The arts are everywhere at UConn! With multiple exhibition and performance venues, the arts are happening every day on campus. The University calendar, as well as the individual websites listed below, provide information.
The UConn arts community extends around the globe, with our alumni working in the arts and related professions in New York City, Boston, London, and more. Visit the alumni page to learn more about what our alumni are doing.
Contemporary Art Galleries
The Contemporary Art Gallerie’s mission is to present a professional exhibition and educational program that is multi-disciplinary and culturally diverse. The exhibitions mounted by CAG both represent contemporary trends and issues in visual arts and map the intersection between msny areas of cultural production. CAG’s focus is on a broad array of disiplines including architecture, design, photography, performance, music, film, video, and digital media that now take their place alongside the traditional forms and practices associated with fine arts. Beyond its exhibition program, the CAG’s offers artist talks and art critic and historian lectures.
The William Benton Museum of Art
The William Benton Museum of Art has a proud past, a vibrant present and an exciting future. The Benton opened officially in 1967, but its roots go back to the early twentieth century and the days of the Connecticut Agricultural College, which evolved into the University of Connecticut. The building that housed the original Museum was constructed in 1920 and served as The Beanery, the campus’ main dining hall until the mid-1940s. The small, elegantly designed College Gothic structure, with its gracious sculpture garden, is among the core campus buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jorgensen Gallery
The Jorgensen Gallery presents exhibitions with a special focus on the art, Connecticut, and the wider UConn community. The Gallery is closed for renovations in 2013-14.
Homer Babbage Library Exhibitions
The Homer Babbidge Library maintains an active exhibition program in the main library building. The Dodd Center presents exhibitions of rare books and archival materials drawn from its collections.
Connecticut Repertory Theatre
Connecticut Repertory Theatre is the producing arm of the University of Connecticut’s Department of Dramatic Arts. CRT produces under a year-round contract with Actors’ Equity Association, and serves as a cultural center for Connecticut and the New England region. CRT productions are directed and designed by, and cast with, visiting professionals, equity actors, faculty members and the department’s most advanced students.
Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
Opened in December of 1955, Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts is the largest college-based presenting program in New England. Each season, Jorgensen events attract more than 70,000 students, faculty and staff from the University of Connecticut, as well as residents from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Jorgensen presents 25-30 nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles annually, ranging from classical music to world music and dance, classical and contemporary dance, comedy, family programming and contemporary entertainment.
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry
In 1987 UConn Puppet Arts alumni and community supporters of Frank Ballard created the Puppet Preservation Committee to maintain and preserve the puppets Frank Ballard had designed, built, and collected. In 1989, the Committee was combined with a Dramatic Arts Department program Professor Ballard had begun, the National Institute and Museum of Puppetry; and in 1992 the program was re-named the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, and in 1996 the Institute moved into its current location on the University of Connecticut Depot Campus. Since then it has created yearly exhibitions in the Ballard Museum, and offered workshops, museum tours, lectures, forums, and other programs that promote the art of puppetry.
von der Mehden Recital Hall
von der Mehden Recital Hall is the home of nearly one hundred concerts presented annually by the faculty, ensembles, students and guests of the Department of Music. All concerts, including student recitals and schedule changes, can be found below on this page or by phoning the 24-hour event line 860-486-2106.