CECA offers over 100 events per year featuring more than 75 guest artists
Click here to visit the Events Calendar
Since 1985, the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA, or "seek-ah") has been providing students, the Clarksville community, and the middle Tennessee region with engaging experiences through the Art + Design, Music, Theatre & Dance, and Creative Writing programs at APSU. CECA brings as many as 85 guest artists to Clarksville each year and presents up to 100 public arts & culture events annually, including concerts, exhibitions, artist lectures, master classes, artist residencies, and more. In addition, CECA provides the arts faculty at APSU with research opportunities to enhance their professional growth as well as numerous student scholarships each year to support APSU's own emerging artists.

From inspiring visiting artist lectures to impressive performances, CECA has something for everyone. All events offered by CECA are free and open to the community unless otherwise advertised.
Creative Arts Departments at Austin Peay

APSU's art & design program offers studies in drawing, digital media, graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture, and art education.

As one of the university's largest departments, Languages and Literature offers students small classes and a diverse, experienced faculty including many award-winning teachers.

The Austin Peay State University Department of Music is an active and highly-visible component of the Clarksville Community. Composed of approximately 180 music majors and 32 full-time and adjunct faculty, the Department of Music is the largest producer of cultural events in the Clarksville area.

Theatre and Dance at Austin Peay offers a world-renowned department, in a state-of-the-art facility, fostering artists, scholars and professionals who positively impact our world.
News Feed
View All News
Austin Peay State University Professor Barry Jones’ art exhibition titled “Lesson 6 (James Baldwin)” is scheduled to open on Aug. 17 in the Union Grove Gallery at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Read More
The New Gallery at Austin Peay State University, with support from The Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts and the Department of Art + Design, is pleased to kick off the 2022-23 exhibition season with "Herd," a solo exhibition by experimental quilter Paula Kovarik.
Read More
Katie Boyer - who is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at Austin Peay and last year earned APSU's inaugural Hazel Smith Summer Research Fellowship - will be a gallery assistant for Chautauqua Visual Arts (CVA) Galleries through the beginning of August.
Read More