For more than two decades, the Richard C. Von Hess Foundation has presented UArts students with new horizons, furthering art education, supporting museums, and promoting the humanities.

It’s easy to throw a memorable party when you have this much creativity in-house, and UArts continues to up the ante each year with its annual gala. Performance Unleashed provides attendees the opportunity to witness the phenomenal talent and hard work of UArts students, while helping nurture the university’s next cohorts of artists.

A new transformative theater hub on campus will honor Walter Dallas’ legacy. As the first director of the university’s Theater program, Walter Dallas literally set the stage for what would become the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts. It’s only fitting that since his passing in 2020, UArts has announced that a new transformative theater hub on campus will carry Dallas’ name and honor his legacy. 

Learn more about 2023's honorary degree recipients and Silver Star awardees Clayton Reilly BM ’06 (Instrumental Performance), MAT ’21 (Music Education) and Dotty Attie BFA ’59 (Art Education).

UArts relies on its Board of Trustees for leadership, counsel, and financial support. In recent years, UArts’ board has become the home for the next generation of young philanthropists. Meet three board members with deep family histories of supporting the arts in the Philadelphia region.

Any community is built on the enthusiasm and dedication of individuals. For the past four years, UArts has demonstrated how powerful individual contributions can be during the UArtist Day of Giving. In all, approximately 1,140 members of the UArts community participated in the fundraising endeavor, a 23.78 percent increase in the number of donors since 2022. 

You could say Schoner is more than an actively involved parent of a rising senior at UArts: He’s actually a UArts superbooster. As associate director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, Schoner has long been involved with both the arts community and his children’s school district, where he serves on the Cedar Grove Board of Education in New Jersey.

Today, as chair of UArts’ Parent and Family Council, he leads a group of parents and guardians of current students dedicated to advancing the university’s mission through enrollment, fundraising, and awareness-building.

You could say that UArts is not just an alma mater for the Taylors—it was the staging ground for their future. Arthur Taylor BFA ’90 (Theater) and his wife Shawnta Smith- Taylor BFA ’94 (Modern Dance) first met during Shawnta’s freshman year. Both alumni of Duke Ellington High School in Washington, D.C., they were matched at UArts through an incoming student mentorship program.

Last spring, UArts’ new Student Center was completed— it was one of the most eagerly anticipated capital projects on campus. Formerly known as Gershman Hall, the Student Center is the first-ever official student activity hub in the university’s history.

Thanks to $1 million in grants from Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, as well as a lead gift from longtime UArts supporters Harriet and Larry Weiss to establish Harriet’s Place: Larry’s Gift on the first floor, the Student Center is a one-stop-shop for social interaction, study, and recreation.