Vision

To always meet the highest standards of excellence, while continuing to chart new and innovative directions, securing Peabody’s leadership at the forefront of performing arts education now and in the future.

Goals

• Ensure continued nurturing of Conservatory core programs representing areas of excellence while addressing any area that may fall short of Peabody’s standards of excellence using key metrics for assessment with initial focus on internal review and status check of programs to establish baselines.
• Leverage Peabody’s investment in Music, Engineering and Technology (MET), and recent enrollment growth across these areas, to build the next generation of related programs beginning with the launch of a first ever degree program in Hip-Hop, and expansion of Peabody’s Recording Arts program with new Production track in 2025.
• Explore and incorporate the growing impact of AI on the creative process and the performing arts through MET, Composition and other programs, leveraging major AI investment made by the University.
• Further strengthen the DMA degree program by ensuring flexibility for specialization beginning with launch of an Arts & Health track, enhancing practicum experiences through augmented teaching experiences, and by fully leveraging new DMA tuition-free 2-year residency commitment to increase access and further bolster the program’s competitive position as measured by selectivity and yield.
• As an important measure of student success, and through increased resources dedicated to academic advising including robust communications among constituencies supporting students, financial aid, and performance health, and aligned with JHU student success initiatives, increase six-year graduation rates that have ranged from 71% to 83%, to over 90% within five years, placing Peabody at the high end of its peer set.
• Build Peabody’s Performing Arts and Health department and future Center’s research enterprise, academic programs, service lines, and advocacy strategy leveraging JHU and JHM to further elevate Peabody’s profile across the university and establish JHU/Peabody as an international leader at the intersection of arts and health, consistent with the Performing Arts and Health strategic plan developed in 2024-25.
• Benchmark and expand the range of culturally diverse repertoire, techniques, and critical perspectives studied and performed at Peabody in new and existing academic programs and co-curricular initiatives, beginning with implementation of 2024-25 Culturally Responsive Curriculum Group recommendations including a growing focus on a wide range of historic and current American music genres.
• In collaboration with Homewood schools, expand existing academic initiatives and open new academic avenues while removing barriers for students at Peabody and Homewood to fully experience JHU, to meet growing demand from students seeking a broader, more holistic undergraduate experience, as measured by increased numbers of double degree candidates, directed minors, exploration of a BA in music, Peabody student access to Homewood classes, Homewood student access to Peabody faculty both through Peabody at Homewood program and on the Peabody campus, and cultivated Peabody student participation at Homewood student events.

Vision

To ensure access to a Peabody education for any student with the talent and tenacity to thrive unencumbered by financial limitations.

Goals

• Utilizing financial aid resources, meet/exceed multi-year targets by 2029 to move undergraduate selectivity from 47% to 22%, yield from 25% to 45%, and average audition scores from 7.5 to 8.5, all as a means of building greater excellence and access.
• With recent infusion of undergraduate financial aid resources and growing competitiveness in the graduate market, establish new benchmarks for increasing graduate support with initial focus on DMA support as demonstrated by commitment to now fully fund DMA tuition for 2-year residency, while identifying needed resources to ensure access and excellence across all graduate programs, closing the gap between undergraduate and graduate support while reassessing and planning for implications of an evolving graduate model.
• Develop additional resources to support early access for talented students of lower socioeconomic means to music and dance study through the Preparatory’s programs like Tuned-In in order to further expand the pipeline to Peabody Conservatory and other conservatory training programs.
• As financial barriers are eliminated and access to Peabody becomes greater than ever before, and aligned with similar initiatives at Homewood, expand the depth and support for academic advising and wraparound services for those students coming into Peabody who may be disadvantaged by prior lack of access to educational and artistic opportunities.

Vision

To ensure Peabody’s robust programmatic engagement beyond its Mount Vernon campus, across the university, in the community, throughout and beyond the region, and on the international stage.

Goals

• Leverage new opportunities through the university-wide arts initiative to expand Peabody’s presence across the university community, and by building on Peabody’s presence at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center.
• As an outgrowth of the Breakthrough Curriculum and through LAUNCHPad, build a comprehensive strategy for existing and future community engagement initiatives as well as the creation of entrepreneurial artistic models that reflects robust experiential learning opportunities for our students and authentic co-creation both across the university and with our community partners.
• Build a 21st century vision for the Preparatory based on its strategic plan to be completed in 2024-25 that includes and goes beyond its traditional base through the addition of eclectic new programs that broaden content and artistic experiences from the classic to contemporary, as well as developing programming for new growing markets and modalities that serve life-long learners including leveraging university life-long learning initiatives, while creating enhanced pathways to, and connections with, the Conservatory.
• In assessing the macro-international student environment and potential future impact on the international student population, explore potential future markets and avenues to those markets which may include study at Peabody’s Baltimore campus, hybrid or online experiences, and an international satellite Peabody campus with assessment of regulatory and market environment as the critical first step.
• Engage more deeply and strategically with Peabody alumni around the world with the goal of strengthening ties among alumni and with current students to inform and shape their future careers, to foster a lifelong sense of community, shared learning and mutual support, while also assessing the broader impact of a Peabody education on personal and professional growth as measured by surveys, SNAAP data, and career tracking.

Vision

To foster a culture at Peabody fully consistent with our core values of Learning, Impact, Respect, Innovation, Equity, and Entrepreneurship. 

Goals

• Continue to build a culture among students that is highly competitive, compassionate, secure, inclusive, and holistic; encourages adaptability, innovation, and resilience as measured by selectivity, student success, and career path.
• Double down on Peabody’s commitment to attract and retain an increasingly diverse student cohort through strategic recruitment efforts, to positively impact future diversity across the professional performing arts world.
• Ensure the recruitment and retention of an outstanding and diverse faculty that is fully supported in the development of their professional lives and through competitive compensation that places Peabody at the upper end of its peer set within five years with an initial focus on assembling reliable compensation comparative data, and successful completion of Faculty Excellence Funds and Endowed Chairs match opportunity to augment resources.
• Make Peabody the place to work at JHU in part measured through employee retention and engagement surveys, while continuing to pilot newly developed university programs that support the professional development opportunities and career aspirations, and that fosters inclusivity and a diverse, talented and committed staff focused on excellence and the student experience.

Vision

To cultivate an environment that meets the needs of a highly creative community and reflects Peabody’s deep tradition and forward-looking vision for the performing arts in the 21st century. 

Goals

• Through expansion of the existing Peabody campus footprint including acquisition of the Waterloo apartments, ensure a dramatically improved living experience for Peabody students in the future, with a seamless transition to new housing by fall 2026.
• Program, design, repurpose, and renovate current on-campus towers for expanded square footage to meet programmatic needs with high quality space, beginning with design process to be completed by January 2026, progressing through a building phase that ensures the smoothest transition possible, with occupancy of renovated buildings before the end of this 5-year plan.
• Design a plan and timeline for remaining campus upgrades, some currently underway (e.g., elevators, restrooms, Friedberg Hall improvements), including improvements in accessibility and sustainability, to take place over the course of this plan.
• In addition to new and expanded square footage across Peabody, ensure maximum efficiency in the use of the Peabody campus through a comprehensive space usage plan developed over the 2024-25 academic year that is flexible and responsive to meet the needs of faculty and students, and the staff that support them.