The Arts

Berkeley offers a wide array of opportunities in the visual and performing arts, providing students with a whole new level of training—hands-on classes in state-of-the-art facilities with professional-level equipment and software. What you’ll find here:

• Outstanding Courses and Clubs: By taking visual arts courses and joining clubs, students develop skills in design principles as they prepare presentations and portfolios. In theatre and music courses and clubs, students rehearse for a variety of public performances. Through Berkeley’s arts curriculum, students are encouraged to embrace their creativity, hone an individual aesthetic, and take on leadership roles as curators, directors, conductors, choreographers, and more.

• Experienced Faculty: Our passionate faculty are all professionals in their industries and practicing artists who bring real-world experience to the classroom.

• Unmatched Resources: Whether a student wants to play the bagpipes, try woodworking in the Smith Fabrication Studio, deliver a monologue in the Berkman Flex Studio (a black box theatre), film a video using a green screen, sing a cappella, join an after-school club on making comic books, or learn how to use a pottery wheel, Berkeley provides artistic experiences that you won’t find at many other schools.

• Awards and Recognition: Students at Berkeley are consistently honored for their top-notch work and have won Broadway Star of the Future awards, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, All-State music recognition, and more.

• Impressive Guest Speakers: Faculty often bring in amazing artists and performers from around the globe for lectures, Q&As, and master classes. Guests in recent years include: the touring cast of Hamilton, Broadway actor Jeffery Binder (“The Lion King”), Jason Burnett (ceramic surface design and image transfer), artists of Print St. Pete letterpress printing, Taylor Robenalt (Taylor Robenalt Ceramics), Matt Schiemann (Matthew Schiemann Pottery), Francesco Lietti (muralist), Tobias Haunhorst (pianist), and Alyssa Jones (Director of Vocal Ensembles at USF).

• An Alumni Network at Arts-Focused Colleges and Universities: Berkeley graduates have received scholarships and admission to many arts-focused colleges and universities, including: Belmont University, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, Maine College of Art & Design, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Parsons School of Design, the Rhode Island School of Design, Savannah College of Art & Design, University of Westminster (Fashion Design Honors), and more.

At Berkeley, the arts are celebrated, and performances and exhibitions attract huge audiences. Students feel that their work matters, and driven by a desire for artistic excellence, they are able to stretch themselves in a supportive environment.