General Information
Mission
The College of Fine Arts was established by the state legislature in 1937; in the decades since then, the college has grown with The University to become a leading center for arts study. Both students and faculty members of the College of Fine Arts have regularly received national and international recognition for their achievements; such recognition indicates the degree of academic and artistic excellence to which the college is dedicated.
The College of Fine Arts strives to prepare students for the practice, study, criticism, and teaching of the arts; to lead in developing the arts through research and the creation of new works; and to provide performances and exhibitions that deepen the understanding of the arts, expand audiences, and develop a better quality of life in the University, community, state, and nation. The college prepares students and audiences for the coming decades by emphasizing cultural diversity and technological advancement and by exploring the interrelationships among all the arts.
Facilities
The Office of the Dean of the College of Fine Arts is located in the E. William Doty Fine Arts Building, at the corner of 23rd and Trinity streets. General inquiries about the college should be directed to this office. The mailing address is The University of Texas at Austin, Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts, 2305 Trinity Street D1400, Austin TX, 78712.
Within the college are four academic units—the Department of Art and Art History, the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music, the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the School of Design and Creative Technologies. Inquiries about a particular unit should be directed to that unit.
The Visual Arts Center
The Visual Arts Center (VAC) is a place where art exhibition and education intersect, drawing together a uniquely diverse community of students, faculty, guest artists, and creative voices from around the world. Situated in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin, it provides pivotal exhibition and research space through five distinct galleries, and serves as a creative hub in UT's dynamic arts community.
For more information on the VAC's exhibitions and public programs, please visit http://www.utvac.org.
Texas Performing Arts
Texas Performing Arts, one of the nation’s most well-respected University-based arts centers, serves the campus and the Austin community at large through diverse offerings of world-class performances, educational activities, and collaborative campus and community partnerships.
Texas Performing Arts presents an international season of music, theatre, dance, and conversation as well as the best in touring Broadway and concert attractions. As a University-based arts center, Texas Performing Arts also supports the academic mission of the College of Fine Arts by mentoring students, providing $10 student tickets, and supporting the performance and research goals of faculty and staff members, particularly in the College of Fine Arts.
Computer Facilities
In addition to the computer facilities available to all students at the University, the College of Fine Arts maintains facilities with special hardware and software for its own undergraduate and graduate majors. These include central laboratories and media-enhanced classrooms in each of the four academic units, and extensive wireless Internet coverage throughout the college.
Because of the rapidly growing importance of computers in College of Fine Arts curricula, students are strongly encouraged to come to the University with their own computers. In some programs of study, laptops are required. Students should contact the area of academic interest for more information.
Fine Arts Library
Located on levels 3-5 of the E. William Doty Fine Arts Building, the Fine Arts Library provides a broad range of services and materials for students in art, theatre, dance, and music. It also houses The Foundry, a makerspace equipped with 3D printers, a powerful laser cutter, a vinyl printer cutter, mills, high-end Macs for writing video games, a collaborative video station, a virtual reality space, and a recording studio. Level 4 comprises class and seminar rooms as well as offices for the School of Design and Creative Technologies. For more information go to: https://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/locations/fine-arts.
Services include information and research assistance, instruction in getting the best from library databases including online and full-text journals, and circulation and reserves (for checking out items). The Fine Arts Library offers computing hardware and software to support the study of the fine arts. Students may borrow media equipment, including digital cameras, and reserve seminar and group study rooms. A high-end scanner is available. Carrels can be assigned to students seeking a specific location. A full range of support is provided for The Foundry's equipment. More details can be found here: https://www.lib.utexas.edu/foundry.
The art collection includes materials on most art and design movements and schools, photography, and art education. Artists of most periods and nationalities and studies of their work are represented, as are most media and techniques. Art works on display include a large pre-Columbian pottery collection and modern prints. The digital image collection contains over 90,000 images from art, architecture, the performing arts, and fashion, and is accessible, with a UT EID, at https://dase.laits.utexas.edu/collections.
The music collection includes materials on performance, composition, history, ethnomusicology, music education, and music therapy. Most historical periods and geographical areas are covered in both classical and popular idioms, and while the emphasis is on the Western classical tradition, many other musics are represented. Tens of thousands of scores are available for both study and performance. A streaming audio service with access to over 10 million tracks is available, and students can stream movies, documentaries, and musical performances via the Library Catalog, at http://catalog.lib.utexas.edu/.
