Arts & Letters

Many students at Prescott College wish to pursue the broad-based Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) in Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters. This competence area allows students to deepen their appreciation of all the arts, to learn the theory and techniques of more than one discipline, and to make connections across disciplines.

Students pursuing the Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters competence are expected to complete significant work in at least two of three areas: Visual Arts, Writing & Literature, and Dance. We provide an environment where students transform ideas and concepts into objects and visual experiences. Through a curriculum designed to introduce the importance, impact, and influence of visual arts on the individual and society, students receive hands-on instruction in a variety of media, while developing a critical understanding of their art practice within contemporary visual culture. The faculty of artists in the Visual Arts Area endeavors to cultivate a sense of community through the common experience of the creative process and by sharing their professional experience with students. Our studio and field-based courses encourage students to refine creative thought and apply acquired knowledge and skill to the making of images, objects, and experimental works.

In this hands-on, interdisciplinary area of study, students work with our faculty of published writers to hone their creative and critical writing skills. In creative writing workshops, students generate original poetry, stories, and essays, and in addition to learning to give and receive constructive criticism, they learn to use feedback to polish their work. In literature courses, students explore both classic and contemporary American works as well as works from other cultures. All of our writing and literature courses encourage students to become careful readers and informed writers, able to effectively analyze and synthesize material, able to appreciate diversity, and able to engage in discourse with the wider world community.

Dance is an integral and enlivening part of a liberal arts education. Much of our human experience unfolds in motion, through the physical and creative realms of nonverbal exploration and expression. Firm in the origins of dance as an agent of personal and societal development, our program aspires to meet our changing world. We are intent on expanding boundaries of dance and performance to include health and wellness, community building, environmental awareness, and social sustainability. Students may choose to pursue a career in Dance and/or apply their dance-related skills to diverse professions. Graduates often discover that dance experience is a significant asset to their resumes.