Groups

Mission

Mission
Gain the business skills necessary to start and grow a business or be a dynamic manager or creative director. Combine your creative talents with the fundamental tools of commerce needed to manage finances, negotiate contracts, market your work, and achieve business success.

The combination of artistic talent and business skills is a powerful asset for those who aspire to building and sustaining a successful creative career. The Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) in Business for Creatives from MICA bridges the gap between creativity and business, equipping artists, designers and innovators with the essential skills needed to launch, manage and grow their creative careers.

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The M.F.A. in Community Arts program prepares artists to use their artmaking as a means of civic, youth, and community development, activism, education and more.

The program provides you with a thorough grounding in theory and practice, beginning with coursework that highlights the relationship between the artist, art, and community. Real-world experience that integrates independent artmaking with community-based projects provides you with the opportunity to investigate how artists help communities articulate their own unique creative identity, and how these communities, in turn, inspire the students' own creative expression.

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The first M.F.A. of its kind in the country, MICA's M.F.A. in Curatorial Practice prepares students to expand the role of curators--engaging audiences more effectively by proposing alternative models of exhibition-making, institution-building, and social justice through art.

MICA's M.F.A. in Curatorial Practice offers a hands-on curriculum that balances collaboration and socially engaged practices with academic research in history and theory. By creating real-world collaborative and individual exhibitions, our students raise awareness, bridge societal gaps, and catalyze exchanges across various disciplines, both inside and outside the art world.

Graduate Director: Jose Ruiz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micacuratorial

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Mine the data. Find the narrative. Tell the story.

Learn how to translate data and information into graphics, images, and interactive designs that communicate more effectively to more people. Develop design expertise and analytical abilities for a combination of skills in increasing demand.

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To succeed in business, you must embrace the opportunity to look at things differently. The Design Leadership MA/MBA is rooted in the philosophy that the best business minds are open ones.

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The MFA in Filmmaking prepares the next generation filmmaker to enter a field that is expanding beyond Los Angeles and New York and to sustain a practice through participation in the international film community.

Cinema is a global artform. It is high art. It is populist. It livens the heart and can dysregulate the intellect. It enrages. It excites. We cry, laugh, scream and might even decide to make a change. Cinema is the perfect entry into a conversation with a stranger - ‘what is your favorite film?’ It is how we create shared myths that bind us throughout the world. We are in a period where corporate media can dominate the world while at the same time – filmmakers with mobile phones and a computer can create a film that has a sweeping impact.

The MFA in Filmmaking trains students in this context. Our students are mentored in the fundamentals of storytelling with an emphasis on impact. How will the film reach an audience? Does it have something new to say? Is it ambitious in vision and technique? Each student spends two years producing a dynamic thesis film where they are mentored all along the way by working professionals. We seek to train the next generation of narrative and documentary filmmakers in a worldwide context who will go on to move the needle in the universe towards good.

Program Overview:
Through a hands-on curriculum and unique collaborations with The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Film and Media Studies program and the Maryland Film Festival, the M.F.A. in Filmmaking prepares students for sustainable careers in film and media as the industry continues to realign.

M.F.A. in Filmmaking students engage in a curriculum that integrates a broad understanding of cinematic history with diverse technical experience-from generating ideas and writing to production, post-production and delivering a film to its intended audience. First-year students work on short film projects and crew for second-year student thesis films. These collaborative, hands-on experiences, combined with workshops, electives, and a robust schedule of visiting filmmaker talks, allow students to learn the cinematic process as they become knowledgeable about a variety of models to finance and produce films and reach audiences. Shared facilities with JHU's Film and Media Studies program gives Filmmaking students access to faculty and resources from two world-class institutions, while the Maryland Film Festival offers programming that connects students with renowned filmmakers as they screen films, hold master classes or review thesis projects. Graduates of the program will be prepared to work in traditional film and media hubs and to create sustained filmmaking practices in non-traditional markets.

For More Information Please Visit:
https://www.mica.edu/graduate-programs/filmmaking-mfa/

Graduate Director: Kirsten Hollander
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mica_mfafilmmaking/

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An immersive globally accessible graduate design education, delivered with the flexibility today’s creative professionals need.

