BFA in Studio Art
Located in the heart of New York City, one of the world’s leading cultural and artistic centers, the BFA in Studio Art prepares students to build an innovative and critically engaged studio practice grounded in a strong liberal arts education. The program is intended for students seeking focused preparation in the visual arts through integrated study in studio practice, art history, and theory.
At the core of the program is its faculty: a distinguished group of internationally active artists and scholars whose teaching and professional work shape the creative and intellectual life of the department. Through close mentorship, students develop technical fluency while learning to situate their practice within broader cultural, social, and historical contexts.
Students benefit from access to the university’s many research centers and global programs, and are encouraged to collaborate across disciplines. Situated within New York City’s extensive network of museums, galleries, and arts organizations, the program offers exceptional opportunities for professional engagement and experiential learning. Graduates of the BFA in Studio Art leave prepared for professional practice, graduate study, and sustained participation in contemporary artistic and cultural life.
MFA in Studio Art
The MFA in Studio Art is a two-year, full-time interdisciplinary program designed to prepare students to pursue a professional artistic career. Through the program, students develop a rigorous studio and/or research-based art practice with mentorship from professional working artists and writers. Students consider their practice within its broader social, cultural, and aesthetic context, and practice articulating their ideas through critical thinking and writing. Students are encouraged to work with whatever media or formal means are best suited to their ideas, and receive ample opportunities for individualized attention. The MFA equips students with the tools to curate, produce group and solo exhibitions, and create supplemental materials such as press releases and artists’ statements. Additionally, students can gain hands-on teaching experience in a studio art context.
MA in Art, Education, and Community Practice
Grounded in socially engaged art, critical pedagogy, and cultural/political theory, the MA in Art, Education, and Community Practice (AECP) explores how and why the arts can be used to address social issues. Students come from a wide variety of backgrounds including studio art and design, performance arts, film, media arts, activism, and teaching. The program aims to prepare graduates to work as artist-educators and organizers in museums, community-based organizations, NGOs, and independently in the public realm. The MA also prepares graduates for further study, should they choose to pursue it.
Though the fields of studio art practice, education, and social activism are traditionally segregated, socially engaged art constantly challenges these disciplinary distinctions. To reflect this, AECP takes an interdisciplinary approach to developing creative strategies that can address complex history, culture, and social needs within a given community.
The AECP curriculum interweaves theory and practice through collaborative assignments with local organizations, which prompt students to critically reflect on the efficacy of their practice. Through the program, students design and implement an art intervention with a local community/community organization or in a public space. By directly engaging with local community members and socially engaged artists, students explore how art/design can open dialogue with members of a community or organization and facilitate social change.
MA in Art Therapy
The MA in Art Therapy emphasizes the integration of theory, clinical practice, and research within an ethical and sociocultural framework through its program learning outcomes (PLOs). Graduates are expected to develop a historically informed and theoretically grounded understanding of art therapy, and to apply developmentally and culturally responsive assessment and intervention strategies for individuals, families and groups. Assessment and intervention practices are informed by evidence based practices in neuroscience, psychology and arts-based health research. Graduates also demonstrate understanding of diverse research methods, including arts-based research, and engage in ethical research in accordance with legal and professional practice standards. Additionally, graduates understand the professional roles and responsibilities of art therapists and sustain their work through reflective creative practice, self-care, and advocacy within diverse clinical and community settings.
MA in Costume Studies
As the first program in the United States to educate specialists in the field, NYU’s MA in Costume Studies is a pioneer of fashion, dress, and textiles scholarship. The program offers core courses in the history of fashion as well as electives in textile histories, exhibition and museum topics, cultural theory and criticism, and design history and the decorative arts.
The Costume Studies MA prepares students for careers as curators, museum administrators, collection managers, and exhibition consultants; as specialists at auction houses and private dealers; as archivists and historical researchers; or as educators, writers, journalists, and critics. A dual-degree option between the MA program in Costume Studies and LIU's Palmer School of Library and Information Science bridges professional librarianship and research in dress and textiles.
MA in Teaching Art, Initial Certification
The MA program in Teaching Art, Initial Certification is designed for students who wish to pursue graduate-level professional training leading to an initial certification as artist-teachers. The program combines a strong foundation in contemporary art with a grounding in social justice and practical teaching experience.
Through a sequence of core courses, students examine the making and teaching of art as a social and political act, and consider its philosophical, historical, political, and sociological contexts. The program foregrounds a commitment to anti-racism and culturally sustaining pedagogy in all coursework. Students develop their teaching philosophy and practical skills through courses in education, art education, and research methodologies while continuing their work as artists fulfilling creative course assignments and a graduate-level studio course.
The MA in Teaching Art, Initial Certification curriculum satisfies the academic requirements for New York State teacher certification.
MA in Visual Arts Administration
As the first Master’s program in the nation to focus specifically on management careers in the visual arts, NYU’s MA in Visual Arts Administration prepares students to lead in a broad range of arts organizations and businesses. VAA’s curriculum is broad and global, considering the relationship between the visual arts and their cultural and economic environment. The program emphasizes arts management competencies in both for-profit and nonprofit contexts, including skills like fundraising, financial management, marketing, and professional use of media technology. The curriculum also considers how education in arts organizations expands knowledge and builds audiences, and explores tools for encouraging access and participation.