The Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts (MCPA) is a Canadian performing arts school in Halifax, Nova Scotia that offers courses in higher education in music, dance, and theatre. The school was founded in 1954 when the Halifax Conservatory of Music (HCM) and the Maritime Academy of Music (MAM) merged after the HCM bought the MAM's assets. The school was originally known as the Maritime Conservatory of Music but changed its name in 1998 in order to reflect the school's expansion into other performance mediums beyond music. In its initial years, the school awarded degrees through Dalhousie University, but became its own independent institution in 1962.[1]