Four students onstage and in costume during a theatrical performance
The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHS) is the public liberal arts college of Maine’s cultural and professional center. We offer our diverse community of learners a high quality, affordable education with opportunities for engaged research, scholarship, and creative activity under the mentorship of a distinguished faculty. Our strong liberal and fine arts programs provide the heart and soul of the undergraduate experience at the University of Southern Maine.
Two students onstage during a theatrical performance

Theatre at USM

Through a wide-ranging production season, inter-disciplinary collaborations, community and school outreach, and interactive theatre experiences, the USM Department of Theatre contributes to the rich cultural, creative, and artistic life of the greater Portland area and the state of Maine.

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Student playing piano alone in classroom with blackboard behind them

School of Music

The School of Music offers a personalized and opportunity-based approach to educating musicians, featuring a faculty of distinguished performers, teachers, scholars, and mentors.

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photo inside the Art Gallery. LArge hanging double helix sculpture in the foreground, two large starfish sculptures hanging on the wall in the background, and two framed works hanging on the wall in the background.

The Art Gallery

The Art Gallery serves the most diverse population of any Maine institution of higher learning, and it is known for its rich blend of contemporary art exhibitions, lectures, events, and Artist-in-Residence community projects.

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Student writing at picnic table outside with fall foliage in the background

Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing

The Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing is one of the nation’s most diverse, exciting, and rigorous low-residency MFA programs.

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Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts

This Center features lectures, workshops, panel discussions and exhibitions that celebrate the innovative and engaging nature of book arts.

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News

List view
During a tour of the Crewe Center, visitors from Maine Audubon feel the acid-etched markings on the windows, which make the glass visible to birds.

December 6, 2024

Treated glass spares birds from flying blind into Crewe Center windows
Professor Leonard Shedletsky

November 27, 2024

Critical Thinking and the Art of Being an Educator
In a new production of Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi," the title character (Nick Sutton) hatches his plan to snatch a disputed inheritance for himself.

November 26, 2024

A Jazz Age reinvention of ‘Gianni Schicchi’ is a zoot-suited hoot
Painting by Edouard Manet, Reading, Oil on Canvas

November 26, 2024

Art History Professor Susan Waller Recorded Conversation on Artists’ Models.
Lily Tayler plays Raelynn in "John Proctor is the Villain."

November 15, 2024

Literary analysis leads to personal realizations in ‘John Proctor is the Villain’
Salena Goodine dressed in character as the Witch of the West at the listening party for "The Wizard of Oz" radio play.

November 5, 2024

Listening party transports Oz fans over the rainbow