Loyola University History & Music

Changes underway at Loyola University as the school aims to 'move forward into the digital age' 

 

Loyola University in New Orleans is reorganizing its music and arts programs, part of an effort to expand its programming and create more student demand for the Uptown school's music, arts and design offerings.

Officials announced the formation of the new College of Music and Media, created by forming three new schools under the new college's umbrella and moving Loyola forward "into the digital age" by offering a wider variety of degrees.

The College of Music and Media, which enrolls a third of all Loyola undergraduate students, will be organized into the School of Music and Theatre Arts, the School of Communication and Design, and the School of Music Industry.

The new setup replaces the College of Music and Fine Arts, which was composed of the School of Music and four other departments for film and music industry studies, art, design, and theater and dance.

In interviews, school officials said the changes are part of a broader restructuring that will allow Loyola to offer more degrees while expanding its "interdisciplinary learning" capabilities, something that they said has already been undertaken by other fine arts and music schools such as Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee; the Berklee College of Music in Boston; and Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.

At Loyola, this is being done largely by joining together its "two crown jewels" — the schools of music and mass communication — to offer interdisciplinary programming. 

Maass said the school wants students to learn how to build a career in the arts in addition to learning more about their craft, and to successfully tap into New Orleans' cultural economy, which ranks as the fifth largest in the U.S., according to a 2017 Americans for the Arts report.

Loyola has always been closely tied to music education. The New Orleans Conservatory for Music and Dramatic Arts was founded in 1919. In 1932, Loyola absorbed the conservatory and turned it into the Loyola School of Music. After restructuring post-Hurricane Katrina, Loyola incorporated other departments with the music school to create the College of Music and Fine Arts.

For years, the school was known for programs including the 60-year-old music therapy program, the music education program and vocal performance, jazz and instrumental studies.

The new restructuring will help the school look toward the future, in part by catering to the 60 percent of the students in the College of Music and Fine Arts pursuing non-music performance degrees, officials said.

"We continue to stand for excellence in music performance but now also teach students how to create the backbone of the music industry, as managers, producers and agents," she said.

Loyola University History

Sugarcane paved the way for one of the state’s most important industries. Jesuits likely brought the crucial crop from their West Indies farms and planted it on the plantation they bought from former Governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville in 1725. Used by the fathers as a staging area or supply base for their activities in ministering to settlers and Native Americans in the up-country, this tract was located “across the common” (now Canal Street), running along the Mississippi River to what is now Jackson Avenue. When the Jesuit order was banned from the French colonies in 1763, the land was sold at public auction.

The city’s leaders, including Governor Bienville, had long hoped for a Jesuit college. After the Jesuit order was restored, the Bishop of New Orleans implored the Jesuits in France to come to the city. In 1837, seven Jesuit priests arrived. After weighing several sites, the priests decided that Grand Coteau (in St. Landry Parish) was a better site for their boarding college than the fever-ridden city.

Establishment of New Orleans’s First Jesuit College

Meanwhile, despite the ravages of yellow fever, New Orleans continued its dramatic growth. In 1847, the priests bought a small piece of the same land they had owned nearly a century before, and in 1849, the College of the Immaculate Conception opened its doors at the corner of Baronne and Common streets.

Loyola College Opens

In 1904, the long-planned Loyola College, together with a preparatory academy, opened its doors. The college conducted its first classes in a residence located to the rear of the church on what is now Marquette Place. The young college’s first president was the Rev. Albert Biever, S.J., who was appointed by the provincial, Rev. William Power, S.J.

Loyola College grew steadily. In 1911, the Jesuit schools in New Orleans reorganized. Immaculate Conception College became a college preparatory school exclusively and was given the preparatory students of Loyola College. The downtown institution relinquished its higher departments—what are now known as college programs—to Loyola, which was in the process of becoming a university.

Becoming a University

On May 28, 1912, a bill was introduced in the Louisiana Senate by Senator William H. Byrnes, Jr., of Orleans Parish which proposed to grant a university charter to Loyola. It was passed unanimously and sent to the State House of Representatives. There was some backstage opposition, and Father Biever, fearing a fatal snag, made an impassioned speech to the house. The bill passed, and on July 10, 1912, the governor signed the act authorizing Loyola to grant university degrees.

Under the direction of the dynamic Father Biever and with the advice and financial support of New Orleans citizens, the new university grew dramatically.

Dr. Ernest Schuyten founded the New Orleans Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art in 1919. Originally located at Felicity and Coliseum streets, the conservatory later moved to Jackson Avenue and Carondelet Street. It was incorporated into Loyola University in 1932 as the College of Music. The next year the conservatory moved to the Loyola University campus with Dr. Schuyten as dean.

Harry Connick Junior

One of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, Loyola University New Orleans welcomes students of all faiths.