Arts and Culture for Community
Stetson University provides the DeLand community and beyond with access to whimsical performances in theatre, operatic and musical theatre, music performances, student and professional art exhibits, and a museum filled with one of the premier historic mineral collections in the southeast.
The Bartram Gardens & Trail is free and open to the public daily from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset unless otherwise noted. Public access may be restricted during special events.
The Stetson Aquatic Center is the recipient of a grant from Volusia County through its ECHO program. The grant assists Stetson in developing the Bartram Gardens, boardwalk, outdoor classroom, public restroom, and canoe/kayak launch. It will also enhance public access and provide a park-like setting to be enjoyed by the community.
The Gillespie Museum features one of the premier historic mineral collections in the southeast, and seasonally changing exhibits on an array of earth science and natural history topics. With native ecology interpretive and research areas and other multi-use eco-areas across its grounds, and a dedication to inspired environmental programming, the Gillespie has become a center for science education on campus, in the local community and beyond.
The Hand Art Center presents up to 8 unique art exhibitions each year, with accompanying programming including workshops, lectures, panel talks and receptions.
Thanks to a generous gift by philanthropists Homer and Dolly Hand and the Volusia ECHO grant, the Hand Art Center was built in 2009. Exhibitions at the Hand Art Center include at least two curated showings of the work of Oscar Bluemner, the all-student juried art show, and the final projects of the graduating Seniors from the Creative Arts department. Other exhibitions and art viewings are curated from the University Collection, from other academic museums and occasionally from regional or local artists.
The Stetson University School of Music is a vibrant community of just over 300 majors and minors and 52 artist-scholar faculty. Established in 1936, the School of Music was Florida's first collegiate music school. Today, it offers professional training in the form of 13 individual degree options in four areas:
- Music Education
- Students seeking to teach the youth about the art of music study within this area
- Music Performance
- Students who wish to perform study within this area
- Composition
- Students who desire to create music study within this area
- Music Academics
- Students who wish to connect theory, technology or other academic fields to musical study will study within this area
Vocal and Instrumental Concerts
Concerts are the center of the School of Music at Stetson. The concerts allow students to display their efforts and work cohesively in a group while expressing their knowledge and passion for the performing arts. The School of Music is put on public display through these concerts, instilling the creative and collective goal of the students in their studies. Concerts are held multiple times a semester, constantly upholding the arts and culture that Stetson values.
Opera Theatre
Stetson Opera Theatre is a vital component of the vocal program at the Stetson University School of Music. Through the creative effort and mentorship of the opera director, voice faculty, conductor, coaches and accompanists, we provide a nurturing environment for the aspiring singing actor. In addition to world-class vocal training from some of the finest teachers in the industry, students enrolled in Stetson Opera Theatre receive comprehensive role preparation in the areas of musical coaching, diction, deportment, movement, character development and analysis. Full productions are double-cast and an understudy is assigned to each role, as appropriate, to give as many students an opportunity to perform as possible.
Our theatre arts program puts on plays and performances of multiple genres that captivate and entertain a live audience at least twice a school year. With direction from both faculty and select students, as well as student-driven intricate stage designs, actors take the Second Stage Theater by storm to provide a timely escape from reality into the art of theatrical performance.
This Teaching Landscape is a place to learn about an ancient ecosystem with an unusually diverse understory, a part of Volusia County's natural history, as well as to engage in restoring a small version of this ecosystem and to help in returning a natural community. The landscape serves as a laboratory for faculty and undergraduate research, and the inspiration for sustainable projects — from bee hives to bird counts and as a Florida Wildflower Demonstration Garden, supported by the Florida Wildflower Foundation and Lyonia Chapter, Florida Native Plant Society.