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Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts
The Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts contains the 400-seat Paul R. and Margery Wolf-Kuhn Theatre, a dance studio, a costume shop, a scene shop, two art studios, faculty offices, a Macintosh computer lab, and three conference rooms. The lobby area of the building also houses the McLanahan and Sheetz Art Galleries and the Titelman Study. The Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts hosts cultural and performing art series and theater productions, as well as special events throughout the year.
Penn State Altoona is the home to the Ivyside Dance Ensemble, a resident student dance company, and Allied Motion Dance Co., a professional dance company comprised of dancers from the college and the public. In addition to these performance opportunities, Penn State Altoona also offers the Dance Studies minor.
Ivyside Pride is Penn State Altoona's premier vocal ensemble. The group has performed both nationally and internationally, including at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Strasbourg Cathedral, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. Penn State Altoona also offers a minor in Vocal Studies.
Penn State Altoona’s theatre arts program offers coursework in theatre history, performance, directing, design, and more. In addition, performance opportunities are available throughout the academic year.
Music Ensembles
Additional opportunities to perform include the following:
Pep Band—enroll in MUSIC 079
University Jazz Ensemble—enroll in MUSIC 084
Visual Art Studies
With Penn State Altoona’s Visual Art Studies (VAST) program, you will be equipped with the conceptual, technical, and professional frameworks needed to be a confident and productive artist, as well as the skills necessary for employment in creative fields or admission into graduate study.
If you're interested in the literary arts, you can take courses in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. You can also get credit for editing the student literary arts magazine Hard Freight by signing up for ENGL 209. Student editors host open mic events, select works for publication, and help design the issues. Outside the classroom, you can participate in the Creative Writing Club and attend readings by nationally known writers. Most creative writing courses fulfill general education arts requirements, and English majors and minors can focus on creative writing.
