Tufts benefits from world-class departments of History of Art and Architecture, Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, and from BFA and combined degree programs in its School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Outside of the curriculum, Tufts students are engaged in myriad fine and performing arts groups, many student-run, and are able to take advantage of opportunities to participate in music and artistic expression in some of the most beautiful performance halls and galleries in Boston.
Scenes
Music
With over 180 performances on campus every year, Tufts’ vibrant music scene includes student-run a cappella groups and bands, 18 performance ensembles, and classes open to all Tufts students regardless of prior experience. Student groups can practice in one of three sound-proof Wenger booths at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center. After practice, you can peer into rehearsals of the opera ensemble, the jazz band, the Indonesian gamelan housed in our World Music Room, or catch a chamber music master class. On campus, you’ll find African drumming and dance, as well as Arabic and Jewish music – and then there’s Boston itself, with popular concerts at major venues like the TD Garden, and bands at the famous Paradise Rock Club.
Drama & Dance
Drama at Tufts includes both curricular and extracurricular opportunities. Every year there are three faculty-directed major productions, three student-directed major productions, and 12-15 workshop productions, in addition to faculty-taught courses in the major and minor. Pen, Paint & Pretzels, a.k.a. 3Ps, is Tufts’ umbrella organization for student-run performing arts groups on campus. Other student groups include Bare Bodkin (dedicated to student-written work), Cheap Sox (an improvisational comedy troupe), Major: Undecided (a sketch comedy group), and Torn Ticket II (a musical theater group). Dance is similarly active, with seven or more performances each year, including the semester dance concerts, World Dance Night, and the student-run Tufts Dance Collective, Spirit of the Creative, Tufts Burlesque Troupe, and Sarabande Dance Ensemble.
Fine Arts
Students interested in the fine arts at Tufts may delve into classes in the Department of Art and Art History, pursue a combined degree or Bachelor of Fine Arts at our School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and involve themselves with exhibits at the Tufts University Art Galleries, which feature works by John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol, among many others. Boston has an abundance of museums for the art lover: the Museum of Fine Arts is probably the best-known destination in Boston for viewing paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and other art objects from ancient times through the modern age. For a contemporary perspective, visit the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, or if you have more eclectic tastes, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum may be the place to explore.
Spaces
Granoff Music Center
As part of the ongoing expansion and improvement at Tufts, the state-of-the-art Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center opened in February 2007. The impressive 55,000-square-foot facility features a 300-seat recital hall of broadcast and recording quality. In addition, it houses a music library, a world music room, rehearsal and private practice space, classrooms, and seminar space.
Aidekman Arts Center
At the center of Tufts’ arts community is the impressive Aidekman Arts Center, which is home to an enormous exhibition space, a unique 220-seat round theater, a 600-seat multi-use auditorium, two dance studios and dozens of private music rooms, rehearsal spaces, and classrooms. Aidekman is the home to the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies and the Tufts University Art Galleries.