Welcome to Shenandoah Conservatory!

As the dean of Shenandoah Conservatory it is a pleasure to help introduce you to a performing arts community with a rich heritage and an exciting future. We are located in a rural setting, yet are in close proximity to the vibrant creative artists and institutions of the Eastern Seaboard. With over 700 students and 100 faculty members, we live in an enabling environment for artistic and academic success in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

While maintaining an active performance schedule of my own, I take my role as an arts leader very seriously. That means welcoming the ever-present challenges and exciting opportunities of helping others to unleash their creative and human potential.

My goal as an arts leader remains twofold--not only to provide vital first-stage support to foster individual creative self-awareness, expression and personal growth, but also to motivate students to become arts leaders while reaching out and exploring the potential of emerging areas of public consciousness.

I believe we need to teach students, both by word and personal example, to examine and challenge cultural and social barriers where they encounter them, to record through their art the vibrant dynamics of our society, and to recognize their own accountability as active and necessary contributors to this culture. We must increase the visibility of our creative actions and accomplishments and place more emphasis upon the sort of unique, interdisciplinary collaborations that establish enabling mechanisms for wider public access to culture and the arts.

Please accept this open invitation to visit our campus, attend a performance and meet the students, faculty and staff of our community of artists, creators and learners.

Laurence Kaptain, Dean
Shenandoah Conservatory
Shenandoah University
1460 University
Winchester, VA 22601
Voice 540.665.4600
Fax 540.665.5402

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