In March 1974, after the founding of the Universidad Nacional, the School of Arts and Letters was created, divided into four sections: Dance, Theatre, Music and Visual Arts. In 1985, the Center for Research, Teaching and Artistic Extension (CIDEA) was created, made up of four schools:
- Performing Arts
- Art and Visual Communication
- Dance
- Music
Its emphasis covers the fields of research, extension and artistic-academic production, through the articulation between different areas of knowledge, which allows it to contribute to social and cultural development.
CIDEA manages to stimulate and train humanist professionals with the capacity to have an impact, in a creative, critical and rigorous way, on their work environment and on the improvement of Costa Rican society"
The School of Performing Arts develops practices, knowledge and training experiences that influence the development of artistic, educational and cultural identity processes.
It develops Modalities of Substantive Action that strengthen the aspects of research, extension, and production in the performing arts:
- Applied Arts: Education, Health and Community
- Art and Health
- Eusocial: Performing Arts and Politics:
- Digital Scenic Laboratory (LED)
- Theatrical Pedagogy
- Multimedia Production and Support Plan
- Transdisciplinary Bridges for Community Health between the Performing Arts and Psychology
- The Politicization of Theater Training at UNA's EAE and in Latin America
- Theater on Campus
- UNA Theater
Art and visual communication are a fundamental component for the construction of identities and stimulate ways of knowing reality, of interpreting it and of constructing it under diverse visions. The School of Art and Visual Communication generates innovative proposals for entering the labor market in the fields of visual arts, artistic pedagogy, artistic-cultural management and design.
It strengthens the management of cultural and creative enterprises and the development of artistic research projects:
- NODOS ACTIVOS: Research + artistic practice, explores contemporary practices.
- COLECTIVO EN FUGA: Artistic Encounters in Contemporary Art, production and dissemination of the visual arts.
- PROA: Plan for the management, production and dissemination of the visual arts and design.
The School of Dance is a core space for this artistic expression, both nationally and regionally. Since 1974, it has offered Dance as a degree course. It promotes an innovative academic offering that allows for specialized preparation, expansion and strengthening of its practice in the country and the Central American region.
It offers a Professional Master's Degree in Dance, the aim of which is to raise the academic level of professional dancers and teachers and to strengthen the field of dance and choreographic training.
It has developed thirteen processes that allow it to be a regional leader in the development of the arts:
- Margarita Esquivel Project
- UNA Dance Chamber Company
- UNA Young Dance
- Dance and its Context in Costa Rica, analysis and dissemination
- Constructive Pathways of Knowledge from the Dance School of the Universidad Nacional: between the disciplinary and the interdisciplinary
- Systematization of experiences - Three decades of teaching using the Züllig Contemporary Dance method.
- Learning Processes from the technique of Classical Ballet
- Center for Prevention and Preparation for Dance and the Arts - CEPREDA
- Somatic Education Research Space for the Improvement of Pedagogical Processes in Dance
- CIDEA Interdisciplinary Initiatives
- Improvement of the Baccalaureate Degree in Dance
- Artistic-Academic Management and Production in the School of Dance
- Central American and Caribbean Meeting for the study of Contemporary Dance
The School of Music was founded in 1974, when there was only one School of Arts and Letters with a Music section. Later, in 1985, it became part of the Center for Research, Teaching and Artistic Extension (CIDEA). It offers courses in Music Education, Choral Conducting, Singing and Instrumental Performance with an emphasis on guitar, piano, percussion, trumpet, clarinet, flute, saxophone, violin, viola, cello and double bass. It offers master's degrees with an emphasis on Choral Conducting, Guitar and Piano, as well as an innovative postgraduate degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music Practices.
He successfully develops several programs:
- Pre-university Musical Training
- Pianism and Global Outreach of Costa Rica
- Program: Research, Art and Transmedia
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