The Central Academy of Drama, founded in 1938 by Yan'an Lu Xun Academy of Arts, is committed to cultivating elite talents in drama, film and television art for the country and the world, and is the highest institution of theater art education in China
The Central Academy of Drama is the first drama education institution in New China, a university directly under the Ministry of Education, the highest institution of theatre art education in China, and the headquarters of the China Higher Drama Education Alliance, the headquarters of the Asian Theatre Education Research Center and the secretariat of the World Theatre Education Alliance. The Central Academy of Drama has a UNESCO Chair for Theatre Education and is a world-renowned art school.
The history of the Central Academy of Drama can be traced back to the Yan'an Lu Xun Art Academy established on April 10, 1938, and has a history of more than 70 years. In December 1949, the Central Academy of Drama was officially opened, and on April 2, 1950, the inaugural meeting of the Central Academy of Drama was held, and Chairman Mao Zedong personally inscribed the name of the school.
The Central Academy of Drama has two campuses, the Dongcheng Campus is located at No. 39 Dongmian Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing, and the Changping Campus is located at No. 4, Hongfu Middle Road, Changping District, Beijing. The two campuses cover a total area of about 230,000 square meters, with a construction area of about 180,000 square meters.
The Central Academy of Drama consists of the Department of Acting, the Department of Directing, the Department of Stage Design, the Department of Drama Literature, the Department of Musical, the Department of Peking Opera, the Department of Opera, the Department of Dance Drama, the Department of Drama Education, the Department of Drama Management, and the Department of Film and Television. The undergraduate majors include: Acting, Drama, Film and Television Directing, Drama, Film and Television Art Design, Drama, Film and Television Literature, Drama, Broadcasting and Hosting Arts. The college has doctoral and master's degree programs in drama, film and television and art theory. The school has a postdoctoral research station.
The Central Academy of Drama has the only national-level teaching team in the field of performance in China, the only national-level characteristic professional construction site in the professional field of directing, the only national-level talent training model innovation experimental area for musical theater performance teaching, and the only national-level experimental teaching demonstration center for drama, film and television. The Academy is home to the China Drama Association, the Director's Art Committee of the Chinese Dramatists Association, the China Stage Art Society, the International Federation of Stage Arts, the China Center of the International Stage Art Organization, the China Branch of the International Theatre Critics Association, the Teaching Professional Committee of the China Musical Theatre Association, the China Drama Education and Research Center for Primary and Secondary Schools, and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Chinese Theatre Culture Management.
In the long-term practice of running the school, the Central Academy of Drama adheres to the principle of realist aesthetics, inherits the aesthetic tradition of the Chinese nation, learns from others' strengths, lays a solid foundation and emphasizes practice, adheres to the school motto of "truth-seeking, creation, and beauty", and is committed to cultivating elite talents in drama, film and television art for the country and the world. A considerable number of graduates of the college have become well-known artists, scholars, professors and writers at home and abroad, and have made outstanding contributions to the prosperity and development of China's drama, film and television industry.
Facing the future, the Central Academy of Drama will firmly grasp the important strategic opportunity period of deepening the reform and accelerating the development of higher education, strive to broaden the idea of running a school, increase the construction of teaching quality and teaching reform projects, strengthen the construction of disciplines and the construction of high-level teachers, promote the innovation of management system and mechanism, carry out multilateral exchanges and cooperation in world drama education, continuously improve the comprehensive school-running strength and overall quality of the school, and strive to build a world-class art school with distinctive characteristics.
