Fast Facts
- Nickname: COFA
- Established: 1938
- Student enrollment: 2,100
- Faculty: 271
- Student to Faculty Ratio: 8:1
- Performance Venues: 10
- Student Galleries: 4
- Concerts per year: 600+
Academic Departments
Department of Art and Art History
- Chair: Susan Rather
- One of the largest and most diverse art departments in the U.S.
- Three divisions: Art History, Studio Art, and Art Education
- The Visual Arts Center (VAC) is a premier gallery space to exhibit art created by visiting artists, students, faculty and alumni
Butler School of Music
- Director: Susan Thomas
- Home to ensembles ranging in size and genre from the Longhorn Band to Mariachi Paredes, from the UT Symphony Orchestra to jazz combos
- Hosts over 600 concerts and events annually in Bates Recital Hall, Jessen Auditorium, and two lecture-recital halls
- With an enrollment of more than 600, the Butler School supports a student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1.
- The Butler School has more than 1,000 instruments in its inventory, including six organs, over 220 pianos, five harpsichords and a fortepiano.
School of Design and Creative Technologies
- Assistant Dean: Doreen Lorenzo
- Four divisions: Design, Arts and Entertainment Technologies, the Design Institute for Health, and the Center for Integrated Design
- Current enrollment is 600 in the undergraduate degree programs and is expected to grow to between 800 and 900 in the next two years.
- Working with other COFA academic departments and programs to renovate and create additional classroom, lab, and design space.
Department of Theatre and Dance
- Chair: Peter Carpenter
- First university theatre program in Texas (1938)
- One of the largest theatre and dance departments in the country, with four divisions: Theatre, Dance, Performance Studies, and Design/Technology
- Home to the Lab Theatre, B. Iden Payne Theatre, and Oscar Brockett Theatre
- The David Mark Cohen New Works Festival is a student-run, department-wide celebration of new plays, choreography, and performance art.
Programs
Texas Performing Arts
- Director: Bob Bursey
- Presents more than 145 performances every year, including Broadway shows, with a combined audience of nearly 285,000
- Four hundred volunteers provide more than 20,000 hours of service annually for an estimated value of $500,000
- The most prolific commissioner among its peers of new music by the country’s best-known composers
- TPA runs the most robust student engagement program of its peers, with approximately 100 student employees and more than 14,000 student tickets ($10 each) sold annually.
Landmarks
- Director: Andrée Bober
- One of the most important university public art programs in the country
- Works are purchased through construction and renovation projects, but Landmarks must raise funds to maintain and preserve those works
- A UT committee of arts professionals vets the artists, with final approval by the college receiving the work.
- Provides hands-on experience for student volunteers in preservation and education
