Explore Visual and Performing Arts at UMBC
With more than a dozen art majors, you can dive deep into your artistic passions at UMBC. Plus, you can become a certified teacher or get creative and craft your own major through our Individualized Study program—either way, you’ll be learning alongside other dedicated artists.
Discover our Majors and Programs
With more than a dozen art majors, you can dive deep into your artistic passions at UMBC. Plus, you can become a certified teacher or get creative and craft your own major through our Individualized Study program—either way, you’ll be learning alongside other dedicated artists.
- Acting
- Animation
- Art Entrepreneurship
- Art History & Museum Studies
- Dance Performance and Choreography
- Graphic Design
- Jazz Studies
- Music Composition
- Music Teaching and Learning
- Music Performance
- Music Technology
- Photography and Cinema
- Print and Intermedia
- Theatre Design & Production
- Theatre Studies
- Visual & Media Arts
Take a Tour: A Stellar Place For Creative Practice
An important aspect of studying the arts in preparation for a professional creative career is access to topnotch facilities and equipment. You’ll hone your craft and learn industry practices in our excellent facilities and performing venues. Go ahead and check out our amazing venues, studios and practice spaces, and workshops.
Dance
Take a walk-through, 360-degree tour of our dance studios and performance venues.
Music
Take a walk-through, 360-degree tour of our concert venues, recording studios, and more.
Theatre
Take a walk-through, 360-degree tour of our theatre venues, rehearsal spaces, scenic and costume shops.
Visual Arts
Take a walk-through, 360-degree tour of our cinema, animation, photography, and design studios.
You’ll Make Your Own Adventure
Your UMBC experience is what you make it. We’ve got the map, but you’ll build your own path. From our 250+ clubs and student organizations to study abroad and service-learning, there’s something for you. One evening you could be playing Humans vs. Zombies and the next cheering on one of UMBC’s 17 Division I sports teams. Here you can help save the Earth, experience new cultures, and make lifelong friends—all in the same day.
The Linehan Artist Scholars Program
The Linehan Artist Scholars Program is a four-year scholarship and mentorship program for students who enter UMBC as freshmen with a major in the arts.
Linehan Scholars
- Receive a scholarship of up to $15,000 (in-state) or $22,000 (out-of-state) per academic year
- Explore ideas about contemporary concepts in the arts in a first-year seminar
- Live on campus in a Living Learning Community with artists who share your passion
- Attend performances and visit museums in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
- Receive summer research support to study with professional artists across the globe
Meet Our Faculty
Our diverse, internationally acclaimed faculty are committed to guiding future arts professionals to think independently, work imaginatively, and develop creative responses to the challenges of our times. Here are just a few of the people you’ll have the chance to learn from.
Nigel Semaj
Theatre
Semaj is a Baltimore-based director, movement director, and educator originally from Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Johnson
Dance
Elizabeth Johnson’s professional dance training began in high school at North Carolina School of the Arts where she studied with many historically notable teachers. She earned a BFA with honors from George Mason University, and her MFA in Performance and Choreography from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where she was awarded the first Patricia Knowles Scholarship for graduate student excellence and the Wanda M. Nettl prize for student choreography.
Dr. Phillip Mann
Orchestra
Dr. Phillip Mann’s remarkable career achievements include transforming the Arkansas Symphony into an internationally acclaimed ensemble. Currently, he serves as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra. He continues to inspire through music and community enrichment.
Eva Grandoni
Visual Arts
Eva is an artist and animator who loves to make people laugh. Her wacky characters and bizarro worlds collide to create uncanny and distinctive pieces.
In Their Own Words
What our students and alumni say about their UMBC experience
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