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Mission
M.F.A. graphic students at MICA are encouraged to view themselves as cultural producers, "practical visionaries," and "utopian entrepreneurs" who actively initiate projects.

Graphic design is an interdisciplinary, cross-media field that is rooted in the fine arts. The program provides students and qualified designers with skills and knowledge to successfully compete nationally and internationally and to contribute to the public discourse of design.

Program Overview:
MICA's M.F.A. in Graphic Design serves as an advanced lab for interdisciplinary research and exploration within the context of one of the nation's top art colleges. The 60-hour curriculum engages students in a mix of critical seminars, guided studio courses, and independent work. Students can take advantage of electives in many MICA departments, including video, printmaking, and digital media.

As graphic design extends its reach into new media and new environments, designers are confronted with exciting intellectual and technological challenges. MICA's two-year M.F.A. program provides a setting in which to develop critical ideas about the history, future, and social uses of visual communication.

Who Should Apply
This program is appropriate for students who wish to contribute to the public discourse of design and visual communication by engaging in cultural, social, technological, and aesthetic issues that are transforming today's media and information industries. Selected from an international pool of applicants, students include experienced designers seeking to reinvigorate their careers, and professionals and advanced students from such related disciplines as digital media, photography, journalism, and the fine arts.

Graduate Director: Jennifer Cole Phillips
Founding Director: Ellen Lupton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mica_gdmfa

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Mission
MICA's M.A. in Illustration is a one-year program for those interested in a career in illustration or in refining their existing illustration practice.

The program is an immersion into the field with focus on studio work and professional practices, preparing you to build a compelling portfolio, for freelance opportunities, or for application to competitive M.F.A. programs, including those at MICA.

Program Overview
The Master of Arts in Illustration is a 30-credit program. Its curriculum is paced to help you develop the vocabulary, and conceptual, observational, and handcrafting skill sets, tool sets, and mindsets needed to begin professional initiatives or pursue more specialized study. In the M.A. in Illustration program, you will work independently and collaborate with others, gain a global purview through historical study and exposure to diverse contemporary practitioners, and expand the scope of your professional practice through making skills and professional development. The degree culminates in independent work in the form of a capstone portfolio project, exhibition, and review panel.

A final review with guest critics, practitioners and faculty includes a public talk/presentation of a portfolio (to secure commissioned work and employment); a written working philosophy; a web presence; and an exhibition of work. In addition to the portfolio, you will create a digital archive for future professional presentation, project proposals or other educational pursuits.

Program Facilities
Students in the M.A. in Illustration program work in an open-plan, state-of-the-art dedicated studio environment and can take advantage of opportunities to collaborate with students from other graduate programs, as well as MICA research centers such as the Center for Design Thinking.

Who Should Apply
The program seeks applicants of all experience levels, including those entering the field of illustration for the first time as well as experienced illustrators who seek to expand their skills and experience. We encourage a diverse group of applicants with experience or education in complementary fields who seek tools, abilities and context in order to pivot and launch successfully into industry positions in a shorter amount of time than an M.F.A. program. Some applicants may seek to gain experience, further develop their portfolio, and undergo appropriate preparation for an application to M.F.A programs further in the future.

Graduate Director: Rebecca Bradley
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mica_ma_illustration

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Mission
The M.F.A. in Illustration Practice has at its core a philosophy of necessary reexamination and reinvention, both in your work and thinking and in the paradigm of what it means to be an illustrator.

Our intent is to provide an environment for you to delve into your relationship to your work, to intelligently break existing perceptions and rules, and, taking advantage of technologies, and considering social needs and artistic perspectives, to be a pioneer in the future of illustration. This intense program of study helps students revisit their creative process and use of materials while awakening their abilities to chart their own course as entrepreneurs.

Program Overview:
Illustration Practice is a field unbound by specific media yet rooted in storytelling and ideas that intellectually and emotionally engage the public. In this program, students are challenged to find new directions for the practice, making visual and intellectual connections that examine cultural meaning. The goal of the program is to create a laboratory that resists the pressure to follow trends.