The theatre and dance collection includes materials on performance, especially play production, theatrical design, playwriting, theatre education, and dance. Materials on other types of theatrical presentations, such as magic, circuses, and pantomime, are also included. The Fine Arts Library holds texts of major plays written in English or translated into English, with contemporary plays collected most heavily. The Perry-Castañeda Library also holds texts of plays in English and other languages, with emphasis on plays as a literary form and on literary criticism.
While the collection of media materials such as CDs and DVDs is held elsewhere, items can be requested via the Library Catalog. Newly added media are housed in the Fine Arts Library.
The Fine Arts Library is open 75-80 hours per week during the long semesters and offers both collaborative student spaces as well as a whole floor devoted to quiet study.
Special collections include materials from the Austin Theatre Alliance—Paramount and State Theatres, and the Historical Music Recordings Collection, which includes over 300,000 items in older formats such as 78rpm and LP records, and open-reel tapes.
Financial Assistance Available through the College
Students in the College of Fine Arts are eligible for a variety of scholarships and awards. Most scholarship aid in the college is offered through the academic units (art and art history, design and creative technologies, music, and theatre and dance). For information about scholarship procedures and deadlines, the student should contact the academic unit of interest.
Student Services
Office of the Dean, Student Affairs
In the College of Fine Arts, the Office of the Dean, Student Affairs offers a variety of student services, including general academic advising, maintenance of student records, evaluation of the student’s academic standing and progress toward a degree, and information about transfer and study abroad credit evaluation. Students should contact the Office of the Dean, Student Affairs for answers to questions about degree requirements or other College of Fine Arts or University policies and regulations. This office is also a good source of general information and referral.
Academic Advising
Each academic unit in the college (art and art history, design and creative technologies, music, and theatre and dance) has an undergraduate advising office with a faculty advising coordinator and one full-time staff adviser. Questions about advising policies and procedures should be directed to those offices.
A student enrolled in the College of Fine Arts is required to meet with a designated adviser before registering for any semester or summer session. This meeting must take place during the official advising period, and the student’s proposed schedule of classes must be approved by the adviser. Subsequent changes or corrections in the schedule must also have the adviser’s approval.
Career Services
Career Advising
Fine Arts Career Services, a division of the Office of the Dean, helps fine arts majors explore career options, plan for careers, and develop strategies for seeking jobs upon graduation. More information is available at https://finearts.utexas.edu/careers. Career advising and planning services are also available from the Sanger Learning and Career Center in Jester Center and the Vick Center for Strategic Advising and Career Counseling in the School of Undergraduate Studies.
The University makes no promise to secure employment for each graduate.
Education Career Services
Candidates for teacher certification should register with Education Career Services at the beginning of their student-teaching semester. Education Career Services provides job placement services in education-related occupations at the elementary school, secondary school, and college level. Additional information is available on the Education Career Services website at https://education.utexas.edu/about/college-offices/career-services.
Student Organizations
In each of the units of the College of Fine Arts are various student organizations, including honor societies, professional associations, and service organizations. For information about current organizations and their eligibility requirements, contact the appropriate unit.
The Fine Arts Council is the official student organization of the college.
Study Abroad
The University offers many opportunities for students to study abroad. Among these is the Learning Tuscany program, which offers arts instruction by University faculty members at the Santa Chiara Study Center in Castiglion Fiorentino, near Florence. Students take both studio art and art history courses and focus on the culture of central Italy, through class time and numerous field trips to nearby cities. More information is available from the undergraduate advising office in the Department of Art and Art History.
Casa Herrera is a research, conference, and teaching facility located in the heart of Antigua, Guatemala, operated by the Department of Art and Art History. As an extension of the department's Mesoamerica Center, Casa Herrera focuses on the varied and inter-related disciplines that contribute to the study of Pre-Columbian art, archeology, history, and culture.
The Butler School of Music offers an opera program in Salzburg, Austria. More information is available from the undergraduate advising office in the Butler School of Music.
Maymester Abroad courses in fine arts are offered for five weeks in May and June. More information is available from the Study Abroad Office at http://world.utexas.edu/abroad.