Music and Need for Access

Access Art

College of Performing and Visual Arts

As the foremost comprehensive collegiate arts program in all the arts in the State of _, public or private, the College of Performing and Visual Arts at _ offers majors in art, design, music, theatre, and dance.

The College also offers teacher licensure curricula in art, music, and theatre. With a full-time faculty of over sixty artist/teachers and a student body of over thirteen-hundred enrolled in a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate professional degree and liberal arts programs, the College of Performing and Visual Arts provides high quality arts instruction in a comprehensive teaching university setting. The College provides the broader _ community with a vast array of outstanding performances and art exhibitions annually.

General Program Description

The College of Performing and Visual Arts proposes to establish scholarships and activities to bring talented, under-represented, and needy performing and visual arts student to the graduate arts college environment provided by University. Activities include the identification, recruitment, retention and career counseling of undergraduate students and recent graduates in the United States. The project will provide a foundation for the development of artists, musicians, arts educators and scholars committed to the practice of music and the visual arts, in particular those interested in pursuing careers in higher education.

The study of performing and visual arts on the graduate level can play a powerful role in providing individuals with the tools necessary to explore roles and expressive outlets that can open up numerous professional careers. The growing emphasis on educational opportunities that allow students to challenge themselves as problem solvers, as flexible and quick learners and as creative thinkers makes the study of the arts from a practical, theoretical, educational and historical perspective all the more significant. Unfortunately, professional arts instruction on the graduate school level is too often lacking in its ability to attract minority and under-represented students. This deficiency can be seen in light of four causal factors: 1) the lack of instruction in the arts in elementary and secondary schools; 2) a lack of contact with cultural institutions by many citizens in marginalized communities; 3) minimal recognition of the professional and career options provided by an arts education; and 4) inadequate financial resources and scholarship availability for under served students and needy students wishing to pursue arts education.

The Access Art project addresses the need to improve opportunities for minority and underserved students. Access Art is designed to give qualified arts students a deeper understanding and knowledge of music or the visual arts at the Master of Arts, the Master of Music, and the Doctoral degree levels and to offer an extensive context in which to place their own experiences. This program encourages talented and qualified students, providing them with the necessary tools to follow their expressive and professional paths. The goal of Access Art is to not only create enthusiastic and able music and visual arts professionals, but to also have these students disseminate the healthy potential that the arts can provide for people in communities across the region.

Access Art is an ambitious program that will reach a wide audience. During the next four years, the University will provide twenty minority and underserved students the opportunity to engage in the intensive