Mission Statement
The American College of Arts and Performing Arts (ACAPA) is a conservatory-model institution dedicated to the rigorous training, intellectual development, and professional formation of artists. ACAPA prepares students to pursue lives of creative practice, critical inquiry, and cultural contribution in music, theatre, dance, visual arts, and interdisciplinary performance.
"ACAPA exists to cultivate artists of deep technical mastery and genuine expressive humanity — practitioners who bring both art and soul to their craft, their communities, and the world."
We believe that the performing and visual arts are not peripheral to human life, but central to it. Our curriculum integrates intensive studio practice with liberal inquiry, demanding that students engage not only with what they make, but why they make it. We hold that serious artistic training must develop the whole person: the mind, the body, the voice, and the conscience.
ACAPA is committed to access, diversity, and the ongoing democratization of conservatory education. We seek students of exceptional promise from all backgrounds and provide need-based financial aid to ensure that talent, not income, determines who studies here.
Institutional Values
- Artistic Excellence: We maintain uncompromising standards in studio teaching and performance, requiring the highest level of craft from every student and faculty member.
- Intellectual Seriousness: Technical mastery is inseparable from critical thinking. ACAPA integrates arts history, theory, and humanities into every degree program.
- Human Dignity: Artistic education is a deeply personal endeavor. We foster an environment of mutual respect, trust between teacher and student, and psychological safety in the studio and on stage.
- Community Engagement: The arts belong to everyone. ACAPA maintains robust public programming and community outreach, including the Eastbridge Concert Series and free summer workshops for Vermont youth.
- Creative Risk: Growth requires failure. We encourage students to take bold artistic chances and create curricula that allow for experimentation without penalty.
- Stewardship: We are responsible stewards of our campus, our community, and the long tradition of arts education we inherit from our founders.
Founding Narrative
ACAPA was established in September 1947 in Eastbridge, Vermont, by a small group of artists, educators, and civic leaders who shared a conviction that post-war America required new institutions for the serious cultivation of the arts. The college's primary founders were Eleanor Marsh Whitfield, a concert pianist and pedagogue who had studied in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, and Dr. Harlan Voss, a theatrical director and professor at Dartmouth College who resigned his position in 1946 to pursue the project full-time.
Whitfield and Voss were joined by a circle of colleagues including the painter Raymond Okafor, cellist and educator Ingrid Sorensdal, and Eastbridge businessman George Pemberton, who donated the former Pemberton Mill estate on Birch Hill Road as the college's founding campus. The property included the main manor house (now Pemberton Hall, home of administrative offices), a carriage barn converted immediately into a rehearsal space, and eleven acres of wooded grounds.
The founding class of 1947 enrolled 34 students across three informal departments: Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts. The motto Ars et Anima was proposed by Whitfield at the inaugural faculty meeting and adopted by acclamation. The college was chartered by the State of Vermont in November 1947 and received its first regional accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in 1955.
From its founding, ACAPA modeled itself on the European conservatory tradition — emphasizing intensive one-on-one instruction, ensemble work, and performance — while incorporating the liberal arts requirements and intellectual breadth that Whitfield and Voss believed essential to the formation of a complete artist. This dual emphasis on rigorous studio training and humanistic inquiry has remained the defining characteristic of an ACAPA education across nearly eight decades.
History Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1946 | Eleanor Marsh Whitfield and Dr. Harlan Voss begin planning for a new conservatory in Vermont. George Pemberton commits the Birch Hill Road estate as founding campus. |
| 1947 | ACAPA opens its doors to 34 students in September. State charter granted in November. Motto Ars et Anima adopted. Three founding departments: Music, Theatre, Visual Arts. |
| 1950 | Dance program established under founding chair Lucinda Ferris-Holt, a former soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. Carriage Barn reconstructed as the Ferris-Holt Dance Studio. |
| 1952 | Eleanor Marsh Whitfield steps down as first president due to illness. Dr. Harlan Voss assumes the presidency (1952–1968). |
| 1955 | First regional accreditation granted by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Enrollment reaches 120 students. |
| 1959 | Whitfield Hall (Music Building) opens, funded by a major bequest from the estate of Eleanor Marsh Whitfield, who died the previous year. Building includes 14 practice studios, a 200-seat recital hall, and faculty offices. |
| 1963 | First graduate program established: Master of Music in Performance. ACAPA joins the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). |
| 1968 | Dr. Harlan Voss retires after sixteen years as president. Ruth Anagawa, composer and ACAPA alumna (Class of 1951), becomes the college's third president and its first alumna to hold the position. |
| 1971 | Theatre building (Voss Center for Dramatic Arts) opens, named in honor of Dr. Harlan Voss. Includes a 350-seat proscenium theatre, a black box space, and costume and scene shops. |
| 1974 | MFA in Theatre Direction and Design established. ACAPA receives its first federal arts endowment grant. |
| 1978 | Eastbridge Concert Series launches as a public outreach initiative, presenting ACAPA ensembles and guest artists in free and low-cost community performances. Series continues to present day. |
| 1981 | President Ruth Anagawa retires after thirteen years. Thomas Kellaway becomes fourth president (1981–1994). Endowment surpasses $4 million. |
| 1984 | Interdisciplinary Performance Studies program established, one of the first such undergraduate programs in New England. |
| 1987 | Okafor Gallery of Contemporary Art opens on the Birch Hill campus, exhibiting student and faculty work as well as touring exhibitions. Named for founding faculty member Raymond Okafor. |
| 1991 | ACAPA observes its first major capital campaign, raising $11.2 million over three years for facility improvements, endowed chairs, and student scholarships. |
| 1994 | Dr. Marguerite Fontenot-Pierce, scholar of ethnomusicology, becomes fifth president (1994–2008). Enrollment exceeds 400 students for the first time. |
| 1997 | ACAPA celebrates its 50th anniversary. An endowed lecture series, the Whitfield-Voss Memorial Lectures in the Arts, is established and has since hosted prominent national arts figures annually. |
| 2001 | Film and Media Arts program founded, reflecting the growing convergence of performing arts and screen-based media. First cohort graduates in 2005. |
| 2003 | Sorensdal Commons (student union and dining hall) opens following a $6.4 million renovation of the former Pemberton Mill outbuildings. Named for founding cellist Ingrid Sorensdal. |
| 2005 | ACAPA launches the Eastbridge Summer Conservatory, a four-week intensive program for pre-college students in music, theatre, and dance. Now serves approximately 180 students annually. |
| 2008 | Dr. James Achebe, pianist and arts administrator, becomes sixth president (2008–2019). Endowment reaches $38 million. |
| 2010 | New Performing Arts Center groundbreaking. The Pemberton Performing Arts Center opens in 2012 with a 650-seat concert hall and two studio theatres, significantly expanding ACAPA's public performance capacity. |
| 2013 | MFA in Visual Arts and BFA in Film & Media Arts receive full NASAD accreditation. ACAPA total enrollment reaches 590. |
| 2015 | ACAPA launches a major need-based financial aid initiative, increasing scholarship funding by 40% over three years and establishing the Founders' Fellows program for first-generation college students. |
| 2019 | Dr. James Achebe retires. President Sylvia Brennan-Ortiz (current) takes office; first president with a background in dance and choreography. |
| 2020 | ACAPA navigates the COVID-19 pandemic, transitioning to hybrid instruction and remote studios. The college records no program cancellations and receives national recognition for crisis continuity planning. |
| 2022 | Strategic Plan 2022–2027 adopted, with priorities in sustainability, digital arts integration, and campus accessibility. Rooftop solar installation on Whitfield Hall reduces campus energy costs by 18%. |
| 2024 | ACAPA celebrates the opening of the renovated Ferris-Holt Dance Center, with two sprung-floor studios, a Pilates/conditioning room, and a new dance archive library. Enrollment: 619 students. |
| 2025 | ACAPA launches its new MFA in Interdisciplinary Performance, the college's eighth graduate degree program. The Whitfield-Voss Lecture Series celebrates its 28th year. |
Presidents of ACAPA
| Name | Term | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Eleanor Marsh Whitfield | 1947–1952 | Pianist; studied in Paris; founding president |
| Dr. Harlan Voss | 1952–1968 | Theatre director; former Dartmouth faculty |
| Ruth Anagawa | 1968–1981 | Composer; ACAPA alumna, Class of 1951 |
| Thomas Kellaway | 1981–1994 | Conductor; arts administrator |
| Dr. Marguerite Fontenot-Pierce | 1994–2008 | Ethnomusicologist; scholar and performer |
| Dr. James Achebe | 2008–2019 | Pianist; arts administrator |
| Sylvia Brennan-Ortiz (current) | 2019–present | Choreographer; former NEA Program Director |
Accreditation & Membership
ACAPA is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) and holds specialized accreditations from the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST), the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD), and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). The college is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) and the Consortium of New England Conservatories.