A World-Class Arts Education at USM

Degrees in the arts

Discover your creative potential at the University of Southern Maine (USM), where both undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the arts are designed to inspire, challenge, and prepare students for meaningful, fulfilling careers.

Our programs offer exceptional value, providing students with access to state-of-the-art facilities, world-class faculty, and rich opportunities for performance, creation, exhibition, and collaboration across Southern Maine’s vibrant cultural scene.

A faculty member and student engaged in a discussion.

A group of theatre students in period costumes and wigs.

Whether you’re studying music, theatre, dance, or studio art, we offer an accessible environment grounded in academic excellence and creative exploration.

Explore the Osher School of Music

Explore the Department of Theatre

Explore the Department of Art

A woman working with clay to create mugs in the ceramics studio.

Open to all — classes & workshops

Choose from a dynamic mix of art studios and classes at affordable public university rates:

Ignite your creativity with a book arts workshop or summer studio course at the Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts.
Join the band or find your voice in your choice of campus ensembles — from jazz to the symphony orchestra, chorus, or an opera workshop.

Fall, winter, spring, summer — USM courses across the arts are open for the general public and our students to enroll.

A theatre student in a shiny blue dress with a gold helmet extends their arms to expand shiny gold wings.

A man with a guitar stands in front of a projector screen teaching students.

Two women gesture as they sing in front of a large window.

Two patrons take in a colorful exhibit in the Atrium Gallery.

Students standing by 4 barres hold a ballet pose with their arms extended.

A student in a dark red dress and pearl neckless emotionally invested in a performance.

A woman stands in front of a table addressing two groups of people at tables.

A woman seated at a Steinway piano is reflected in the piano's shiny lid.

Patrons lean on the edge of a glass case chatting in the Osher Map Library.

Two students share a music stand with an iPad on it. A projector screen is in the background.

Three students perform a bakery scene from "Into the Woods".

Eckart Preu addresses the string section of an ensemble.

A conductor working with a group of choral students.

A close-up of cardboard sculptures; a nest with blue eggs is in the middle.

A student plays a saxophone as part of an ensemble.

A student-teacher conducting a group of singers in front of a whiteboard full of music notes.

A student in a white dress dances on a darkened stage.

A close-up of a colorful art piece mounted on a white wall.

Two patrons mingling during an exhibit opening at the Osher Map Library.

Theatre students getting ready in front of lighted mirrors.

A close-up of a student working intently on a ceramics project.

Three students dressed in tuxes wave folded newspapers while singing at the camera.

An extreme close-up of an art piece featuring chained fabric loops.

Several dancers crouched down with extended legs in a studio.

A group of students with joined hands serpentine around each other in a studio.

A student in a white dress sings into a microphone.

Young kids play clarinets and saxophones in an ensemble setting.

Connecting youth to art across Southern Maine

USM is where Maine’s youth come to play and create! We hope to foster a love for the arts across a mix of program options made available to kids across the state who seek early roots in Maine’s art community.

Youth programs and resources in the arts

A long-standing tradition in the community, the Osher School of Music hosts auditioned Osher Youth Ensembles — wind, strings, and orchestra — offering weekly, structured progressions designed to develop ensemble skills and musicianship for middle and high school musicians.

Explore our youth ensembles

Educational outreach is central to the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education’s mission. Borrowable map kits can be lent to schools, clubs, after-school programs, and camps. Take a field trip to libraries at USM, or schedule remote learning programs and hands-on lessons for classroom visits.

Explore our map resources

A woman works with kids on an art project.

Youth summer camps in the arts

The Osher School of Music hosts immersive summer music and theatre camps that range from commuter to residential experiences for musicians and performers in grades 5 – 12.
USM students teach the ArtLab summer camp, engaging students K – 12 across mediums in the visual arts, and culminating in a public art exhibition.
World Makers summer camp unleashes the creative mind with a week of inventing, mapping, and building imagined worlds for grades 5 – 12 at the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education.

A young art camper next to open watercolor paint palettes works on a small painting.

A woman teaches young art campers how to do a project.

A view from the percussion section facing the conductor.

A young art camper works on a small painting.

A student works with a kid on an art project.

A student works with kids on an art project.

A close-up of hands working on an art project.

A view from the rear of the youth orchestra ensemble.

A sandwich board sign with the word Art Lab points to the open Art Department door.

A young art camper working on a diorama.

A close-up of open tins of paint on a cutting mat.