UNCSA film and music schools ranked by top industry publications

The School of Filmmaking and the School of Music at UNCSA have been recognized by two leading publications of the entertainment industry. The Hollywood Reporter (THR) ranked the graduate-level composition for film and visual media program within the School of Music at No. 13 on its list of the "20 Best Music Schools in the World." TheWrap listed the film school at No. 12 on its annual list of the "Top 50 Film Schools in the U.S."

The Hollywood Reporter’s Nov. 20 issue ranked the Top 20 schools that offer training in film music composition by polling industry leaders from Hollywood’s Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Composers Diversity Collective, the Alliance of Women Film Composers, and the music branches of the Motion Picture Academy and Television Academy. The article noted that the program, led by alumnus Chris Heckman, has moved from the School of Filmmaking to the School of Music, offering more opportunities for students. The article cites the exchange program with The International Film School of Cologne (IFS), a top-ranked film school in Germany, through which UNCSA composers will score feature films.

The Graduate Composition for Film and Visual Media program became a part of the School of Music at UNCSA in fall 2024. The program, with a revitalized curriculum to meet the needs of the industry now and into the future, will provide students easier access to fundamental music courses and facilities, as well as better access and ability to form relationships with performers in addition to filmmakers.

TheWrap, in its October College Issue, stated that “not many public university systems include an arts conservatory like the University of North Carolina, and none can compete with the quality of UNCSA, which includes dance, theater and design as well as film in a small setting.” It mentions the new three-year concentration, Story Art Studio, centered on the intersection of technologies such as digital production, VFX and immersive entertainment with traditional filmmaking, and partnerships with the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham and NYC’s Working Theatre.

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