In this two-year, 60-credit, full-time program you will:

Investigate new materials and manufacturing models during the first year, 9-credit studio course, where students engage in workshops designed to spur creative and analytical thinking; Study a curriculum that includes two critical seminars, one humanities elective and two studio electives;
Conduct research and writing that address concerns on the historical, social, and cultural contexts of illustration practice;
Develop an independent, second-year thesis project using a medium appropriate to your personal direction and emerging illustration markets, including an exhibition and accompanying case study book;
Produce work at a professional level with real-world applications to your career goals;
Collaborate with fellow students, and professionals, and research centers including Dolphin Press & Print at MICA, the Center for Design Thinking at MICA, the Modern Graphics History Library at Washington University, and the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies;
Engage with full- and part-time faculty and visiting critics and artists-in-residence.

Who Should Apply
Admission to the program is highly competitive, and successful applicants will include experienced illustrators, advanced students from related disciplines, including writing, design, animation, film, digital media,etc., and students with a cultuvated passion for illustration in all it's forms. The program seeks students who value illustration in historical and contemporary terms, who strive to contribute new ideas and directions to the practice, who wish to expand or reinvent their work and wish to augment the research and writing available on illustration.

Graduate Director: Whitney Sherman

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LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting is one of the nation's most selective graduate programs.

The LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting is one of the only graduate programs in the country to focus solely on painting, giving a select group of highly motivated painters the opportunity to find their individual voices within a supportive community. Through frequent critiques and seminars in dialogue with the director, critic-in-residence, visiting artists and peers, students develop the ability to think critically and sustain a rigorous practice. Trips to major art centers are integral to the discourse as students position their painting in the contemporary art world. Primarily a graduate school of painting, students find their way toward their unique form of expression.

Click here to read Paula Gately Tillman Hoffberger's tribute to her late husband, LeRoy E. Hoffberger on the occasion of his birthday.

Program Overview
Students need a high level of competence and commitment to succeed at the L.E. Hoffberger School of Painting. The emphasis of the program is on independent work in response to critique. Each student is given a private studio. Context, support and continuity during the two year intensive experience comes through the student's community of peers and director. Students take responsibility for many aspects of running the weekly program, which remains flexible in response to changing needs.

Weekly presentations from the resident critics and visiting artists, as well as their engagement with students and the director at critiques of student work generate group discussion and exchange. Students benefit, as well, from working with the director in seminars and individual studio visits. Informal visits to exhibitions in small groups are integrated into the program each semester. Additional activities are added in response to the students' needs.



A total of 60 credits is required for the MFA; of these, 48 must be in studio coursework and 12 in liberal arts seminars. A selection of liberal arts seminars especially designed for graduate students are offered each semester, additionally, graduate students may take undergraduate liberal arts class with the permission of the instructor.

Who Should Apply
Enrollment is limited to 20 students who intend to pursue a career in the arts and who have already developed considerable proficiency in their medium. Along with a thorough knowledge of the discipline of painting, the program places emphasis on the development of the student's own vision, clear critical thinking, and disciplined studio practice that will continue into the student's professional career.

Applications are seriously considered for working artists who plan to pursue a career in the arts, who consider painting their primary focus and who have already developed a body of work on their own after completion of an undergraduate degree. Along with a thorough knowledge of painting and its place in contemporary art, the program focuses on the development of the student's own vision, clear critical thinking, and disciplined studio practice that will continue into the student's professional career.

Graduate Director: Joan Waltemath
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leroyehoffberger/

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Mount Royal School of Art is a multi-disciplinary MFA program that allows students to work in ways most appropriate to their individual research--focusing their exploration within a specific medium or crossing into a wide array of disciplines and media as they engage in intensive studio practice.

Graduate Director: Luca Buvoli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mountroyalschoolofart/

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Photography + Media & Society @ MICA is a vibrant Master of Fine Arts program where mature, self-motivated candidates for the degree explore photography and media as an interdisciplinary medium informed by the liberal and visual arts and the record of the human story.

The program offers an active think tank for socially engaged thought-leaders to produce knowledge and meaning in the public sphere through visual, material, and media culture using lens and data-based photographic, imaging, and media tools.

The curriculum content, program culture, the human and material resources of the College, and the City of Baltimore offer a rich community of experience and knowledge to build the foundation for launching a borderless, sustainable for-profit post-graduate practice within and beyond fine art at the crossroads of culture and commerce.

