Yale College
Photos: Michael Marsland
Challenging the creative imagination and mastering skills of artistic expression are central to a Yale education. Indeed, the arts are woven into the fabric of undergraduate life – both within and outside the academic curriculum.
Creativity in the Classroom
At Yale College, the classroom provides a wonderful platform for engagement with the arts. Students can choose to major in Architecture, Art, Computing and the Arts, Film Studies, Music, or Theater Studies, or they can develop their artistic interests through a variety of elective courses while pursuing a degree in one of Yale's other majors. Communications media from the written word to computer graphics are incorporated into the academic curriculum as tools of creative expression, while such state-of-the art facilities as the Digital Center for the Media Arts give students a chance to explore the range of artistic possibilities offered by new and rapidly evolving technology. In addition, the University’s world-class professional schools of Art, Architecture, Drama, and Music provide invaluable resources for undergraduates that include a professional theater, a variety of performance venues, significant course offerings, and expert guidance.
The Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art also enrich the student's academic experience, with many courses offering a unique, on-site platform for study and discussion of the institutions' renowned collections.
A Host of Extracurricular Opportunities
Outside the classroom, there is a spectacular array of opportunities for students to create and perform together. In any given year there are some 50 to 60 officially registered campus-wide arts groups, troupes, ensembles, societies and publications. These organizations cater to such disparate interests as belly dancing, classical chamber music, Chinese calligraphy and fashion design. Several groups are long-established and deeply rooted in the history and lore of Yale College: the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Dramatic Association (the Dramat), the Yale Concert Band, and the legendary a cappella groups are among them.
In addition to the extracurricular organizations, each of Yale's 12 residential colleges hosts its own arts events and supports individual projects – from mounting exhibitions to putting on performances in the small theaters that have become standard venues in all the colleges.
Slideshow:
Arts at Yale College (May 1, 2009)
Prometheus: Poem of Fire (February 13, 2010)
Netcast:
The Undergraduate Art Experience
