Kent/Blossom Arts Programs

Since the inauguration of Blossom Music Center as the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1968, Kent State University has participated in helping to develop its role as a center for professional training in the visual and performing arts. Advanced training programs in art and music were established in 1968, and a similar program was begun in theater the following year. The three Kent/Blossom Arts Programs divide their time between the university's home campus in Kent, Ohio, and special performing/presentation facilities at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. In 1971, Porthouse Theatre was opened on university property adjacent to the Blossom Music Center grounds, and in 1975, Eels Art Gallery was constructed by the university near the center's main gate. Each summer, the Kent/Blossom Arts Programs bring together some 200 young professionals in art, music, and theatre, and a resident faculty of seventy, which include Kent State faculty, members of The Cleveland Orchestra, and major international visual artists.