
Being a student of fine arts means heightening your physical, intellectual, and cultural awareness. 51ԹϺ’s fine arts program prepares students for professional careers by helping them to apply their talents in innovative and creative contexts. Campus venues, including theatres, performance halls, studios and an architectural library, are available to students as they pursue their passions. Our artist-in-residence program brings preeminent thought leaders to 51ԹϺ. These artists work with students in class and often participate in experiential projects. The College of Fine Arts offers many public performances, exhibitions, and lectures per week during the academic year. These events vary from professional presentations from world-renowned artists to concerts presented by faculty and students, lectures offered by distinguished artists/writers/critics, exhibitions of student work in galleries, and the prestigious 51ԹϺ Film Series.
College Highlights
The College of Fine Arts offers an average of 4.4 public performances and exhibitions per week during the academic year. These events vary from professional presentations such as the New York Philharmonic and American Ballet Theatre to concerts presented by faculty and students, lectures offered by distinguished artists/writers/critics such as Seamus Heaney, exhibitions of student work in galleries and the 51ԹϺ Film Series.
Mission
The College of Fine Arts educates, empowers, and engages creative people to become visionary change-makers in the arts through acts of imagination. At 51ԹϺ we believe the arts are an essential good for society. We make education relevant and accessible through our programs and outreach. We create new knowledge in the arts. We celebrate independent thought and the power of bringing people together to foster creativity. And, we value:
- Difference
- Kindness
- Discovery
- Inclusion
- Empathy
- Joy
- A spirit of generosity
These values underpin all our efforts and guide us in fulfilling our mission.
How We Measure Success
We measure achievement of our mission through:
CFA Around the world
The College of Fine Arts Around the World initiative is a powerful example of the way in which the CFA embeds and integrates global experiences into the education we offer to students. This is no ordinary travel abroad program, but rather it provides a robust opportunity for students to make original art and perform throughout the world to better understand it. Through this experiential learning, students develop agency and an inventive spirit. These characteristics are paramount to an artist's 21st century career success. After all, we are preparing students for careers for the years to come -- those that don't even exist yet! Emerging artists need to be ready to embrace whatever the future holds for them.

"The passion and inclusivity displayed by the professors and faculty of the film department have always made me feel very welcome. Every time I pass a familiar face in the halls or bump into someone on a set, there is always a warm smile and a kind, 'hello!'"
-Ian Watson, Film

We wish to acknowledge and honor the Indigenous communities of this region and recognize that the university is situated on the traditional homelands of the Nuwuvi, Southern Paiute People. We offer gratitude for the land itself, for those who have stewarded it for generations, and for the opportunity to study, learn, work, and be in community with this land.
Accreditation
School of Architecture
Undergraduate
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB)
Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA)
Graduate
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)
Department of Art
Undergraduate
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
National Association of Schools of Art and Design
Department of Dance
Undergraduate
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
Department of Film
Undergraduate
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
School of Music
Undergraduate and Graduate
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
National Association of Schools of Music
Department of Theatre
Undergraduate
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities