About

At Hartt, you can make your passion your profession

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The serious study of music, dance, and theatre requires looking at the past to see what previous generations of artists have accomplished while looking to the future in order to be at the cutting edge of what the performing arts can become.

At Hartt, we want our students to have the skills that give them a thorough and technically solid background, but we also want them to explore and innovate as they build careers and shape the future.

Our conservatory-based training is well-known throughout the world, and Hartt graduates have been making names for themselves for nearly 100 years. Throughout our history, we have continually sought to ensure that our training is progressive and innovative. We are committed to infusing every program with the type of artistic training that moves beyond conservative traditions. We help our students achieve their goals with career-ready programs that turn talent and potential into recognized success.

Whether you are pursuing music, dance, or theatre, you’ll be surrounded by versatile and collaborative performing artists, educators, composers, scholars, recording engineers, and performing arts managers.

Through diverse coursework and close mentoring relationships with faculty, you can make your passion your profession.

The Hartt Experience

"If you want to come here to grow, to learn, to have a sense of family and community, The Hartt School is the place you want to be." -Christopher Rowe '21

Mission And Values

The Hartt School provides preprofessional training in the performing arts characterized by artistic and academic rigor, individualized attention, mentorship, peer support, and a synthesis of tradition and innovation leading to life-long service to and advocacy for the arts.

We believe in an education that:

Promotes a contextual understanding of the arts from historical, cultural, and theoretical perspectives
Is rich in performance and collaboration opportunities within The Hartt School, University, community, and professional world
Cultivates broadly educated individuals and performing artists of vision, depth, and confidence through unique opportunities available throughout the University
Is connected with the professional world and the evolution of the field
Fosters and develops teaching excellence, which equips and inspires future teachers to positively impact the field
Underscores the essential role of the arts in enriching society and the human experience

The University of Hartford's Hartt School is a place to explore, it's a place to refine, and it's a place to tap into your passions.

Orin Wolf '01, Award Winning Producer

About Hartt

The Hartt School is an internationally acclaimed performing arts school with programs in music, dance, and theatre. The school was established by Julius Hartt and Moshe Paranov in 1920 and was one of three founding institutions of the University of Hartford in 1957. Alongside the traditional performance-oriented majors in music, dance, and theatre, we offer innovative programs including music production & technology, music history, music theory, ballet pedagogy, music education, composition, acoustical engineering and music, performing arts management and more.

For more than four decades, the growth of The Hartt School was nurtured by the philanthropy of Alfred C. Fuller, founder of the famous Fuller Brush Company. Fuller's generosity helped to create scholarship opportunities that continue to benefit our students. Additional support from the Fuller family enabled Hartt to build the Alfred C. Fuller Music Center, the four-story complex that houses Hartt's music divisions, administration, and HCD music programs. In the same spirit of generosity demonstrated by her husband, Mary Primrose Fuller left a bequest in 1998, creating new opportunities for Hartt. Dance and theatre students enjoy the state of the art facilities in the nearby Handel Performing Arts Center.

The Hartt School is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music, the National Association of Schools of Dance, and the National Association of Schools of Theatre. Our programs in music education are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and we share University of Hartford accreditation by the Commission of Higher Education of the State of Connecticut, and the New England Commission of Higher Education.