The curriculum combines liberal arts coursework, regular critiques with faculty and visiting artists, and individual studio exploration. Graduate students at MICA have the resources for collaborative, cross-disciplinary exploration, and facilities include dedicated spaces for video production, sound (including a full sound studio) and a state-of-the-art computer lab, high-end output equipment, and traditional black-and-white and color darkrooms with 3-inch color processors. Students have full access to a broad range of DSLR, video (up to 4K), sound, and lighting equipment. Graduates are prepared to add to the discourse surrounding contemporary art as exhibiting artists, faculty, and critics.

Who Should Apply
Ideal candidates are highly-motivated and independent-minded individuals engaged in probing ideas, expanding definitions, and perfecting both technical and critical skills. The program seeks to enroll students who will seriously contribute to the radical shifts in the formation, dissemination, and unique historical challenges for image-making and media practices.

Graduate Director: Bill Gaskins
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mica_pem/

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Launch your future as a creative product leader. Build the expertise to guide teams from idea to market-ready product—whether physical, digital, or experiential.

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The oldest program of its kind in the country, Rinehart trains 21st-century artists to follow their passions—whether that be through traditional working methodologies or art of the moment.

Program Overview:
In Rinehart, you are encouraged to follow your passions in a range of media and materials from video and digital media to steel, concrete, and fiber. Central to the program are critical readings and writing workshops, which balance intensive studio practice with a rigorous focus on history and theory. Students participate in weekly seminars that include guests who reinforce the varied practices of students in the program and who support networking and career development. In this program, you are prepared to contribute to the discourse surrounding contemporary art as exhibiting artists, faculty, and critics.

Program Facilities & Resources
Individually assigned studios open onto a common work area for easy access to a complete wood and metal shop and to peer interaction so that ideas are exchanged and peer interaction and discourse occur naturally.

Who Should Apply
Rinehart seeks to create a stimulating environment by enrolling artists with multiple perspectives and diverse cultural, academic, and professional backgrounds who share an interest in exploring the possibilities for creating art in a multidimensional environment. These students create a vibrant, stimulating community that is both challenging and supportive of individual exploration.

Interim Graduate Director: Delores Zinny
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rinehart.sculpture.mica/

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The School of Creative and Professional Studies is helping to define the Maryland Institute College of Art as a 21st-century leader in the education of artists and designers. We fuel creative journeys through convenient and innovative learning models that provide broad access to the college’s rigorous art and design education.

For non-degree seeking students, each semester (Summer, Fall, Spring), we provide a wide range of community education in fine arts and professional practice design courses, and youth and teen programs.

If you would like to view our current offerings for adults, youth and teens, visit openstudies.mica.edu

For degree-seeking students, choose from an advanced degree in Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in UX Design, Data Analytics and Visualization, and Business of Art and Design or a Master of Art (two tracks: Entrepreneurship or Product Management) and Master of Business Administration (MA/MBA) in Design Leadership, the dual-degree program in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business.

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Elevating the social and design literacy of creatives and building new pathways for professional practice.

The first degree-bearing program of its kind, MICA’s MA in Social Design is an intensive, practice-based graduate program that prepares creative changemakers with the tools and methods to advance equity and social justice and become pioneers and leaders in the practice.

Throughout the 1-year program, students will:
Increase Social Literacy—Develop a deeper understanding of the issues of equity, power, race and privilege that exist at the heart of the social problems we aim to address.
Deepen Design Literacy—Establish an ethical framework to guide personal practice and learn human-centered design methods to build empathy with and engage people in making and doing.
Create Professional Pathways—MA in Social Design alumni are pioneering and innovative leaders in the public, private, non-profit, entrepreneurial and academic sectors.

