Former Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich and his wife, Lola, provided the vision for the creation of the center after an extended stay in Vienna, Austria.
Inspired by the seamless integration of arts and academics in Viennese schools, the Perpiches worked to create something similar in Minnesota when Rudy was reelected governor in 1983.
Opening as The Minnesota Center for Arts Education in the autumn of 1989,[1] the school began with junior students who graduated in 1991.
The school has graduated nearly 3,500 alumni, many of whom have gone on to top-ranked colleges and conservatories across the country and are leading practitioners in their arts as well as successful doctors, teachers, lawyers, scientists and community leaders.
Perpich's theater program offers a general introduction to theatrical practice, with a primary focus in acting skills.
Several collaborative works have come from the center's literary arts community, including an anthology independently published by the graduating classes of 2006 and 2007: "Lit Kids: Mama Bird and the Electric Rabbit" (Mill City Press, 2007).
The department competes annually in national competitions, and the students are required to present work in the community and develop a portfolio for review.
All juniors are taught painting, drawing, graphic design, printmaking, documentation, portfolio development, and art history.