Shenzhen University was one of the first comprehensive universities in China to establish disciplines related to art and design. It launched the Industrial Design program in 1987 and established the Department of Design in 1994. The Performing Arts program began in 1996, followed by Music and other programs after 1998. In January 2019, to build a high-level discipline system and talent cultivation system, and to promote the optimization and clustered development of disciplines, the related art programs of the former Shenzhen University Teachers College and the former Shenzhen University College of Art and Design were integrated to form the Division of Arts at Shenzhen University. The Division of Arts at Shenzhen University comprises three colleges: the School of Fine Arts and Design, the School of Music and Dance, and the School of Drama and Film. It offers three first-level master's degree programs in Art, Design, and Art Design. There are twelve specialized departments, including Fine Arts, Visual Communication, Digital Media, Product Design, Environmental Art Design, Fashion and Costume Design, Creative Planning, Music, Dance, Popular Music, Performing Arts, and Broadcasting Hosting. The division has over 200 faculty members and nearly 3,000 students, including about 400 graduate students, making it a multidisciplinary, integrated art community.

The division currently possesses several research institutions and platforms, including the No. 3 Art Station (National College Student Quality Education Base), the Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Art and Design, the Shenzhen University Art Gallery, the Guangdong Provincial Master Studio for Arts Education in Ordinary Colleges, the Shenzhen University Research Center for the Inheritance and Innovation of Excellent Traditional Chinese Art (a key humanities and social sciences research base in Shenzhen), and the Shenzhen Modern Art Design Research Center. These provide excellent environments for experimentation, teaching, and research. The division aims to seize the historic opportunities presented by Shenzhen's "dual zones" development and the construction of a high-level university, leveraging the advantages of its multidisciplinary development. It is committed to building a higher education base and an art highland in the Bay Area that matches Shenzhen's status as a "City of Design" and "City of Creativity."