We have visited the University of Hartford (Hartt School of Music) twice now, once to audition and once for a “shadow” day after my D was accepted. I’ll do my best to describe the facilities and the town. We did not do a tour of the main campus and did not walk around it much, although we did drive through a couple of times and saw a production of Chess there (which was extremely well done). My D was just too exhausted to look closely at the main campus.
The MT program at Hartt, like West Conn, has a modern satellite performing arts building which houses the ballet and theatre classrooms. It’s about four miles from the main campus. There is a black box theatre, many voice and dance rehearsal rooms. The building is connected to a cafe which accepts student meal plan cards, and it also contains a physical therapy office. Student dorms are on the main campus so they either drive (there is a fee for having a car on campus) or take the shuttle, which they emphasize is designed around their class and rehearsal times so it’s convenient.
The immediate area surrounding the performing arts building appears to be on the lower socioeconomic end of things, though I felt safe driving there (we live in Boston and live not far from similar areas). Main campus is nearest West Hartford and and Bloomfield, which are definitely more wealthy. West Hartford has a thriving town center with bank branches, CVS, restaurants and coffee shops that is about three miles from the main campus, four miles from the performing arts building.
My D shadowed a student on a Friday morning, which we were told (even before COVID-19) was a light day for classes. She sat in on an Acting for the Camera class (which was mostly sophomores), a master class in voice, and a rehearsal for the senior showcase (which, sadly, has been postponed). She enjoyed the classes and felt that the students were very supportive of each other. She and I attended their production of Chess that evening, which was held in one of the music buildings on the main campus. The production value was very high and the talent was excellent. The score for Chess is challenging to say the least, and they really nailed it, from the featured actors through to the ensemble. The director is on the faculty at Boston Conservatory and directs/choreographs regional theatre in the greater Boston area. The school clearly invests in their student productions. The seats were about 1/3 filled, perhaps due to the cold and rainy weather on a Friday night.
I don’t know if Hartt faculty gave an info session at Unifieds so I won’t go into program features here. If folks want that info just say so and I’ll add another post.