The Peck School of the Arts is the only school in the UW System dedicated exclusively to the arts, and the only campus that trains students in five major arts disciplines (dance, film, music, theatre, and visual art).

The UWM Peck School of the Arts is ranked 61st out of 143 graduate schools in the arts according to U.S. News and World Report, along with Penn State University, Boston University, Stanford University, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

The Film Department received the highest ranking of any program at UWM in U.S. News and World Report, finishing 15th among film departments nationwide. The Film Department is also ranked as one of the top three "non-Hollywood" film schools by Independent Film and Video and as one of the five best film schools nationwide by Film Threat magazine.

The Peck School is a vital home for the arts, presenting more than 270 events each year.

The new Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, with its 750-seat Helen Bader Concert Hall, two dance studios, and conference and classrooms, provides the Peck School of the Arts, UWM, and the Milwaukee community with one of the premiere performance venues in the region.

The internationally renowned Fine Arts Quartet offers two local series of chamber music and tours the world's major music centers as a cultural ambassador for UWM. Recent concert stops have included New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Mexico City, Beijing, and Tel Aviv.

The Institute of Visual Arts (Inova) has been named "one of the ten best exhibition spaces for contemporary art in the United States" by Art Forum. Inova is known nationally and internationally for its presentation of work by emerging and mid-career artists from eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.

Ko-Thi Dance Company, one of the nation’s foremost African dance companies, had its beginnings on the UWM campus and is currently in residence at the Peck School of the Arts.

All the professional modern dance companies in Milwaukee are led by or filled with graduates of the UWM Dance Department. These include the Danceworks Performance Company, Wild Space Dance Company, Milwaukee Dance Theatre, Dancecircus, and Foothold Dance/Performance.

The UWM Music Department has forged extensive community partnerships with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Skylight Opera Theatre, Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Florentine Opera Company, Hal Leonard Publishing Company, and the Wisconsin School Music Association.

The Peck School of the Arts certifies teachers in dance, music, theatre, and visual art. The Visual Art Education program is the largest in the state--training, interning and placing students in professional careers in public and private schools. The Music Education program has a 100% employment placement record.