New Faculty of Art and Music at BZU addresses rising needs from the growing creative industries locally and globally

Starting this fall 2018/2019, Birzeit University launches the Faculty of Art and Music offering three innovative academic programs of Arabic Music (accredited 2016/17), Contemporary Visual Art (accredited 2017/2018) and the most recent program to be this year in Design.  The faculty was recently accredited by the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission (AQAC) of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education

The new Faculty is the fruition of BZU’s long history of successful cooperation and collaboration with community organizations working in the fields of the arts and music culminating in an unparalleled academic platform for art education not only in its approach and structure but rather in its delivery methodologies and emphasis on specialists skills and knowledge, experiential leaning through studio culture and exposure locally and internationally. The faculty will promote culture and art in Palestine and provide spaces that encourage the freedom of expression and creativity.

The Bachelor of Design is the latest to be launched concurrently with the new faculty is an interdisciplinary program that provides a strong foundation in the art offering three emphasis in product design, graphics and multimedia design as well as fashion and textile design with direct relevance to the Palestinian context.

The Bachelor of Contemporary Visual Art is now in its second year and offers students unique learning experiences in arts history and its contemporary practice in drawing, painting, sculpture, 3D-installation, photography, video, film, sound, performance and social intervention. The interdisciplinary program serves as cornerstone for artistic practice of students, as well as engaging them in artistic and cultural debates in local and international forums.

The third program in Arabic Music will be graduating its first cohort this year. The program focuses on teaching Arabic music within a comprehensive framework of music education. Practice courses focus on instruments of Oud, Qanoun, Buzuq and percussion in addition to choir. The program is offered in cooperation with the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music.

The faculty will be housed in the state-of-the-art building art currently under construction. The 4000 square meters building is funded by the generous donation from the Palestinian philanthropist and businessman Mr. Samir Awaidah.  The building is purposely designed and built to meet the specialist needs of such contemporary interactive programs by incorporating spacious co-working spaces, student studios and internal and external exhibition zones with dedicated areas for advanced workshops and laboratories employing the latest technologies.