2021-2022 Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2021-2022 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Visual and Performing Arts, BA


The Visual and Performing Arts Department offers a cross-disciplinary degree that encourages innovative collaboration between disciplines. This focus integrates art history, dance, film studies, museum and gallery practice, music, theatre, and visual arts. Students complete this degree with a primary concentration in one area and develop a comprehensive knowledge in each of the major disciplines. Through studio arts, performance, theory, scholarship, and creative uses of media and technology, students will engage in an investigative approach to the arts, where the local and global converge; where cross-fertilization inspires critical thinking, dialogue and improvisation; and where diversity of thought is intrinsic to artistic process and practice. When students complete this degree, they will have the skills and knowledge to enter graduate school or a variety of careers in the arts.

The Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, THEATREWORKS, and the Visual Resource Center offer students opportunities and venues for professional practice and interactions with visiting artists and scholars.

Departmental Policies

Arts Fees

Students enrolled in AH, DNCE, FILM, MUS, MSGP, THTR, VA, and VAPA courses will be assessed fees to help defray the cost of supplies. Program fees range from $15-$40 per course, per semester. Check the course schedule for fees, or use the fee estimator at the Student Financial Services website: http://www.uccs.edu/bursar/estimate-your-total-bill.html. There is a full refund of the deposit for courses dropped the first two weeks of the term (for full-term courses).

Departmental Goals

  • Students are members of a departmental campus culture with shared interests in the exchange of ideas about arts scholarship and performance by attending a variety of university and local performances and art events.

Learning Outcomes

Comprehension and development: perceptions concerning changes in attitude toward certain areas of performance vis-à-vis understanding and greater tolerance for innovation and experimentation.

  • Ability to recognize and comprehend aesthetic criteria, artistic genres, and the intention of a variety of performative acts in different contexts
  • Understand fundamental characteristics of performance and artistic expressiveness and their application cross-culturally and across disciplinary practices
  • Ability to critique direct outcomes of art and performance (e.g., symbolism, metaphoric content, tropes such as parody and satire, cultural representation, improvisatory interaction, subversive intent, etc.)
  • Ability to use the full range of resources to understand the complexity of any given arts-related topic, and to generate the requisite knowledge and evidence to create a compelling and coherent research project
  • Ability to work collaboratively in groups across the arts disciplines

Visual and Performing Arts, BA Options

  • Art History Option
  • Film Studies Option
  • Music Options
  • Theatre Option
  • Dance Option
  • Theatre Dance Dual Concentration Option
  • Visual Art Option

These options are described below. In addition, each option offers a minor, and there are BI degree options (Museum Studies and Gallery Practice, BI™ ; Music, BI™ ). See each department’s page for more information.

Course Requirements

Options of the VAPA, BA consist of the following course distribution.

  • VAPA Core Courses: 9 credit hours (6 of which must be upper division)
  • Cross-Disciplinary Courses: 3-6 credit hours for Art History, Film, Theatre, and Dance Options
  • Primary Option Courses: 39-54 credit hours, to include a capstone course

60-63 Total Credit Hours

Art History Option


General Requirements

Students intending to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts with an Art History option must complete 60 credit hours as follows:

  • 9 credit hours of VAPA Core Courses
  • 39 credit hours of Art History
  • 6 credit hours of Visual Art
  • 6 credit hours of Cross-Disciplinary Courses from other VAPA options

Art History Courses (39 credit hours)


Visual Art Courses (6 credit hours)


Please note: Students with the proper prerequisites may elect to take any upper-division visual arts courses to fulfill the Art History Visual Arts requirement.

Cross-Disciplinary Electives


  • Complete 6 credit hours of 2000-level or higher coursework from other VAPA areas: AH, DNCE, FILM, MSGP, MUS, or THTR.

Dance Option


The basic sequence of required courses comprising the Dance option is designed to provide the student with a theoretical/historical grounding in the art of the dance and the opportunity to put theories into practice in performance situations. Electives allow students to create a focus of study according to their interests. The academic Theatre and Dance Program sponsors several student and faculty choreographed performances throughout the year. Students may also have the opportunity to participate in productions of Theatreworks, the regional repertory company at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and other professional theatre or dance opportunities. Students are advised that dance courses, especially practice courses, are progressive and should be taken in sequence. 

