B.F.A. Audition Policy

B.F.A. – Performing Arts Audition/Interview Policy and Procedure

The Western Kentucky University Department of Theatre & Dance adheres to the standards for admission and retention at the B.F.A. level outlined by the National Association for Schools of Theatre (NAST).

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree is the initial professional degree in the performing arts. Its primary emphasis is on the development of skills, concepts, and sensitivities essential to the performing arts professional. In any of the roles as creator, scholar, or teacher, the performing arts professional must function as a practitioner who exhibits technical competence, broad knowledge of performing arts, sensitivity to artistic style, and an insight into the role of the performing arts in the life of humankind. Evidence of these characteristics and potential for their continuing development is essential for the awarding of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Upon completion of the Western Kentucky University B.F.A. – Performing Arts degree it is our intention that each student will have:

• Experienced significant and meaningful engagement in the creative/interpretive processes of performing arts event production;
• Achieved significant technical mastery in at least one of the B.F.A. concentration areas (Acting, Music Theatre, Theatre Design & Technology, Theatre);
• Experienced significant and meaningful engagement with the history, theories and aesthetics of the performing arts, and demonstrated a critical sense of how they inspire and inform their own creative work;
• Demonstrated their competency with all of the above through evaluated performance and/or portfolio review.

 

Criteria for Acceptance into the B.F.A. – Performing Arts

All students matriculating at Western Kentucky University who state an intention to pursue the B.F.A. – Performing Arts will first be enrolled under the status “seeking admission” to the major.  Students must formally apply for admission into the B.F.A. – Performing Arts in a subsequent semester. In order to be eligible to apply you must have:

• Earned at least 30 college credits from an accredited college, university or post secondary conservatory;
• Maintained an overall GPA of at least 2.5;
• Demonstrated exceptional talent, commitment, self discipline, reliability, and a reasonable likelihood of success as a performing arts professional in at least one disciplinary field of the performing arts;
• Participated fully in at least one previous jury.

You must apply in your third semester, unless your advisor gives you permission to delay the initial application by one semester.  If you are a transfer student your advisor will recommend your application semester.

If you are denied admission you may re-apply the following semester with no special procedure. A third attempt is only available by special petition to the faculty.

You may also be accepted conditionally. This is at the department’s discretion, and the schedule for when these conditions must be met is to be determined by the student’s advisor.

For a full understanding of the B.F.A. application and Jury process you may download the current B.F.A. – Performing Arts Handbook on the Departmental Forms page.