Overview

Creative activity and the performing arts are vital to the success of a major research university. The University of Rochester has long enjoyed world-class programs in the performing arts through the Eastman School of Music and our department of music, theater program, and dance program in the School of Arts and Sciences. and the city of Rochester is home to a vibrant performing arts community. The combination of a rich arts environment on campus with a strong local and regional arts community makes the University of Rochester the ideal place for the Institute.

The mission of the University of Rochester’s Institute for the Performing Arts is to support, cultivate, and promote engagement in the performing arts, encompassing scholarship, performance, and attendance at events, within the College, the university, the Rochester community, and the western New York region.

What we do

The Institute strives to encourage the greatest student participation possible in the performing arts. This participation may take the form of being involved in music, theatre, or dance performances. Ideally, every member of the University committee should have the ability to participate in the performing arts. We envision that this participation can occur in many different forms: from being a principal performer or stage manager to enrolling in courses or workshops, and/or attending performances, both on campus and off. Our goal is to foster a broad and lifetime participation in the performing arts.

The Institute is grounded in the Department of Music, the Department of English, including the International Theatre Program, and the recently expanded Program of Dance and Movement. The Institute positions itself as an eager ally in supporting the goals and objectives of those programs, and also serves as an important force in encouraging a more unified functioning and richer interaction of the arts on campus. Also, these Departments and Programs offer many broad and diverse opportunities in the performing arts and are the foundation of this initial program.

The Institute serves to promote the performances of College concerts, events, and productions to the campus community and to the public at large, raising awareness of the rich variety of events that regularly take place on campus and encouraging students and the community at large to attend and enjoy the performing arts at UR. The Institute also provides students the opportunity to attend professionally produced events off campus.

See the listings under Events for more information.