College of Arts and Sciences

Arts and Performance

With an arts faculty of national and international recognition, the College of Arts and Sciences is also a regional arts resource. The public is welcome to all events, many of which are free or have a minimal charge.

Doing Our Part for the Arts

We are proud that art, theatre, dance and the McKissick Museum hold prestigious accreditation status from their major governing associations. We encourage you to come for a visit and see what our students can do.

McMaster Gallery

The School of Visual Arts and Design's McMaster Gallery stages four major exhibitions a year, featuring invited regional and national artists, the Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition, and a series of MFA exhibitions. Our student gallery hosts around a dozen shows per year, and there are numerous student film screenings. SVAD sponsors up to twenty visiting artists and scholarly presentations per year, which often include demonstrations, workshops and screenings in addition to a public talk.

McKissick Museum

McKissick Museum tells the story of Southern life—community, culture and the environment through six major exhibitions a year drawn from our extensive permanent collection, regional and national loans, and faculty and student research. We present 15-20 public programs annually (lectures, films, performances) and offer numerous public tours. McKissick houses the South Carolina Broadcaster’s Association Archives and the Folklife Resource Center, a Southern fieldwork repository.

School of Visual Art and Design

SVAD offers a lot to the community, including yearly public art sales, giving you a great chance to purchase the work of up and coming artists. They also offer youth classes, where young people can explore and learn. Every week, 60-80 young art students, ages 5-18, come and take classes taught by our art education students.

Theatre South Carolina

Our acclaimed Theatre South Carolina produces ten theatre productions annually (about 70 performances a year) on the Main Stage, the Lab Theatre and the Center for Performance Experiment. We host visiting professional actors and directors for all major performances. Every summer, we host summer drama and dance conservatories for young performers.

The Open Book and Other Reading Series

The Open Book series, hosted by Professor Elise Blackwell, has a reputation in the community and the writing world for offering high quality, engaging literary experiences. The Open Book draws capacity audiences to attend a Monday night book discussion, which is led by a faculty member, and a presentation with an acclaimed fiction writer the following Wednesday evening. The English department also offers several other reading series throughout the year.

USC Dance Company and Wideman-Davis Dance

The USC Dance program produces six dance concerts each year, including the Ballet Stars of New York. During the last several years, the program has hosted special dance companies such as Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. The USC Dance Company as well as Wideman-Davis Dance, a professional company directed by two USC associate professors, offer numerous performances throughout the year.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.