Teach Creatively
University of the Arts’ mission is simple: to advance human creativity. With that in mind, we’ve assembled this set of resources and tools as a free way for you to help your students ignite their creative spirits, as well as a resource for you to advance your own creativity.
Thank you for the hard work you do. We couldn’t achieve our mission without you.
Check out the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts' dynamic and groundbreaking theater experiences. Performances include musicals, screenplays, workshops and senior projects. All events are ticketed.
Livestream or watch recorded UArts music performances in your classroom. Tune in to masterclasses, lectures and guest artist performances.
Engage your students with our monthly lesson plans for high school educators. Lesson plans include:
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Sing a Song!
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Mixing Individual Skin Colors (K4 and Elementary Students)
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Photojournalism and Social & Emotional Learning
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Resist Covid Take 6! - A social impact project by Carrie Mae Weems
Discover enrichment opportunities in visual arts, performing arts and creative writing for students in grades 9–12. UArts’ Pre-College programs foster exploration and embolden students to think creatively and work collaboratively.
Saturday School
College-level courses designed for high school students in grades 9–12.
Learn more about Saturday School.
Summer Institute
A dynamic summer program for creative high school students passionate about visual arts, performance, and writing.
Explore opportunities for career development at UArts. We offer nonmatriculated and matriculated courses, as well as graduate certificates and degrees for educators looking to expand their knowledge and bring new skills into the classroom.
Graduate Certificates
Graduate certificates are 15-credit credentials for K–12 educators, offered in the areas of Arts and Educational Technology.
Explore graduate certificates at UArts.
Professional Institute for Educators at UArts
The Professional Institute for Educators (PIE) empowers educators across disciplines to continually advance their teaching skills. Through graduate courses, certificates and degree programs, PIE develops innovative and creative educational programming to serve the professional development needs of K–12 teachers in and through the arts.
Learn more about the Professional Institute for Educators at UArts.
Summer Music Studies
The Summer Music Studies program serves the needs of music teachers, offering graduate-level courses in Drums, Band, Jazz, Strings, Music Technology, Musical Theater, Orff Schulwerk Certification and Supplemental Coursework, Songwriting and Guitar, and Vocal/Choral for professional development and PA Act 48.
UArts Archives
Discover university publications, from special exhibitions to collections of student work.
Image by Lexi Hagelgans '22 (Illustration)
Underground Pool
Underground Pool is the result of student collaboration, featuring work across majors, from writing and visual arts to multimedia and performance. The theme for this year’s online edition of Underground Pool is “containment.” Underground Pool is published by the Creative Writing program, and edited and designed by students in the Creative Writing and Graphic Design programs.
BIPOC Feature Mag (BFM)
The BFM is a digital magazine showcasing Black, Indigenous, and other students of color at UArts published by the DEI Fellows. The magazine amplifies the work of BIPOC artists by giving them a platform made for them, designed by them.
Originally created for newly accepted students, these short courses made by UArts faculty are now available for educators to use in the classroom. From character development to mixed-media collages, the courses will challenge students to think creatively.
Views of a Changing World
Lightbox Film Center Director Jesse Pires has curated this set of films that capture social and political movements, events, and everyday life. Centered around themes of art and activism, community-building and experimental techniques, you’ll see how filmmakers use their art to document and respond to current events. Educators are encouraged to watch the films before sharing them with their students.
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World In a City (Brett Story, 2016)
Set in Toronto, this film examines how cities address immigration and how diasporic communities influence the character of a specific place. (World In a City, Brett Story, provided by the National Film Board of Canada)
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Harlem Montage (Ja’Tovia Gary, 2012)
A portrait of daily life in Harlem, New York, that celebrates the people and places that make up a community.
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Mountain Fire Personnel (Alex Tyson, 2015)
Drawn from a variety of media sources (NOAA satellite imagery, GoPro cameras, shortwave radios, etc.), this film captures the treacherous realities of California’s wildfires. That some of the labor is done by state prisoners also raises questions about who is an “essential worker.”
Note: There is brief use of explicit language at 12:33 and 24:57.
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SSS (Henry Hills, 1988)
Decades before TikTok made us all performance artists, this short film strings together an impromptu modern dance routine on the pre-gentrified streets of the East Village in New York City. The soundtrack is by avant-garde improvisers Tom Cora, Christian Marclay and Zeena Parkins.
5.
Rammellzee: It’s Not Who But What (Oscar Boyson, 2018)
Hip hop superhero? Street art pioneer? Who is Rammellzee? Past and future collide in this short film that uncovers one of the most original artists of the late 20th century.
This film is recommended for 11th and 12th grade students. Teachers, there is explicit language at 2:27, 3:56, 5:00, 5:56 and 6:55.
The TPS-UArts downloadable Teacher Resource Guides cover a range of arts-based topics and historical contexts. The guides are designed to help K–12 teachers incorporate arts-based primary resources into dynamic, cross-curricular classroom experiences. Each guide includes a classroom studio project.
Igniting Inquiry: Using Compelling Arts-based Primary Sources to Inspire Student Writing Across Disciplines
This guide centers on using arts-based primary sources from the Library of Congress's digital collection to spark student writing. The prompts and downloadable classroom projects included within this guide are suitable for use in classrooms across subject areas, disciplines, and levels.
The university's centers extend our range of creative offerings beyond the immediate UArts community. These spaces offer opportunities for inclusive, intellectual and artistic exchange through exhibitions, screenings, multidisciplinary projects, and other public events and programs.
Center for Immersive Media (CIM)
The Center for Immersive Media (CIM) explores the opportunities and implications of what it means for ourselves to be immersed in data, simulations, stories, performances and digital communities. Learn more.
Lightbox Film Center
Lightbox Film Center at University of the Arts will have a primary home in a purpose-designed screening room on Broad Street. Learn more.
Philadelphia Art Alliance
Philadelphia Art Alliance at UArts, the oldest interdisciplinary arts center in the nation, is a historic landmark that will also soon serve as an exciting, thought-provoking destination for contemporary arts. Learn more.
Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery
The Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery is the primary exhibition space of the University of the Arts, located six blocks south of City Hall, across from the Kimmel Center. The gallery is free and open to the public. Learn more.
5 Questions with Visiting Artists
Visiting artists offer advice for aspiring professionals and answer questions about art education, collaboration, practice, portfolios and more. Watch the series with your students for inspiration and to learn more about the artists.