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What is ACPA?

Visionary Leaders,whose art will transcend cultural borders.

The one-year full-time course work offers a marriage of Entrepreneurial and Artistic techniques, a process which enables graduates to leave ACPA with the confidence, technique and knowledge of how to succeed in the face of adversity and have a solid sense of purpose, vision and clarity in who they are and what they want to do in their medium.

Our intensive theatre training has a foundation in The Hart Technique. The conservatory training offers direct application of technique and intensive collaboration with both fellow students and members of the professional arts community. In students’ time at ACPA, they will work in a wide range of projects--from small collaborative assignments to fully realized original works, which are self-produced in professional venues outside of the school. Following graduation, should alumni have a desire to start an original professional company, they will have skills to do so.

The principle goal of the conservatory education is to teach artists how to be more independent, to be the engines of their individual creative opportunities and how to “always be working”. Our graduates have a high degree of success, as they know how to create opportunities for themselves (and consequently, others).

We teach artists how to be more competitive in the market, to create their own opportunities and to how to not only get off of the “standard path” of career pursuit, but how to create one’s own.

Leadership is a key component of the training at ACPA--leadership of oneself and others.

The curriculum at ACPA is designed to increase ACPA graduates’ chances of making a living in their mediums of artistry. Students gain real-world market experience, while still in school. In fact, the bulk of performances and projects at ACPA are student created and produced at professional venues in the Austin Community.

To learn more about what makes ACPA unique, visit ACPA’s Difference.

Though Austin Conservator of Professional Arts is a new school, our technique is time-tested and proven effective. This is the second school for founder Jim Hart to build. Click here to learn more about The Hart Technique or

visit our Blog.

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ACPA seeks to develop:

Many of us who train young professionals for careers in the performing arts have come to the realization that success for the next generation of artists will increasingly rely on their ability to produce their own work. As a consequence, for this generation the teaching of entrepreneurial skills needs to become a central part of the educational experience and receive the same intense focus as the teaching of traditional technique and artistic conception. Jim Hart has been a visionary leader in this type of training and the Austin Conservatory of Professional Arts promises to become an institutional leader in this approach.

Richard Isackes, Joanne Sharp Crosby Regents Chair in Design and Technology, MFA

University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance

Passionate, Persistent and Prolific. These are the attributes that come to mind when I think of James Hart. His commitment for the "arts" as a whole is what makes him so interesting and appreciated amongst his peers. James reinvents the concept of the traditional story-teller by influencing his work and self with multiple disciplines such as writing, film-making, mask-making and theatre. This energy in his life and work is what embodies the story of James Hart within his creations and keeps his audience returning to it with anticipation of a new chapter.

Vincent Serritella, painter www.vincentserritella.com

We have been taught to take responsibility and get a good view in the window of how it is to work as an artist, how to create and finance projects. From all aspects I have experienced this as a serious school in the theatre business. I can recommend this school to students that want to learn more about independent theatre and project development.

David Jemsby--former student of Hart and TITAN