Program Delivery: On Campus, Online, Hybrid
Total Credits: 39 Credits

About the Program

The Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Department offers a cross-disciplinary Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree that encourages innovative collaboration between its disciplines of dance, film, history of art and visual culture, theatre and visual art. Students complete this degree with a primary concentration in one discipline while developing a comprehensive knowledge in each of the other areas. Through studio arts, performance, theory, scholarship, and creative uses of media and technology, students will engage in an investigative approach to the arts, where the local and global converge; where cross-fertilization inspires critical thinking, dialogue and improvisation; and where diversity of thought is intrinsic to artistic process and practice. When students complete this degree, they will have the skills and knowledge to enter graduate school or a variety of careers in the arts.

The Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, THEATREWORKS, and the Visual Resource Center offer students opportunities and venues for professional practice and interactions with visiting artists and scholars.

General Information

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Visual and Performing Arts requires the following:

A minimum of 39 credit hours of VAPA course work. At least 30 of those hours must be upper division (courses numbered 3000 or higher).
Selection of a primary discipline, or option (see below). Total and upper-division hours for the major will depend on which option is chosen.
A minimum of 9 hours of VAPA Core 1000- and 3000-level courses.
3-6 hours of Cross-Disciplinary courses for these options: Dance, Film, History of Art and Visual Culture, and Theatre
A grade of C or better in courses applied to the major.
A minimum 2.0 GPA must be maintained in all VAPA course work.

Additional course work is required to complete the Visual and Performing Arts, BA degree. Please see the advising guide on the Academic Advising website for more information.

Arts Fees

Students enrolled in AH, DNCE, FILM, MUS, MSGP, THTR, VA, and VAPA courses will be assessed fees to help defray the cost of supplies. Program fees range from $15-$40 per course, per semester. Check the course schedule for fees, or use the fee estimator at the Student Financial Services website. There is a full refund of the deposit for courses dropped the first two weeks of the term (for full-term courses).

Departmental Goals

Students are members of a departmental campus culture with shared interests in the exchange of ideas about arts scholarship and performance by attending a variety of university and local performances and art events.

Learning Outcomes

Ability to recognize and comprehend aesthetic criteria, artistic genres, and the intention of a variety of performative acts in different contexts
Understand fundamental characteristics of performance and artistic expressiveness and their application cross-culturally and across disciplinary practices
Ability to critique direct outcomes of art and performance (e.g., symbolism, metaphoric content, tropes such as parody and satire, cultural representation, improvisatory interaction, subversive intent, etc.)
Ability to use the full range of resources to understand the complexity of any given arts-related topic, and to generate the requisite knowledge and evidence to create a compelling and coherent research project
Ability to work collaboratively in groups across the arts disciplines