Program Overview

MICA’s M.A. in Social Design is a 1-year, interdisciplinary graduate program that explores the designer’s role and responsibility in society. The 30-credit program is comprised of seminar, studio, and elective courses as well as a variety of other immersive and practice-based experiences that take students outside of the institution to learn. Examples include:

Visiting Faculty—In addition to core faculty and staff, MA in Social Design students learn from visiting faculty across a variety of disciplines and backgrounds.
Practice-based Studio—MA in Social Design students are eligible to enroll in semester-long courses that bring students from a variety of disciplines together with outside partners from government, nonprofit and business sectors to learn and apply the human-centered design process.
Human-centered Design Intensive—MA in Social Design students learn and experience the human-centered design process in a multi-day, immersive project with a local partner facilitated by a leading practitioner in the field.
Graduate Fellowships—MA in Social Design students put their skills into practice in professional contexts through paid, part-time fellowships with a variety of institutions during the academic year.
Capstone—MA in Social Design students undertake an immersive, design-driven project that focuses on a specific social problem and applies the methods, tools, and frameworks learned in the curriculum.
Post-graduate Associates—MA in Social Design graduates are eligible for associate positions within the Center for Social Design to build a professional practice and deepen their work in Baltimore after they graduate.

For More Information Please Visit:
https://www.mica.edu/graduate-programs/social-design-ma/

Interim Graduate Director: Thomas Gardner
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mica_socialdesign/

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MICA's M.F.A. in Studio Art Summer Low-Residency (MFAST) program is designed for experienced artists who want to pursue graduate study without disrupting their ongoing careers.

The emphasis of the MFAST is in integrating practice with theory, where students are encouraged to be independent thinkers and researchers who may focus on one specific medium or work across various media.

Program Overview
MFAST students complete their graduate studies over three years plus one summer. Each year, students come to MICA for an intensive six-week summer residency combined with independent work during the academic year and a return to campus for a short winter session. During the time that students are not on campus, they keep in touch with their dedicated faculty mentor through distance learning tools. Intensity and length of the program help to create a strong community of peers and a network of visiting artists, critics, and alumni that truly influence the students thinking and practice.

Areas of concentration include the full range of contemporary art practices; students may focus on one specific medium or work across various media. Although the program promotes interdisciplinary approaches to art production students are encouraged to work in ways most appropriate to their individual research.

Individual studios and a broad array of academic resources and facilities are provided for all the students while they are in residence during the summer session. Candidates must develop their own studio facilities for use during the academic year. Exhibition space is provided for group shows and individual thesis shows during the summer.

Each candidate is assigned a faculty mentor based on the work submitted for admission. These faculty mentors the student for the duration of the program. More feedback comes from a visiting critic who also meets with the students weekly during the summer. Finally, there is a different visiting artist or critic each week during the summer session as well as during the winter critique.

Who Should Apply
This low-residency program is intended for a broad range of experienced artists, teachers, and other art professionals who wish to expand their understanding of contemporary art through an engagement with extensive studio practice while developing a conceptual framework for their work.

Graduate Directors: Zlata Baum and Fabienne Laserre
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/micamfast/

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MICA's M.A.T. program is nationally recognized for its success in preparing art education professionals who integrate personal artistry with the skill and understanding to direct the art making of others.

Our program offers hands-on experience in teaching along with coursework in practice, current theory, and research—all within a supportive community of students and faculty who are internationally recognized leaders in the field.

Program Overview
Nationally recognized for its successful approach to preparing art education professionals, MICA's Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program focuses on the notion that teaching is an art in itself and that the best art teacher is a practicing, accomplished artist.

The four-semester residency consists of 53-64 credits of graduate education and liberal arts courses, internships and student teaching, and independent studio work; a state-mandated six credits in the teaching of reading are integrated into the curriculum. The program is a Maryland State Approved Program for art teacher certification in grades preK-12. All students take national teacher exams (Praxis exams) and passing scores, as set by the state of Maryland, are required for completion of the program and degree. Maryland maintains reciprocity with 39 other states, which allows for easy transfer of certification.

Graduate Director: Lisa Hochtritt
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mat_grad_mica/
Curriculum: https://www.mica.edu/academic-catalog/undergraduate-curriculum/2019-20-art-education-5-year-curriculum/
Course List: https://www.mica.edu/undergraduate-majors-minors/course-lists/course-list/

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Explore both the design and computer science sides of the user-experience equation. Master analytical problem solving and design thinking of UX principles that figure significantly in today's tech-focused marketplace.

Students in the Masters of Professional Studies in UX Design (M.P.S. UXD) master fundamental principles of interface design, project management, prototyping, and usability as applied to industries from gaming to healthcare and education to defense.

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