Overview
The College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona has a world-class reputation. Our accomplished faculty and alumni contribute to our identity as a distinguished student-centered place of learning and creative inquiry. Our success is built upon our community of artists and scholars in art, dance, music, theatre arts, and film and television. Members of our faculty maintain strong enthusiasm for cultivating the greatest possible potential for students who study with us, as well as pursuing excellence in their individual areas of creative and research expertise.
The College of Fine Arts offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the School of Art, the School of Dance, the Fred Fox School of Music, and the School of Theatre, Film and Television.
The College takes great pride in its service to the community. Each year, more than 300,000 people attend our exhibits, performances, lecture series, seminars, and K-12 educational outreach programs.
Mission & Goals
The Mission of the College of Fine Arts is to prepare students for a successful life in the arts.
Our primary mission is to prepare students to create, to teach, to participate in, to understand, and to value the arts, sustain excellence in teaching, creative expression, and research in the arts and to be a source of art creation, knowledge, and inspiration about the arts for Arizona and the nation. We also promote the arts as a means to understand our diverse and pluralistic world and teach the value of artistic intelligence as a mode of thinking, problem solving and discovery.
The Vision of the College of Fine Arts
To be a leader, stimulating a more vibrant, passionate, and humane community, through excellence in the practice of, training in, and creative inquiry into the arts. The College is about quality, discovery, inventiveness, and opportunity to better serve future generations and to assist the University of Arizona to be one of the ten best public research universities.
Core Values and Priorities that Guide Us
- Creativity and authenticity in the Development of the “Artist’s Personal Voice”
- Integrity in faculty first, then student; developing personal “instincts, feelings and artistic intuition”
- Challenge based on comfort with Risk Taking
- Stimulation of the new
- Rigor for the highest standard
- Self-confidence and courage to be different
- Compassion, empathy, connection – “artist to artist;” “artist to art, meaning, society;” one-on-one mentoring/support, nurturing, fostering, developing
- Discovery – the Artistic Learning and Inquiry Process. The Journey to Knowledge of Self
Academic Excellence
The College of Fine Arts must be a center for excellence in education and creative research. Our focus is always to serve our students and support our faculty, professionals, and staff. An outstanding faculty is the foundation for academic excellence to attract, train, and educate the best undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Supporting our outstanding teacher/scholars is our highest priority.
Access and Success
An education at the College of Fine Arts must prepare students for a productive life in the arts and must be accessible to all who are gifted and academically qualified. We engage, retain and graduate students in great numbers.
Quality of Life and Societal Impact
In keeping with the University’s land-grant mission, the College of Fine Arts must serve as a significant contributor for economic development. Each unit of CFA is a significant contributor for economic development through a myriad of alliances and partnerships with arts, business and community associations throughout Tucson and the entire Southeast Arizona.
Each program and experience offered by CFA is a source of inspiration that enriches individual lives and advances the collective wellbeing of our community and society. The College of Fine Arts is a group of faculty, students and staff that models itself as a source of imagination. The human condition, in all its manifestations, is improved in the quality of life afforded each and every citizen of Southeast Arizona through the fine arts experience.
