Arts and Culture
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 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 multiuse 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 Homer and Dolly Hand Art Center is a 5,000 square foot facility on the campus of Stetson University designed to house and exhibit the University art collection. The art center includes two galleries and a foyer gallery, a state-of-the-art collections vault, a preparation area and a seminar room used for classes and study.
The Hand Art Center presents up to 8 unique art exhibitions each year, with accompanying programming including workshops, lectures, panel talks and receptions.
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.