Main content

Arts Open Access

Purchase College promises a different kind of liberal arts education—one where the merging of the liberal arts and sciences with the arts is natural and encouraged.

A student playing a French horn Arts Courses Open to Non-Majors

Most courses offered by the BA programs in the School of the Arts are open to students in other disciplines at Purchase College. These are offered under the regular course prefix for the discipline (for example, AMG for arts management and THP for theatre and performance). 

In addition, many courses offered by the BFA and MusB programs in the School of the Arts are also open to students in other disciplines at Purchase College, in most cases without audition or permission of the instructor.

Below is a preview of the courses currently offered, which includes the interdisciplinary Discovering the Arts.


Please check the Course Search for restrictions on specific sections and/or prerequisites and a more extensive list of all offerings. Search Arts Open Access to view a list of the classes offered each semester.

Arts Open Access

  • Discovering the Arts

Art+Design

Graphic Design

  • Social Design (open to New Media students)

Printmaking

  • Introduction to Printmaking

Painting and Drawing

  • Introduction to Drawing

Sculpture

  • Introduction to Sculpture
  • Introduction to Video Art
  • Digital Tools and Digital Dimensions (open to New Media students)
  • Theater of the Oppressed
  • Performance

Photography

  • Introduction to Digital Photography
  • Intro to Color Photography
  • Contemplative Photography
  • Photo I
  • Photography II: Darkroom to Digital
  • Still Motion

Visual Arts

  • Art in the Age of Electronic Media
  • Arts for Social Change
  • Make, Mix, Move
  • Crossover

Dance

  • Introduction to Ballet
  • Hip-Hop
  • Collaborative Video for Choreography
  • The Best of 20th and 21st Century Dance
  • Introduction to Modern Dance
  • Western Dance History 1 (some seats for non-majors)
  • Western Dance History 2 (some seats for non-majors)
  • Intermediate Ballet (only non-majors)
  • Brain on Art: Neuroaesthetics (open to all)

 Music

  • Introduction to Studio Recording
  • Introduction to Jazz
  • Jazz in Context
  • Jazz Ensemble
  • Hand Drumming
  • Soul Voices (by audition)
  • Purchase Latin Jazz Ensemble
  • Private Study: For Students in Other Disciplines
  • Purchase Chorus (by audition)
  • Purchase Symphony Orchestra
  • Survey of Music History I (FA) and II (SP)
  • History of Recorded Music Blues to Bebop
  • History of Recorded Music Bebop to Hip Hop
  • Songwriting I

Theatre Arts

Acting

  • Creative Expression
  • Fundamentals of Acting

Theatre Design/Technology

  • Costume Design Seen Through Film

Nearly all courses within Theatre and Performance are open to non-major Purchase College students, including:

  • Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies
  • Women in Performance
  • Concepts in Costuming
  • Revolutionary Laughter: Satire and Social Dialogue
  • Contemporary Queer Performance
  • Theatre and Asia
  • Documentary Theatre
  • Performing Oral History and Poetry
  • Solo Performance