Community Partners

Community Partners are essential to the development and growth of our programs. The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) is committed to collaborating with and supporting regional arts organizations.

• VPA faculty and staff are board members and patrons of regional arts group and provide leadership, collaboration and other opportunities for community arts organizations.
• IPFW supports the annual Arts United fundraising campaign in the university workplace.
• IPFW provides rehearsal, performance and office space for several regional arts groups who are “in-residence” at IPFW, including the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, Greater Fort Wayne Area Community Band, Fort Wayne Youth Orchestra and Unity Performing Arts Foundation (UPAF). 
• VPA supports Fort Wayne downtown development through concerts in downtown churches, at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and the Allen County Public Library (ACPL); and through student and faculty art exhibitions at Artlink, ACPL, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.
• VPA employs Fort Wayne Philharmonic (FWP) musicians as music faculty and partners with them on joint educational programming.

VPA also collaborates with a variety of non-arts related Community Partners to provide educational opportunities for our students while enhancing economic development and providing artistic services to the community.

• Internships of Visual Communication and Design students at the Allen County Economic Development Alliance, the History Center and Sweetwater Sound.
• Creative graphic design work by VPA students and faculty through the IPFW Center for Industrial Innovation and Design (CIID).
• IPFW Community Arts Academy year-round programming for at-risk students through United Hispanic Americans, Boys & Girls Clubs, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Twenty First Century Scholars.
• Workshops and presentations for teachers and students with K-12 regional schools.

To find out more about how you can become a Community Partner of the College of Visual and Performing Arts please call the VPA Dean’s Office at 260-481-6977.

John O'Connell,  Dean

• Office: Visual Arts Building, VA102A
• Phone: 260-481-6977
• Email: oconnelj@ipfw.edu

Fine Arts  | Music  |  Theatre  | Visual Communication and Design