Our youngest Bentley students are instilled with a love and appreciation of the arts from the moment they begin their Lower School journeys, engaged in weekly music, visual art, theater, movement, and garden classes. 

Twice a year, our budding musicians perform in the winter and spring concerts at the beautiful Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, just a short drive away. K–8 Arts Night, held each spring on the Hiller campus, allows students to share their artistic endeavors through both exhibitions and performances. 

Starting in 3rd grade, students can join the Lower School Chorus and/or Drum Club, and in 5th grade, students begin learning a woodwind or brass instrument. Lower School Chorus, Drum Club, and the 5th grade instrumentalists all perform regularly throughout the year. 

In Middle School, our Arts program introduces students to even broader horizons, with numerous performing and visual arts opportunities through our extensive array of elective classes. These classes are able to share their work at Middle School Arts Nights held each trimester at the Hiller campus. 

The Hiller Theater program puts on regular performances at showcases including Middle School Arts Night, and our cross-divisional winter musical features actors from both the Middle and Upper Schools. 

Visual artists can pursue classes ranging from Garden Art to Sketchbook in their own studio space and in the beloved Hiller Garden. 

And aspiring musicians can join our Middle School Jazz Ensemble and Concert Chorus, which both perform regularly with their Upper School peers at concerts held at Bentley's Lafayette campus.

Many Bentley Upper School students take full advantage of the Visual and Performing Arts program far beyond what is required for graduation. 

The Bentley Visual and Performing Arts program nurtures creativity, empathy, and problem-solving. Through a myriad of courses, the program celebrates and showcases students’ artistic growth and development through multimedia displays and performances held in professional spaces.

The Upper School Theater program, adopting a new theme annually, puts on three shows each school year, including a musical in the winter. Our actors are lucky to rehearse and perform in our own Little Theater, regularly put on sold-out shows at the nearby Lesher Center in downtown Walnut Creek, and recently traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, to perform their own original work at the lauded Fringe Festival. 

Visual artists can pursue ceramics, digital arts including graphic design and photography, and painting and drawing in state-of-the-art studios that allow students to pursue their creative potential, with regular exhibitions at School events and dedicated art shows throughout the year.

Musicians are able to join accomplished School groups, including the Upper School Jazz Ensemble, Instrument Lab, Chamber Ensemble, and Concert Choir. These students collaborate on show-stopping performances throughout the year at our Lafayette campus, often to a packed house of families, friends, and faculty.