The College of Fine Arts (CFA) is the embodiment of expression at the core of Boston University. Founded in 1954 to bring together the School of Music, the School of Theatre, and the School of Visual Arts, CFA is a community of artists in a conservatory-style school complemented by a liberal arts curriculum.

But CFA is more than a community of artists—it is a specialized educational experience that demands inquiry and exploration, individuality and teamwork, and academic and artistic immersion. Since the Renaissance, the fine arts have joined with the liberal arts at the center of a classic undergraduate education, and today, more than ever, the world needs leaders educated with a sense of inspiration, creativity, social consciousness, and entrepreneurship.

The College of Fine Arts’ mission today is to nurture the individual artist through an education that requires artistic and academic intensity, demands creative and critical thinking, and encourages exploration of art to foster leadership, collaboration, and innovation. The BU College of Fine Arts graduate is a citizen artist—a multi-dimensional thinker with the imagination and ability to engage and impact the 21st century.

YEAR FOUNDED

1954

DEAN OF FACULTY

BENJAMÍN JUÁREZ

NUMBER OF STUDENTS

UNDERGRADUATE: 606

GRADUATE ON CAMPUS: 525

GRADUATE ONLINE: 506

NUMBER OF LIVING ALUMNI

14,302

STUDENT/FACULTY RATIO

8:1

Boston University College of Fine Arts

CAMPAIGN PRIORITIESCOLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

Campaign goal: $20 million

• Capital improvements: $12 million

• Student financial aid: $3 million

• Faculty support: $3 million

• Programming, curricular & career development: $2 million

POINTS OF PRIDE

• Students study under Broadway producers, award-winning choreographers, visual artists, and world-renowned musicians and performers.

• Located in one of the most artistic cities in the world, students enrich their education with the arts and culture of Boston.

• CFA offers the best of both worlds: a broad liberal arts education with a focused, conservatory-style program.

• A porous learning environment encourages students and faculty to reach beyond their areas of study to explore and collaborate with other disciplines.

• The Schools encourage academic outreach, collaborating across disciplines and departments; CFA coursework intersects with organizational behavior, creative writing, film, public health, art history, theology, language, and environmental science.

• Students complete impressive internships at places such as: Converse, National Geographic, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Boston Bruins, Marvel Comics, Hearst Corporation International, and MTV.

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

• Study abroad opportunities for music students include a semester at the Royal College of Music in London.

• Musicians interested in education can earn a Bachelor of Music in performance and Master of Music in music education in CFA’s five-year program.

SCHOOL OF THEATRE

• School of Theatre undergrads spend their second semester of junior year studying and performing at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

• The BU Professional Theatre Initiative offers School of Theatre students opportunities for creative interactions with professional theatre ventures including Huntington Theatre Company, New Repertory Theatre, National Players, Potomac Theatre Project, Vineyard Playhouse, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS

• School of Visual Arts students may spend one semester abroad studying art at Boston University’s Santa Marghareta space in the heart of Venice, which includes painting studios and classrooms for Italian, art history, and drawing.

• Graphic Design, typography and printmaking courses are also available at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

• The Keyword Initiative, launched in 2011, provides a theme for a collection of College of Fine Arts artistic programs, and presents an opportunity for both expression and perspective. The 2014–2015 keyword is intersect.

• CFA participates in the Arts Outreach Initiative in partnership with Boston University Medical Campus, a collaboration in which music, theatre, and visual arts students bring the arts to the healthcare setting.

• The Arts Leadership minor offers students practical preparation for a life and career in the arts.

• In collaboration with the School of Music and School of Theatre, the Opera Institute embraces the rebirth of the modern operatic artist both in training and performance, with a program committed to foundational roots while expanding the traditional boundaries to produce the most innovative and forward thinking training for the operatic stage.

CFA BY THE NUMBERS

65: AVERAGE SIZE OF SCHOOL OF THEATRE FRESHMAN CLASS 6: NUMBER OF GALLERIES AT BU 10: NUMBER OF THEATRE PERFORMANCE VENUES, RANGING FROM A 60-SEAT BLACK BOX THEATRE TO A 900-SEAT BROADWAY-STYLE PROSCENIUM STAGE 26: NUMBER OF CFA/CAS DOUBLE DEGREE STUDENTS 1872: THE YEAR THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC WAS FOUNDED, MAKING IT THE OLDEST DEGREE-GRANTING MUSIC SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES 158: NUMBER OF CFA FRESHMEN $0: COST OF ADMISSION TO THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, AND NEARLY ALL BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONCERTS FOR CFA STUDENTS 119: NUMBER OF NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART MUSIC PRACTICE ROOMS 2: NUMBER OF TIMES A YEAR THE BU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMS AT SYMPHONY HALL 30+: NUMBER OF BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MEMBERS ON FACULTY 400+: NUMBER OF STUDENT CONCERTS, PRODUCTIONS, AND EXHIBITS PER YEAR 7+: NUMBER OF CFA STUDENT WORKS HONORED BY THE KENNEDY CENTER IN THE LAST DECADE 2014: THE YEAR THE COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS CELEBRATES ITS 60TH ANNIVERSARY

DEGREE PROGRAMS

• BFA/BM

• MFA/MM/MA

• DMA

• PLUS SPECIALIZED CERTIFICATE AND DIPLOMA PROGRAMS