This iconic art museum-in-the-making is a fitting and timely reminder that a campus is not only a place of formal education but also one that prepares students to be lifelong learners. Read more (PDF)*.
Michigan State University has a vibrant cultural community with countless public performances, exhibitions, programs and special events throughout the year. These arts and cultural offerings educate and engage audiences by exploring the diversity of human expression, while contributing to the creative and economic vitality of the region. Members of the university and greater communities and visitors from near and far can enjoy music, performing arts, concert centers, libraries, museums, galleries, gardens, public art and historic sites across the MSU campus. At the same time, audiences on campus and around the world take advantage of academic and research programs, public broadcasting, online resources, publications and outreach initiatives that explore and celebrate arts and culture.
Arts and culture play a critical role not only in preparing students for a global world, but also in nurturing the human spirit and enriching prosperity and quality of life in Michigan. The university is especially pleased to celebrate the 2007-08 academic year as MSU's Year of Arts and Culture. This initiative comprises a year of activities encompassing a variety of university units and academic programs. In addition to the initiative for the new art museum, highlights include the 25th anniversary of Wharton Center for Performing Arts, anniversaries of the MSU Museum and the Department of Theatre, the opening of the new Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and much more.
Faculty and students in the College of Arts and Letters explore human expression, experience and values through a wide variety of subjects including the creative and performing arts, languages and literature, art history, philosophy and religious studies, as well as through the interdisciplinary fields of American studies, ancient studies, humanities, humanities-prelaw and women's studies. As a core college within a major research university, the College of Arts and Letters enjoys access to vast intellectual and academic resources. Undergraduates can take courses offered by world-class scholars who are actively engaged in creating new knowledge in a variety of fields. MSU provides ample access to learning outside the classroom, as well: a multicultural environment that attracts students from all over the world, a leading research library, abundant study abroad programs, a wide range of work and extracurricular opportunities and excellent support programs and facilities.
Engaging the World (PDF)*
The College of Music, officially designated the university’s newest college in February, boasts an outstanding faculty of more than 80 resident artists and scholars, who are devoted to teaching, excellence in performance, development of innovative and imaginative curricula and production of creative works and significant research in many areas of music. The college presents more than 300 concerts, recitals and productions each year, including a faculty artist series; two fully staged operas; a Latin American music series; and orchestra, band, jazz and choral series. The student body of 400 undergraduates and 275 graduate students comes from all corners of the United States and 18 nations. Graduates can be found on the concert stage, on faculties of leading schools of music and as members of professional ensembles around the world. They can be found directing some of the most successful school music programs in Michigan and throughout the nation. They are leaders in the field of music therapy as practicing clinicians and as teachers of this specialization at many universities.
The Department of Art and Art History is dedicated to the creation and historical study of the visual arts through its undergraduate and graduate degree programs. In studio, art students explore and create using the language of two- and three-dimensional form, space and time in traditional media and new technologies. In art history and visual culture, students study the history of painting, sculpture, architecture and other art forms from a wide range of Western, Asian, African, Latin American and other traditions and geographical regions. In art education, students prepare to become visual arts teachers by engaging in studio production and studying aesthetics, criticism and history of art.
The MSU Department of Theatre offers a full season of classic and new plays, dance concerts and musicals in a variety of performance sites, including Fairchild Theatre and the Wharton Center for Performing Arts. In June, the grassy plain south of the Auditorium Building is transformed into the site of one of the area’s most popular summer attractions – the award-winning Summer Circle Theatre. The department also offers an extensive outreach program that takes theater to middle and high schools throughout the state every year.
The Michigan State University Museum, founded in 1857, is one of the oldest museums in the Midwest and marks 150 years of discovery in 2007. The MSU Museum is the state's natural history and culture museum and Michigan's first Smithsonian Institution affiliate. Recent partnerships with Smithsonian scholars have included scientific publications, folklife festival programs and a new statewide exhibit exploring Michigan's food culture and traditions. The MSU Museum, accredited by the American Association of Museums, stewards collections numbering nearly 1 million objects, artifacts and specimens housed in four campus buildings, including the main exhibition facility located next to Beaumont Tower.
MSU welcomed its first class of students to a new unique residential college experience in the fall 2007. The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) combines interdisciplinary study, personalized attention and multiple learning opportunities. Students will be able to create an individualized program that includes literature, history, ethics, the visual and performing arts and the study of languages and cultures. With the RCAH, students live and study in a friendly, supportive and intellectually stimulating community housed in Snyder-Phillips Residence Hall. The flexible academic programming is enhanced by a rich offering of activities, including interactions with visiting artists and scholars, community service and engagement, artistic performances, study away and study abroad.
Located in the center of the state on the campus of MSU, Wharton Center for Performing Arts has a long history of presenting quality programs that not only entertain, but also educate and enlighten. The Clifton and Dolores Wharton Center for Performing Arts, constructed of 850,000 bricks and 2,450 tons of steel, officially became a reality on Sept. 25, 1982, with a performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Since that premiere performance, an impressive lineup of diverse performing artists have appeared on the stages of Wharton Center. From Broadway blockbusters to world-renowned orchestras, dance companies, jazz ensembles and more, Wharton Center has prided itself on presenting artistically and culturally diverse programs for arts patrons of all ages. The venues of Wharton Center also have served as a community resource for special events, including the 1992 presidential debates, and today, the center serves as the primary performance space for the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the MSU School of Music, and the MSU Department of Theatre. Wharton Center has begun its first major renovation of the building which will include more than 24,000 square feet of new space.
WKAR Radio began broadcasting in 1922 and today features news and programming from National Public Radio and a diverse musical schedule that includes a strong emphasis on classical, supplemented by jazz and folk. Listeners are able to enjoy the finest musical performances in the world on 90.5 WKAR. WKAR/AM 870 provides news and information. WKAR-TV went on the air in 1955 and has since provided a front row seat to concerts and dramatic performances. Other programs take viewers into the worlds of art and art history, science, nature and news. Both stations feature a strong emphasis on community involvement, participating in area music and arts festivals, sponsoring special events and community outreach efforts. The stations also produce a significant number of hours of local programming each year. Television has been honored with Emmy Awards for musical, documentary, and historical programs produced by WKAR, while radio has been honored for its news reports. WKAR Radio also broadcasts performances by community groups, including the College of Music and the Lansing Symphony Orchestra.
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