This degree program develops fine artists with a strong core foundation who use contemporary technology. You’ll be prepared to become an effective, creative partner—whether co-founding your own indie development studio or working on a large AAA title.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Graphic Design program at University of the Arts offers a comprehensive conceptual curriculum that will prepare you for employment in fields ranging from publication design to motion graphics to branding and more.

Our Graphic Design BFA will equip you with a solid design process, as well as problem-solving strategies for every form of visual communication. You’ll learn to think critically, creatively, experimentally and strategically, in order to create visual messages that can be shared in meaningful ways through a variety of media. The program is cross-disciplinary and fosters collaboration with other programs at the university, as well as local arts organizations, nonprofits and social agencies.

Discover and develop your distinct visual voice in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration at University of the Arts. You’ll be trained in technique, image-making, concept development and self-promotion. 

Students in the Illustration program are trained in industry-standard digital software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and After Effects to digitally paint, design layouts and add motion to illustration. You’ll use technology such as our Cintiq Lab, outfitted with 16 brand-new 22-inch Wacom Cintiqs, as well as tools in our Makerspace, such as a 3-D printer and laser cutter. You’ll also receive training in anatomy, integrating typography, experimenting with traditional painting methods, and developing narratives to give students a well-rounded experience across media.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Interaction Design (IxD) at the University of the Arts offers a broad, interdisciplinary curriculum that integrates technological skills with a critical, theoretical and historical understanding of design, technology, and the arts.

As a student in the Music Composition Bachelor of Music (BM) degree program, you’ll be able to create your own path toward becoming a professional music composer. Learn music composition for every genre of music, and specialize in the genre that most interests you—including big band, classical, gospel, alternative rock, electronica and more. Small class sizes ensure you get proper attention and the opportunity to grow, and an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration allows you to work creatively with Film, Animation, Theater and Dance students. In UArts’ four-year, 120-credit Music Composition BM degree program, you’ll find your own distinct voice and receive instruction from different teachers with their own unique expertise.

As a student in the Instrumental Performance degree program, you can choose to learn one or many musical instruments including bass, drum set, guitar, percussion, piano, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, vibraphone and woodwinds. If you consider your instrument to be a true extension of yourself and your personality, if jazz or contemporary musical performance is what you want to do for a living, and if you’re a creative and critical thinker, then the bachelor of music in Instrumental Performance is a good fit for you. UArts will help put you on track to become a professional touring and recording musician, arranger, producer or music director.

While pursuing a degree in Instrumental Performance, you will sharpen your technical and improvisation skills on your instrument. You will master your overall musicianship during core study subjects of arranging and orchestration, music business, music history, music theory and technology. UArts features 19 ensembles of varying genres, including the premiere "Z" Big Band ensemble. Through private lessons and ensembles, you will increase your command of diverse repertoire and styles. Find more information on our ensembles in the Facilities tab below.

UArts’ Vocal Performance program offers you much more than just a solid foundation in proper vocal techniques: In our jazz- and contemporary-based curriculum you can also explore a variety of genres, including pop, rock, a cappella, country, salsa and more, through our more than 40 ensembles.

Class sizes are small, so you'll receive one-on-one attention and private lessons from faculty advisors and mentors. 

With a Painting emphasis in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program, you’ll build strong painting skills with hands-on studio time. You will also develop problem-solving and decision-making skills for all artistic disciplines in a classroom setting.

This is an intense and immersive studio experience, coupled with inspiration from world-class art museums in the city and exposure to a wide range of visiting artists and critics.

The structure of our curriculum allows you to focus on painting while also exploring and collaborating across other fine arts disciplines. You'll expand your cultural and intellectual understanding of the world, and prepare to navigate the complexities of being an artist in today's world.

As a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Photography student at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, you will engage in a comprehensive study of photography. Our program offers the opportunity to explore the many dimensions of photography, including content creation, fine art, immersive media, visual storytelling, editorial, fashion, commercial and documentary. The BFA in Photography also welcomes the study of photography as an interdisciplinary skill.

Joining our program will allow you to explore a full range of options, and then to select your own area of focus. You’ll use the incredible media resources and remarkable facilities at UArts to master techniques in a variety of disciplines, including contemporary digital imaging. Our photography program is designed to help you express your unique artistic voice in multiple modalities through a combination of technical skills, critical thinking and a fine art aesthetic.