General Degree Requirements

Students intending to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts with a Dance option must complete 60 credit hours as follows:

  • 9 credit hours of VAPA Core Courses
  • 48 credit hours of Dance
  • 3 credit hours of Cross-Disciplinary Courses from other VAPA options

Cross-Disciplinary Electives


  • Complete 3 credit hours of 2000-level or higher coursework from other VAPA areas: AH, FILM, MSGP, MUS, or VA.

Film Studies Option


The Film Studies option in the Visual and Performing Arts major is devoted to the study of film as a multicultural and transnational artistic discipline. The emphasis of this track is on film history, theory, and analysis. The department provides an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the moving image, which prepares the student for graduate programs in advanced film and media study, or as a component to film making. 

General Requirements

Students intending to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts with a Film Studies option must complete 54 credit hours as follows:

  • 9 credit hours of VAPA Core Courses
  • 39 credit hours of Film Studies
  • 6 credit hours of Cross-Disciplinary Courses from other VAPA options

Film Studies Courses (39 credit hours)


Cross-Disciplinary Electives


  • Complete 6 credit hours of 2000-level or higher coursework from other VAPA areas: AH, DNCE, MSGP, MUS, THTR, or VA.

Theatre Option


The basic sequence of required courses comprising the Theatre option is designed to provide the student with a theoretical/historical grounding in the art of the theatre and the opportunity to put theories into practice in performance situations. Electives allow students to create a focus of study according to their interests. The academic Theatre and Dance Program sponsors several student and faculty choreographed performances throughout the year. Students may also have the opportunity to participate in productions of Theatreworks, the regional repertory company at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and other professional theatre or dance opportunities. Students are advised that theatre courses, especially practice courses, are progressive and should be taken in sequence. 

General Degree Requirements

Students intending to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts with a Theatre option must complete 60 credit hours as follows:

  • 9 credit hours of VAPA Core Courses
  • 48 credit hours of Theatre
  • 3 credit hours of Cross-Disciplinary Courses from other VAPA options

Theatre Courses (48 credit hours)


Cross-Disciplinary Electives


  • Complete 3 credit hours of 2000-level or higher coursework from other VAPA areas: AH, DNCE, FILM, MSGP, MUS, or VA.

Theatre and Dance Dual Option


The basic sequence of required courses comprising the Theatre and Dance option is designed to provide the student with a theoretical/historical grounding in the art of the theatre and dance as overlapping art forms, and the opportunity to put theories into practice in performance situations. Electives allow students to create a focus of study according to their interests. The academic Theatre and Dance Program sponsors several student and faculty choreographed performances throughout the year. Students may also have the opportunity to participate in productions of Theatreworks, the regional repertory company at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and other professional theatre or dance opportunities. Students are advised that Theatre and Dance courses, especially practice courses, are progressive and should be taken in sequence. 

General Degree Requirements

Students intending to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts with a Theatre and Dance Dual option must complete 60 credit hours as follows:

  • 9 credit hours of VAPA Core Courses
  • 51 credit hours of Dance and Theatre

Electives (15 credit hours)


9 credit hours must be upper division (3000+):

Visual Art Option


The Visual Art option, either as a major or minor within the cross-disciplinary VAPA degree, offers students a wide range of media, including: digital media, drawing, painting, photography, sculpture/installation, sound collage, and video. Students are encouraged to explore hybrid processes and collaborative relationships between the disciplines of art history, dance, film, museum studies and gallery practice, music, and theatre.

General Degree Requirements

Students intending to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts with a Visual Art option must complete 60 credit hours as follows:

  • 9 credit hours of VAPA Core Courses -   is recommended for the 1000-level course.
  • 42 credit hours of Visual Art
  • 9 credit hours of Art History

Visual Art Courses (42 credit hours)


Art History Courses (9 credit hours)