Visual Arts
The Visual Arts Department at Drew invites students to have authentic and engaging experiences in our studio spaces. Each course, through a wide range of traditional and digital approaches, is designed to help you build your skills, explore your own ideas and observations of the world, and help you understand how to express your point of view visually. We value the creative process of brainstorming, iterating, and gath-ering feedback for revision as a method that you can apply to the arts and beyond. You will also integrate the city as an extended lab that offers locations for creative projects and exposure to museums and outside artists. Art is ultimately about communication and each course will invite you to make those steps toward developing a personal voice.
Performing Arts
The materials we use in Performing Arts classes are an intentional departure from more traditional scholastic models which draw mainly from the Western Classical canon because we believe that this fosters an inclusive environment in which everyone’s story is valued and we want students to know the source stories of the popular forms they gravitate to on their own.
Theater at Drew is about learning to be seen, heard, understood, and believed. Students develop the confidence to tell their own stories and the empathy to appreciate different perspectives. Course work is focused on building skills in creativity and collaboration as students explore verbal and non verbal modes of communication. They also engage in self evaluation, and reflect on their artistic process through writing and discussion.
Music at Drew is a subject in which you can immerse yourself, just as you would with any other academic subject. This is possible because your ensemble is the class, and meets just as often as any of your other subjects. Whether you are a beginner interested in trying a new instrument, or you are already proficient on one or more instruments, there is a place for you in our student-centered ensemble program that values the contributions of each individual.
As opposed to traditional orchestra and band programs, Drew’s Ensemble program fosters individual autonomy. Rather than following from the back of a large section, Drew students learn from the outset to develop their musical voices through collaboration, authentic practice and in developing leadership skills.
Music Production is an immersive experience in which students explore the creation of music using digital and acoustic sound sources. Beginning with the mechanics of sound production, propagation and perception, and moving through a variety of modules, students will work individually and in small groups on technical and creative projects that serve as an introduction to the elements of sound design and musical composition using recording equipment and digital editing tools.