About

The Fountain School is celebrating 10 years of inspiring artistic excellence in the next generation of upcoming musicians, actors, composers, technical theatre professionals, costume creators and cinema and media theorists.

In July 2014, the former departments of Music and Theatre joined together to form the Fountain School of Performing Arts.  Funded by a generous $10 million donation by the Fountain family, it is the only university performing arts school east of Montreal.

Our programming combines a solid theoretical foundation with studio-based applied instruction and interdisciplinary performance opportunities in a diverse and inclusive learning environment. We embrace tradition and encourage innovation.

We offer a unique combination of academic and applied undergraduate programs in theatre, music, costume studies, technical theatre and stage design and cinema and media studies as well as a graduate program in Musicology.

Invest in your passion, learn about our programs.

• We offer various scholarships, prizes, and bursaries to our students.
• Equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts are crucial to our students experience and success. The Fountain School's EDIA Committee aims to assist our school in achieving EDIA-related goals, such as faculty, staff and student representation, inclusion in programming, and curriculum form, structure, and content.
• Join our ensembles! If you're looking for a way to stay musically active many of our school’s ensembles are open to Dalhousie students in other programs as well as community members.
• Check out our venue facilities.
• Seeking employment? Join our team!

Welcome from the Director of the Fountain School of Performing Arts

I am delighted to welcome you to Dalhousie University's Fountain School of Performing Arts, in the heart of vibrant Halifax, Nova Scotia!

The Fountain School fosters excellence in the performing arts, both in academic and applied programs. We offer a welcoming, diverse, safe and stimulating environment, and our instructors are an impressive team of high-caliber professional artists and scholars. 

In our Theatre programs, you can choose to focus on acting, stage design and technical theatre, theatre studies, or on our costume studies program, which is unique in North America. Our Music programs enable you to train in classical and popular music performance, composition or musicology. And our Cinema and Media Studies program gives you the skills to think critically about the power of the moving image. 

This is an exciting time for the Fountain School, thanks to our spectacular new building, which includes the Joseph Strug Concert Hall, a 300-seat venue equipped with state-of-the-art technology and superb acoustics. It also houses multiple rehearsal, practice and teaching spaces, and our costume studies program.

Halifax is a city of artists, and the Fountain school is a hub for local musicians, performers and filmmakers. We are frequently able to offer you free or discounted tickets to events. We also offer mentorship opportunities with professional organizations, and workshops or masterclasses with visiting regional, national and international artists.

Our students have gone on to work as actors, advertisers, arts administrators, arts journalists, designers, entertainment lawyers, festival organizers, filmmakers, musicians, playwrights, stage technicians, teachers, and theatre directors.

I look forward to seeing you here, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

David Nicol