Oberlin Joins Park Arts, Bringing World-Class Programs to Historic Synagogue

Partnership will yield host site for new BA/BFA combined degree program.

April 9, 2025

Office of Communications

Park Synagogue.
Built in 1950, Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights will be redeveloped as Park Arts. Fifth-year Oberlin students in the new BA/BFA program will pursue their studies at the transformed space beginning in 2027.
Photo credit: courtesy of SCA

Since the Park Synagogue congregation departed its historic Cleveland Heights campus several years ago, there has been a remarkable effort underway to restore and repurpose this important site into a center for creative arts and humanities. 

Oberlin College and Conservatory is proud to bring its unique combination of outstanding academics and world-class music and arts education to the dynamic community that is planned for the Park Synagogue. Called “Park Arts,” this collaboration is a milestone in one of the most ambitious and historically significant reclamation projects within the nation’s Jewish community.

Developed by Sustainable Community Associates (SCA), a Cleveland-based team of Oberlin alumni, and the nonprofit Friends of Mendelsohn, Park Arts honors architect Erich Mendelsohn’s legacy while designing an intergenerational center for artistic creation and humanities education. Oberlin will add its newly established Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Integrated Arts (BA/BFA) to this creative hub. Launching in fall 2025, the combined degree program can be completed in five years: the first four on Oberlin’s bucolic campus, followed by a fifth year set amid the rich professional arts community at Park Arts. With the first BA/BFA students scheduled to arrive at Park Arts in June 2027, this program will provide hands-on opportunities for students in Northeast Ohio’s vibrant arts scene.

“We are thrilled to forge this connection between Oberlin and the greater Cleveland community,” says Oberlin President Carmen Twillie Ambar. “This partnership allows us to honor one of Cleveland’s historic Jewish synagogues while our students interact with the region’s cultural institutions. Our students will gain real-world experience and contribute their talents to a city known for artistic excellence. It bridges Oberlin’s close-knit campus with the creative energy of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights.” 

Oberlin’s BA/BFA program eventually will bring up to 50 fifth-year students to Park Arts for an immersive arts year. Students will have 24-hour access to private studios, rehearsal spaces, theaters, and production facilities, culminating in a substantial, public-facing project—a performance, exhibition, or installation—determined in collaboration with their Oberlin faculty mentors. The program is designed with collaboration in mind: Students will work with renowned visiting artists and with Cleveland’s arts organizations through internships, commissioned works, and public programming.

For artists, community connections are invaluable. Collaborating with Cleveland’s arts organizations, securing internships, and being immersed in a thriving cultural district will be transformative.” —Julia Christensen, BA/BFA Program Director

The partnership with Park Arts also presents a pathway for Oberlin to expand Jewish Studies—drawing on the congregation’s archives as well as pursuing course-based research opportunities focused on the history of Park Synagogue—and the potential for community concerts and other musical outreach. 

In addition to Oberlin, Park Arts will house a diverse collection of nonprofit and educational programs, expanding access to creative programming for the broader Cleveland community. Overall, the 28-acre Park Arts campus will contain intergenerational housing, an expanded neighborhood preschool, public walking trails and green space, and the preservation of the Mendelsohn-designed building—an applicant for National Landmark status—while simultaneously integrating sustainability initiatives such as geothermal heating and cooling.

According to Susan Ratner, former President of Park Synagogue, the donation of Park to SCA was a continuation of the congregation’s legacy. “Our goal has always been to honor Park’s history while ensuring it remains an inspiring part of Greater Cleveland’s cultural landscape. The larger vision for the restoration and Oberlin’s presence will bring new energy, creativity, and scholarship, making Park Arts a truly unique center for artistic innovation and education. We are thrilled to be a part of it and to return each year for high holidays.”

Park Arts places Oberlin students near some of the region’s most distinguished cultural institutions, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland, and Dobama Theatre, as well as Cleveland’s renowned performance venues and galleries.

“This move provides an essential bridge from student life to professional careers in the arts,” says Julia Christensen, Program Director and Oberlin’s Eva & John Young-Hunter Professor of Integrated Media. “Park Arts offers students the opportunity to engage with the Cleveland arts community while honing their creative practice in an academic setting.”

“For artists, community connections are invaluable,” Christensen adds. “Collaborating with Cleveland’s arts organizations, securing internships, and being immersed in a thriving cultural district will be transformative. At the same time, these emerging artists will bring fresh perspectives and energy to the broader Cleveland arts scene. It’s an exciting exchange.”

Learn more about Oberlin’s BA/ BFA program at Oberlin.edu.

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