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Expression Through the Arts | Wesleyan University
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Expression Through the Arts

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Experience the arts through our 250+ specialized arts courses, Creative Campus collaborations—co-taught by artists and faculty in disciplines that don’t traditionally focus on the arts—and the many glorious performances and exhibitions that bring our campus to life.

  • 150+ Annual Arts Events

  • 250+ Arts Courses Offered Yearly

  • 10+ Creative Campus Course Integrations in 2025-2026 Academic Year

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Wesleyan Thrives in the Arts

A dynamic community of artists—both faculty and students—helps shape campus life. While we offer popular arts-related majors, all students are encouraged to enrich their education by engaging in the arts—in and beyond the classroom.

Our Open Curriculum
Explore Academics

Academic Arts Departments

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Wesleyans Center for the Arts

The Center for the Arts is a vibrant hub for creativity and expression, bringing together artists, students, and the community. Through performances, exhibitions, and interdisciplinary collaborations, the Center for the Arts fosters innovation and artistic exploration across a range of disciplines.

Explore the CFA

Exhibitions, Galleries, and Performances

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Pruzan Art Center

Wesleyan’s Pruzan Art Center showcases the Davison Art Collection in its Goldrach Gallery. The collection was made possible by the founding gifts of George Willets Davison, class of 1892, and consists of over 25,000 works of art on paper, including prints, photographs, and drawings.

Highlights include exceptionally fine impressions by Rembrandt van Rijn and Francisco de Goya, as well as important contemporary artwork by Kara Walker and Jasper Johns.

About the Gallery
About the Collection
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The Reid Cinema Archives

The Ogden and Mary Louise Reid Cinema Archives is home to Wesleyan’s motion picture and television history collections of paper materials, photographs, and memorabilia.

Collections include items from some of the biggest names in Hollywood history and artists whose careers reflect unique aspects of film and television. A window into the Cinema Archives, The Rick Nicita Gallery features curated exhibitions highlighting gems from the collection or alumni works.

Reid Cinema Archives
More Collections

Creative Campus

The Creative Campus Initiative is a primary focus of Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts. Creative Campus brings artists to the academic table to co-teach courses in subjects that don’t traditionally have an artistic element in order to explore commonality and differences in intellectual pursuits and artistic practices.

To date, Creative Campus has helped support more than 20 courses and 60 course modules. Other Creative Campus endeavors include performances, exhibitions, symposia, student projects, and community festivals.

Our Open Curriculum
Creative Campus
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Patricelli '92 Theater

Built in 1868, the ’92 Theater has been a cornerstone of student theater at Wesleyan since 1929, hosting generations of performances. For many years, it was home to Second Stage, a student-run organization that supported productions, including In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Hon. ’15. Today, the theater remains a vibrant space for student creativity, with Spike Tape continuing the tradition of student-led productions through an independent approach to theater-making.

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Explore the Arts

Whether in the classroom, collaborating with faculty, or attending a performance, the arts are a vibrant part of life at Wesleyan.

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    Theres great value in studying and majoring in other things than just film, and that fits with Wesleyans whole approach to interdisciplinary learning. We make films about people, places, and thingsthe human condition.

    Tracy Heather Strain

    Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, Associate Professor of Film Studies, and Co-Director of WesDocs

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    Harjito has been continually revising, reworking, or adding on to his earliest compositions to the present day. In this concert he has chosen to showcase both his oldest and most recent pieces.

    Read Story
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    Art education supports mental balance and channels ones thoughts. It exposes us to diverse cultures and creates curiosity to understand other traditions.

    B. Balasubrahmaniyan

    Adjunct Associate Professor of Music and Global South Asian Studies

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    The very first seeds of the project, the first ideas I had, were really about the relationship with an audience how one cares for an audience. Wesleyan is pretty well-practiced at holding things that are not easily categorizable.

    Deborah Goffe MA 19

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    Through art, you can imagine new worlds, right? You can imagine the futurethe future can be in your hand when you use art as a medium. You need art along with science to be able to cope with that as a human.

    Raquel Bryant

    Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Environmental Studies

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    This recognition from Guggenheim is also a recognition for Wesleyan, its amazing dance department, and for my work as an educator at this amazing university for the past 24 years.

    Hari Krishnan

    Professor of Dance, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Global South Asian Studies

    Read Story
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Art in the News

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The Wesleyan Difference

Learn more about other unique aspects that make Wesleyan a great place to learn and grow.

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© 2026 Wesleyan University
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