Points of Pride

Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts

  • Student sanding his sculpture

    A Creative Playground

    The Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts produces more than 400 performances and exhibits each year in art, music, theatre, dance, and arts technology, providing students with a wide range of opportunities to apply their art.

  • Student discussing her work

    Many Opportunities

    Fine arts students are not only prepared to be the best in their artistic discipline, but also have extensive opportunities to learn how to apply that knowledge in a career setting, through entrepreneurship classes, specialized business-of-the-arts programs such as arts management, music business, and Design Streak, plus a national network of alumni connections in their field.

  • Friends of the Arts

    Friends of the Arts, a local community group, raises more than $40,000 each year for scholarships and grants for Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts students. Students can apply for funding to pursue a particular artistic project.

Departments and Programs Pride

  • The college's notable alumni include film, television, and theatre professionals such as Jane Lynch, Sean Hayes, John Malkovich, Craig Robinson, Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Laurie Metcalf. Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre was created by theatre students while they were attending Illinois State.

  • Illinois State’s Art Teacher Education program touts a job placement rate close to 100%.

  • We're home to the only Dance Teacher Education licensure program in the state of Illinois, preparing undergraduate students to teach in both the public and private sectors.

  • The School of Music has one of the top master's in music therapy programs in the country and the only approved one in Illinois.

  • The Master of Music Education program is one of the only programs in the state of Illinois to have a fully online option.

  • Students with School of Music majors and minors receive individualized instruction taught by professors (not teaching assistants) on all wind, brass, and percussion instruments, as well as piano, voice, and strings (including classical guitar).

  • Design Streak Studio, a social innovation lab, facilitates an interdisciplinary environment for students to promote human-centered research, experimentation, and service learning. In addition, students can apply for graphic design internships offered every semester to earn pre-professional work experience.

  • Normal Editions Workshop (NEW) in the Wonsook Kim School of Art is one of only a few facilities of its kind housed in an academic unit, producing limited edition lithographic prints for artists from around the world, and providing great opportunities for student interaction.

  • The Wonsook Kim School of Art's extensive visiting artists program exposes students to a wide range of contemporary artists in all disciplines.

  • Alumni from the arts technology program work for well-known companies such as Major League Baseball, Walt Disney Company, State Farm Insurance, Digital Kitchen, and Imagine Artists.

  • Students are learning to make interactive technology accessible to children through a new collaborative effort between the School of Creative Technologies and the Children’s Discovery Museum in nearby Uptown Normal.

  • The School of Creative Technologies combines serious artistry with modern technology to train true digital artists who are prepared to adapt to today's needs.

  • The Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts' facilities include a state-of-the-art proscenium theatre and concert hall in the Center for the Performing Arts, fully-equipped professional outdoor Shakespearean theatre on the grounds of Ewing Cultural Center, and a new University Galleries location in Uptown Normal. The college is planning a $54 million building project that will provide exciting new and revitalized training spaces in visual arts, music, theatre, dance, and arts technology.

  • The School of Music has more than 20 ensembles, including bands, orchestras, choirs, opera/musical theatre, and specialty ensembles. All are open to any students, regardless of major. (Some require auditions.)

  • The Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts' outstanding facilities include a state-of-the-art proscenium theatre and concert hall in the Center for the Performing Arts. The college is currently undergoing a $54 million building project that will provide exciting new and revitalized training spaces.

  • Composition students regularly receive readings and performances by world-class guest artists and student ensembles, including Illinois State's choral ensembles, Illinois State's Symphony Orchestra and the award-winning Wind Symphony.

  • Conducting graduate students are mentored by faculty and have significant podium experience leading chamber and large ensembles in concert.

  • Performance graduate students concertize regularly in solo and chamber performances, including concerto-aria competitions, as well as national performance competitions such as the Music Teachers National Association and National Association of Teachers of Singing.

  • Collaborative Piano graduate students have myriad performance opportunities with solo instrumental and vocalists, chamber ensembles, and large ensembles both on- and off-campus.

  • Illinois State's annual weeklong Red Note New Music Festival, drawing nationally known artists, features a composition competition and composition workshop.

  • Music Business students capitalize on the opportunities to collaborate with each other in the music industry, including the student record label StuCo.

  • The Dance sequence offers an intensive, individualized and performance-based approach preparing students for a variety of careers in performance, choreography, teaching, and future post-graduate study.

  • The Minor in Dance offers a comprehensive curriculum of dance technique and theory courses, while complementing the student’s major in another discipline.

  • Theatre Teacher Education students play an important role in planning and running the Illinois High School Theatre Festival, one of the largest festivals of its kind in the U.S.

  • Students explore the cinematic art from East and West, mainstream and Independent, classic and contemporary, write critical reviews as professional critics, and have opportunities to experience and participate in the creative process of filmmaking.

  • Students have ample opportunities to hone their academic and professional skills, from teaching and faculty-led conference trips to dramaturgy positions in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Film main season and literary associate assistantships at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Almost all students interested in continuing their education have successfully to competitive Ph.D. programs.

  • Our Illinois Shakespeare Festival is a nationally acclaimed Equity summer theatre operated by the School of Theatre, Dance, and Film, with opportunities for students to work with professionals.

  • Students are directors, playwrights, theatre managers, dramaturgs, actors, and critics. They propose, produce, and direct their own projects, collaborate in the annual Playwrights' Workshop, or assist with marketing and management of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Film main season. Students have many opportunities to interact and network with diverse visiting artists.

Accreditations

Wonsook Kim School of Art

  • National Association of Schools of Art and Design

  • Art, B.A., B.S.  - National Association of Schools of Art and Design

  • Art, B.A., B.S., Art Teacher Education sequence  - National Association of Schools of Art and Design; Illinois State Board of Education, State Educator Preparation and Licensure Board

  • Art, B.F.A.  - National Association of Schools of Art and Design

  • Art, M.A., M.S. - National Association of Schools of Art and Design

  • Art, M.F.A.  - National Association of Schools of Art and Design

School of Music

School of Theatre and Dance

Creative Technology