The J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts (TCVPA) is the beating heart of Texas Tech University. We are a creative community with the resources of a world-class public university. Our students from all over the world shine with Texas-sized ambition, curiosity, and compassion. Our college cultivates confidence-building artistic journeys with an infinite number of destinations. We are theatrical sound designers, independent filmmakers, and modern dance teachers. We are gallery owners, experimental sculptors, and Chicano art historians. We are symphony conductors, opera singers, and Broadway performers. We are researchers exploring the intersection of the arts with multiple disciplines. Our schools provide a supportive visual and performing arts education. New students join a community of thousands of arts-obsessed undergraduate and graduate students—including DMA and PhD candidates. The arts are relevant, critical, and essential to contemporary life. An education in the arts inspires students to communicate through artistic tradition while embracing and creating innovative technologies as vehicles for individual expression and social change.