Liberal Arts

Interdivisional Liberal Arts

Faculty

Juilliard actively promotes a liberal arts education that provides the humanistic, ethical, social, critical, and aesthetic background essential to personal development and professional excellence. Studies in literature, philosophy, history, social sciences, arts, and languages, foster in students a deeper understanding of themselves and the complex world in which they live.

All students in the B.F.A. and B.M. degree programs are required to complete a minimum of 24 credits in the Liberal Arts. Qualified students begin a three-semester core-curriculum program in their first year by taking “Ethics, Conscience and the Good Life” and “Society, Politics and Culture.” In the following year students enroll in “Art and Aesthetics.” Students who place into “Writing Seminar” enroll in that course their first year and in “Ethics” their sophomore year, completing the three-semester sequence as above. This core curriculum in the humanities introduces students to a cross-cultural range of texts, traditions, and issues and emphasizes critical thinking and writing throughout.

Students pursue electives in such fields as art history, creative writing, literature, African-American studies, American and European history, gender, philosophy, and the environment. Juilliard also offers courses in four modern foreign languages: French, German, Italian, and Russian. Most students take electives in the third and fourth years but may take them earlier. All Liberal Arts coursesare conducted in small seminars to foster participation and a spirit of inquiry. Eligible students may also cross-register for certain courses at Columbia and Barnard Colleges.

Through their work in the Liberal Arts, students refine skills in reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking, learning to communicate with greater clarity and effectiveness. This program equips them to become active, well-informed citizens; develops their awareness of the social and humanistic dimensions of professional work; and lays the basis for a fulfilling cultural and intellectual life.

Courses

Liberal Arts Core

• •  LARTS 101-2 — Writing Seminar
• •  LARTS 111 — Ethics, Conscience, and the Good Life
• •  LARTS 112 — Society, Politics, and Culture
• •  LARTS 212 — Citizenship, Art, and Politics

Liberal Arts Electives: Humanities (Art History)

• •  LARTS 340 — Frozen Music: On Interrelating the Arts
• •  LARTS 343 — Art of the 19th Century
• •  LARTS 344 — Art of the 20th Century
• •  LARTS 347 — Focus on a Major Artist
• •  LARTS 349 — Art of the Renaissance

Liberal Arts Electives: Humanities (Literature and Creative Writing)

• •  LARTS H358 — Honors: Contemporary American Literature
• •  LARTS 312 — Asian American Literature and Film
• •  LARTS 315 — Writing Poetry and Flash Fiction
• •  LARTS 358 — Contemporary American Literature
• •  LARTS 359 — English Romantic Literature of the 19th Century: Sublime, Gothic, Heroic
• •  LARTS 361 — Creative Nonfiction
• •  LARTS 365 — Contemporary American Poetry

Liberal Arts Electives: History and Social Sciences

• •  LARTS 302 — Language, Culture, and Society
• •  LARTS 318 — Making Modernity, Good and Bad: 19th Century Europe
• •  LARTS 369 — Civil War, Reconstruction, and Slave Emancipation

Liberal Arts Electives: Languages

• •  LARTS 151-2 — Russian I
• •  LARTS 161-2 — English and Communication
• •  LARTS 171-2 — French I
• •  LARTS 181-2 — German I
• •  LARTS 191-2 — Italian I
• •  LARTS 561-2 — Graduate English Seminar

Liberal Arts Electives: American Studies

• •  LARTS 353 — August Wilson’s American Experience
• •  LARTS 391 — The History of American Social Movements, 1954-2016
• •  LARTS 392 — Democracy at the Crossroads

Liberal Arts Electives: Gender Studies

• •  LARTS 304 — Feminist Philosophy