Visual & Performing Arts Major

Visual & Performing Arts Major

IN THIS SECTION

Pursue your passion and prepare for a career in the arts

The Major in Visual and Performing Arts, one of the few interdisciplinary arts majors in the country, will give you a strong foundation in visual art, music, and theatre in addition to an understanding of how one art form can inform the others. You’ll study art history and design fundamentals, music history and aural skills, and script analysis and acting, and you’ll see what these artforms have in common and how they are performed and exhibited in the real world. Your core courses will help you develop your critical thinking skills and will prepare you to tackle your senior project. With this major, you have the flexibility to receive advising and get hands-on experience in the art form that most excites you.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

  • Get broad knowledge in art, music, and theatre
  • Complete coursework in the production, performance, critical study of creative work, or exhibits of your choice
  • Craft the major to fit your areas of interest
  • Complete a capstone / senior thesis project

Concentration in Visual and Performing Arts

Check out the different visual and performing arts courses waiting for you at Worcester State!
AR-118 Global Art History
Surveys the outstanding visual art from all cultures beginning in the prehistoric era to the late 19th century.
3 credits
AR-123 Design Fundamentals
Design Fundamentals is a course combining 2 and 3 Dimensional Design. In this course we explore composition, space, and color along with planes, volumes, and environments. A variety of materials are used to create on surfaces and in actual space. Many projects are grounded in aspects of mathematical and geometrical systems, e.g., grids, tiling, Fibonacci series, fractals, regular solids.
3 credits
MU-101 Fundamentals of Music and Aural Skills
An introduction to reading and writing conventional music notation, the fundamentals of music theory, and basic aural skills. Emphasis will be placed on intervals, scales, chords, rhythmic values, sight-singing, melodic dictation, and aural recognition of intervals and chords.
3 credits
MU-280 History of Music
A general survey of western art music covering the historical periods of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century.
3 credits
TH-126 Script Analysis
Script analysis for theatre artists. How to take a script from initial reading to production.
3 credits
TH-145 Acting I
Introductory acting theory and practice. Students present brief monologues and scenes in class.
3 credits
VP-155 First Year Practicum
Students will put into practice interdisciplinary concepts, ideas, and techniques at an experiential level.
1 credit
VP-200 Critical Thinking in the Arts
The experience of art, music, and theatre to develop individual critical thinking in the similarities and differences among the arts.
3 credits
VP-364 Interdisciplinary Arts Theory
An exploration of interdisciplinary art theory drawing on theories and critical writings from art, music, and theatre from a variety of historical periods.
3 credits
VP-365 Interdisciplinary Arts Practice
Examines examples of contemporary modes of interdisciplinary works of music, theatre, and visual art with the goal of developing an individual, creative aesthetic.
3 credits

Why Study Visual & Performing Arts at Worcester State?

As a student of Visual & Performing arts, you will experience the joy of belonging to a tight-knit, collaborative creative community–and witness your own practice evolve
  • Costume Design for Theatre
  • Design
  • Cross-Media
  • Driftwood to Dumpsters
  • Modern Art
  • Directing
  • Music of the Cinema
  • Sculpture 
  • Animation
  • Gallery and Museum Studies
  • Jazz Ensemble
  • Music Theory
  • Computers and Music
  • African Drumming
  • Visual Arts in the Schools
  • Printmaking

At Worcester State, there's a whole world of creative spaces and resources at your fingertips. Some examples include:

Worcester Center for the Crafts
Sullivan Auditorium
Fuller Theater
Costume Design Studio
Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery

See the diverse career paths that a degree in the Visual & Performing Arts can prepare you for.

Explore a wide range of rewarding professional opportunities with your VPA degree from Worcester State.

Costume Attendant
Music Director or Composer
Artist
Set or Exhibit Designer
Graphic Designer
Actor
Art Director
Arts Educator
Arts Administrator
Costume Designer
Lighting Technician
Museum Docent/Curator/Director
Music Composer or Producer
Musician
Sound Engineer
Stage Manager