Experience

What makes the School of Fine Arts different from any other unit of the university? Students in the arts not only study and conduct research in their fields; they create art every day! Through a host of exhibitions and performances, they also have many opportunities to share it with their fellow students, instructors, and the community.

Art & Design Shows and Lectures

  • Senior Exhibitions
  • Annual Juried Student Show
  • Art & Design Lecture Series

Music Performances

  • Faculty and Student Recitals
  • Band, Chorus, and Ensemble performances
  • Ovation Series

Theatre Productions

  • UMD Theatre
  • Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
  • Stage II

Sieur du Luth Summer Arts Festival

The Sieur du Luth Summer Arts Festival is Duluth's most comprehensive annual performing arts festival, featuring 30+ theatre, opera, jazz, and big band performances over a period of seven weeks each summer. Professional and college performers from across the United States, plus Italy, France, and Turkey offer patrons the region's best of summer onstage.

International Connections

International collaboration is a unique part of the UMD School of Fine Arts experience. In 2004, SFA collaborated with a fine arts academy and the University of Palermo, Italy, for the Italian American Festival. A total of 100 students and 20 faculty members traveled to Palermo to produce a Broadway musical and to study art. Later in the year, more than 700 students and faculty participated in the festival on the UMD campus, producing the world-premiere of a children's musical and a grand opera as well as hosting an academic conference.

SFA has also developed a strong relationship with a group of universities in Turkey - a Turkish American Cultural Alliance was initiated by the School of Fine Arts' Dean Jack Bowman in January 2005. The Alliance fulfills the UMD School of Fine Arts vision for academic enhancement through international initiatives with the development of enduring relationships and effective working methodologies designed by the music, theatre, and visual arts departments, the Tweed Museum of Art, and four universities in Turkey: for music, Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir and Hacettepe University in Ankara; for theatre, Istanbul University State Conservatory in Istanbul; and for visual arts, Baskent University in Ankara. The project incorporates the performing arts and the visual arts in a program of workshops, residencies, performances, and exhibitions.

Additionally, a formal agreement has been created between UMD's School of Fine Arts and one of Paris' fine music conservatories, Conservatoire á Rayonnement Régional in Boulogne-Billancourt, in order to facilitate both student and faculty collaboration opportunities and academic exchanges between the two institutions.

The School of Fine Arts continues to pursue international outreach opportunities to enhance our students' experiences.

Many SFA students also choose to expand their international connections on their own through one of many study abroad programs. Learn more about those opportunities through UMD's International Education office.

Event Brochures

The following brochures are available for instant viewing or download in a PDF format:

Tickets

Reservations for all ticketed events can be made through our online ticketing system, AudienceView.

View the School of Fine Arts complete Calendar of Events