WINONA, Minn. – The shrinking of arts curriculums at Saint Mary’s University has taken another step. The university announced the “transfer” of its Minnesota Conservatory of the Arts to the Cotter Schools. Cotter, a Catholic institution like Saint Mary’s, operates grade-school programs. Terms of the transaction were not announced. Saint Mary’s had established the conservatory at the old College of St. Teresa campus on the East End, a mile from the SMU main campus, after St. Teresa closed in 1989.
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Poor fit for “new” SMU
For SMU the conservatory never worked out. The concept was to integrate conservatory into SMU college curriculums, but the idea was never articulated clearly and nothing evolved from it. The conservatory settled into short classes for elementary and high school students. There was little hope left for the conservatory after Saint Mary’s 2022 decision to reinvent itself and shift to career-oriented programs and to and drop theater, music and nine other traditional liberal arts programs.