Arts + Community
Where the arts welcome everyone.
The arts connect and strengthen community
The arts unite our campus and community, inspiring connection and teaching us to be more empathetic.
Arts snapshots
Learn how the arts brings together the UMD community.
Did you know?
You can access an incredible indoor-outdoor space at the Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building. The Clarvit Studio and Courtyard for Research in Art and Design features a towering 25-by-30 foot screen to highlight the work of students, faculty and visiting artists. Funded by Nancy ’78 and Chuck Clarvit, the space expands the possibilities to experiment and collaborate with augmented reality, digital fabrication and creative coding.
Learn more
Creating community through music.
In 2025, over 50 UMD students, faculty and staff gathered to perform together. The musicians possessed varying levels of skills—and that was exactly the point. The brainchild of cellist Wesley Hornpetrie D.M.A. ’24 and her collaborator, J. Clay Gonzalez, the Regenerate! Orchestra aims to illustrate that music making can be more fun than formal. The performance was presented by the Creative Placemaking minor in partnership with Arts for All, and funded by the J. Guy Lombardo, Jr. Memorial Fund.
Learn more about the experience
Did you know?
In 2024 and 2025, Arts for All commissioned two artists to lead murals at Maryland Day. Visual artist and LGBTQ+ activist Lisa Marie Thalhammer joined guests of all ages to paint a "Love for All" mural in 2024. Painter and ceramicist Hana Ward’s mural offered community members the opportunity to paint and write their intentions in 2025.
Watch a video featuring Ward
What is Arts for All?
Arts for All, a campuswide and presidential initiative at the University of Maryland, celebrates everyone’s creativity. We connect disciplines, create opportunities for arts-based research and activate artistic experiences at UMD and beyond.
Watch our video
Join the community at the Indigenous Futures Lab.
A hub for Indigenous research, evaluation and relationship building, the Indigenous Futures Lab offers weekly opportunities, including numerous arts-based projects. Learn more about the lab from its director Shelbi Nahwilet Meissner, who is a 2024–25 Arts for All Faculty Fellow and assistant professor in the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Watch the video
Did you know?
In 2024, Arts for All partnered with the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, TerpsVote, the College of Arts and Humanities, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and the Maryland Democracy Initiative to create a voting booth display. The pop-up helped Terps make a voting plan ahead of the General Election.
Learn more about VOTE (Fearlessly)!
Someone is looking good.
This summer, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies students Katie Glenn M.F.A. ’27 and Bailey Hammett-Colwell M.F.A. ’25 teamed up with The Clarice’s Costume Shop to design and create four new outfits for UMD’s mascot, Testudo.
Check out the looksUpcoming events
Music and Community Concerts
From 2023 to 2024, Arts for All and campus partners presented three concerts that brought the University of Maryland community together through the arts during difficult times.
In the community
Read more about community stories and opportunities across campus.
Democratizing Design, Building Community
Driskell Center Receives $100,000 Terra Foundation Grant to Support Spring Exhibition ‘America Will Be!’
