Cleveland State University

Performing and Creative Arts at Cleveland State University

Our Arts Campus flourishes in the heart of Playhouse Square, the nation’s largest performing arts center outside of New York City. It features the Tony Award–winning Cleveland Play House, America’s only professional theatre company coupled with an undergraduate university learning environment. The Arts Campus includes over 120,000 square feet of studios, rehearsal space, classrooms, and production shops, with faculty from the top arts institutions in town, including the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Arts Campus also includes the Galleries at CSU.

Performing Arts
Department of Theatre and Dance
Housed in a new $60 million state-of-the-art education and performance facility, the Department of Theatre and Dance provides students with hands-on and personal interactions with faculty and guest artists who are active professionals.

Theatre students have the unique opportunity to study in the second-largest theatre center in the country, receiving vigorous training in one of three tracks: Acting, Design/Technical, or Directing. Participation in full-scale productions includes onstage, backstage, and front-of-house experiences. Through the Cleveland Play House and Playhouse Square, students enjoy free tickets to performances and master classes with renowned theatre artists. Internships and workshop productions support classroom and studio experiences.

Dance students study a variety of dance forms, receive intensive training in technique and creative process, and perform in the CSU Dance Company. Through partnerships with GroundWorks Dance Theater, our in-residence professional company, and DANCECleveland, dancers participate in master classes and workshops, attend concerts, and learn the choreography of nationally renowned guest artists.

For more information, please visit csuohio.edu/theatre or csuohio.edu/dance.

School of Music
The School of Music provides a comprehensive education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels while also presenting concerts, recitals, seminars, master classes, and workshops for the campus community and region. Our students have the opportunity to study with artist/performer members of the Cleveland Orchestra, Playhouse Square Theatre Orchestra, Akron Symphony, Blue Water Chamber Orchestra, City Music Cleveland, and Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, among other noted professionals.

Space and resources are abundant in Cleveland State’s Music and Communication Building, with Waetjen Auditorium and Drinko Recital Hall, three large rehearsal halls, two chamber music rehearsal rooms, three electronic music laboratories, and dozens of practice and specialized music teaching spaces included.

For more information, please visit csuohio.edu/music.

Creative Arts
Department of Art and Design
The Department of Art and Design at CSU offers a wide range of programs in the dynamic environment of Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. Our recently renovated facilities in the Middough Building include multiple computer labs, a darkroom for photography, a print-making studio, and light-filled spaces for drawing and painting. Our fully equipped sculpture studio is housed in a separate building and allows students to work with traditional and experimental materials. The Galleries at CSU on Euclid Avenue host our courses in museology as well as the annual Student Art Show and ex-hibit the work of local, national, and international artists.

Graphic Design students explore the design principles of typography and spatial organization to come up with creative solutions to practical design challenges. Students use the latest technology and software to enhance their technical skills while taking into account the dramatic changes in the graphic industry.

For more information, please visit csuohio.edu/class/art.

School of Film and Media Arts
From The Avengers and The Fate of the Furious to Native Son, All the Bright Places, and Them That Follow, more movies are being filmed in Cleveland than ever before—over 65 in the past few years, creating 1,700+ jobs. To prepare students for successful careers in this rapidly growing industry, Cleveland State University has opened the School of Film and Media Arts. Funded by a $7.5 million start-up grant from the state of Ohio, the school was designed by Bastien & Associates, a leading studio designer in Los Angeles. Two sound stages, state-of-the-art equipment, and post-classrooms with a lightning-fast server and network provide top professional production and editing environments for students to dig into storytelling and master their crafts. The 72-major-credit BFA degree offers emphasis areas in Acting and Directing, Cinematography, Interactive Media, Post-production, Writing and Directing, and Writing and Producing. 

For more information, please visit csuohio.edu/film.