The Mason Gross School of the Arts, the arts conservatory at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a community of artists who study, teach, exhibit, and perform together. The Mason Gross School of the Arts was established in 1976 as a separate degree-granting college, bringing together the arts departments formerly located within the New Brunswick undergraduate schools. Since its founding, the Mason Gross School of the Arts continues the university's rich tradition of undergraduate and graduate instruction with an array of preprofessional and professional arts programs.

With a distinguished and artistically accomplished faculty, modern facilities, and an excellent library and museum, the Mason Gross School of the Arts helps students explore fully the history and practice of their chosen disciplines. The training students receive at the school gives them the tools to contribute to creative and scholarly activity so essential to the vitality of our culture and society. The intimate size of the school shapes a community of artists who have many similar interests and who enjoy an open exchange of ideas. The Mason Gross School of the Arts' enrollment of approximately 750 undergraduate and 330 graduate students, and its faculty of 124 members (64 full time and 60 part time), ensure that students receive the opportunity to work closely with professionals in their chosen fields. The school's position within a major university provides students with a complex and rich environment in which many cultures, experiences, and perspectives are represented and where many academic and social resources are available. The Mason Gross School of the Arts is conveniently located between New York City and Philadelphia, two premier cultural centers for the performing and visual arts.

The Mason Gross School of the Arts is steeped in the traditions of arts education, but it also thrives on the challenges that newer approaches offer. This combination of perspectives enables students to shape and define how their talents can be best expressed.