Decker Library Survey

Open until November 1

Decker Library is looking for feedback and insight from faculty and students as part of an external review of the library. We welcome all students and faculty to share their perspective by responding to this short survey. The survey will stay open until November 1. Thank you for your input and participation in this process.

Announcing the MICA Halloween Party 2026: Gathering of the Ghouls!

Saturday, October 24
Cohen Plaza and the Brown Center

We invite you to Avlier’s Manor! The MICA Program Board welcomes you and your most ghoulish attire to the 200th celebration of Gathering of the Ghouls, our Halloween Party.

Join us for an exciting evening of thrilling activities, a creative costume contest, spooky music, and plenty of spirits flying high. Put on your best costume, bring your friends, and enjoy a night of dancing with ghosts. 

Tickets are free for MICA students and $5 for non-MICA guests. Reserve or purchase tickets through this link/through the events tab.

Poster designed by Shanon Pan

Conversation Club Halloween

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2-3pm
Writing Studio, 2nd floor of Mosher

Casper the friendly ghost writer wants to w-w-welcome your PRESENCE to the Conversation Club's Halloween EditiooOOooN! This week, we'll be talking about ghoulies, ghosties, and sprites of all types, and what they might look like to you. 👻 Whether you're a regular visitor or a SPECTER-tator, all are welcome. Costumes are optional, but it would help you get into the SPIRIT of the holiday.

Faces from an Island: Photographs by Allen Moore

Thursday, Oct. 22, 6pm, Main Zero Gallery

Join us for a reception of “Faces from an Island,” an exhibition of photographs by Allen Moore. Located in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, Berneray is home to traditional Gaelic crofters and fishermen. Between 1978 and 1981, two American filmmakers, Jack Shea and Allen Moore, lived among the community to create the documentary, “The Shepherds of Berneray.” Alongside filming, Moore captured hundreds of still photographs, using a stills camera as another way of deepening his understanding of the Island and its inhabitants, forging lifelong friendships and leaving a lasting tribute to the island’s rare heritage and people.

JUST/Start Idea Competition Showcase

Friday, October 23, 12–4 pm
Gateway Lobby

See what MICA’s emerging creative entrepreneurs are bringing to life at the JUST/Start Showcase! Stop by to explore creative projects, products, and ventures from this year’s JUST/Start award recipients. Meet the artists and entrepreneurs behind the ideas, learn more about what they’re building, and even shop products from select ventures. Whether you’re curious about creative entrepreneurship, looking to discover something new, or just want to support MICA’s creative community, come by and check it out.

Visit The Jang: A Korean-Inspired Community Market

Saturday October 24, 12-7pm
Ynot Lot (101 W. North Ave.) 

THE JANG (장) IS COMING

A Korean-inspired market bringing art, community, and food together in Baltimore. Free and open to everyone, RSVP link below.

Featuring Korean owned/inspired food vendors, local artists, makers, and public programs all coming together in one open and accessible space.

Artist Talk: Taína Cruz

October 26, 2-3pm, Falvey Hall

FYE's Contemporary Visual Language Lecture Series presents an artist talk by Taína Cruz, IS '20 alum.

Taína lives and works in New Haven, CT. Across painting, sculpture, installation, and video, she builds immersive worlds where figures, objects, and animals inhabit charged architectural spaces, staging acts of becoming. Drawing on African American and Caribbean traditions and shaped by coming of age within networked image culture, Taína approaches identity as fluid and iterative. Her work stages moments of transformation where folklore and contemporary visual systems overlap and evolve.

Earlier this year, Taína was the youngest artist to be included in the Whitney Biennial.

Manuela Moscoso Lecture

Tuesday, October 27, 4-6pm
Lazarus Auditorium

Rinehart School of Sculpture is pleased to welcome Manuela Moscoso, Director of CARA NYC, for a visiting lecture.

GSISS: Alex Da Corte, Artist Talk

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 4:30pm, Falvey Hall

Join guest speaker Alex Da Corte for an artist talk followed by a reception. Presented as part of MICA's Graduate Studies Interdisciplinary Speaker Series and Bicentennial Celebration. Registration is free but required due to limited seating. Register on the Eventbrite page link below.

Harjant Gill: Film Screening and New Book Talk

Monday, Nov. 9, 1pm, Leake Hall 106 

Join us for a special screening of "Mardistan (Macholand)" with the director, Harjant Gill, himself. Gill's visit to MICA also coincides with the release of his latest book, Coming of Age in Macholand. Learn more about Gill's work on his website: here

Nate Larson, Professor of Photography, is a Finalist for the 2026 Arnold Newman Prize Winner

The Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture is a $20,000 prize awarded annually to a photographer whose work demonstrates a compelling new vision in photographic portraiture. All artists recognized in the Top Ten will be included in the online exhibitions hosted by Maine Media. In addition to cash awards for the Prize recipient and Finalists, all photographers selected for the Top Ten will be featured in a professionally produced publication celebrating the work of the Prize recipient, three Finalists, and six additional photographers recognized in the Top Ten. This softcover, perfect-bound publication will serve as a lasting record of the year’s most compelling approaches to photographic portraiture. It will feature the Prize recipient, selected works by the Finalists and Top Ten photographers, and contextual essays on Arnold Newman’s legacy, the history of the Prize, and Maine Media’s role as its steward.

Rethinking Death, Grief, and the State at Duke University

Duke University’s Asian/Pacific Studies Institute welcomed MICA sociocultural anthropologist Dr. Ruth Toulson for a lecture exploring death, grief, and the politics of everyday life in Singapore. Toulson discussed insights from her recent book, Necropolitics of the Ordinary: Death and Grieving in Contemporary Singapore, which was awarded second prize in the American Anthropological Association’s 2026 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing. During her visit, Toulson also engaged with graduate students in Duke’s East Asian Studies programs, sharing her research and discussing the ways ordinary experiences of death reveal larger questions about society, culture, and power.

Vote for Four MICA Graduates in the Global Creative Graduate Showcase 2026

Four MICA graduates have been shortlisted for the ARTS THREAD Global Creative Graduate Showcase 2026. Their work is being recognized by an international panel of industry judges, including leading creatives from Google, Gucci, Frieze and Zaha Hadid, while reaching audiences around the world through a public vote.

Join us in celebrating these talented MICA artists and designers by exploring their projects and casting your vote.

• Leigh Bell-Koch ’26 (Hoffberger School of Painting, MFA): In Proximity
• Loossi Hou ’26 (Illustration Practice, MFA): All That Falls to the Plane
• Priyanka Bhalerao ’26 (Graphic Design, MFA): Hands That Speak
• YooRaRa ’26 (Mount Royal School of Art, MFA): Remembering Her — 그녀를 기억하며

Voting closes October 21. Show your MICA pride by voting for your favorite projects and sharing their work with others.

Paid Community Engagement Opportunity

Interested in spooky face painting? Love working with kids? Want to make some extra cash on a Saturday? Come join the South Baltimore Halloween Bash at Riverside Park on October 24 as a face painter. The Riverside Neighborhood Association is looking for two awesome, friendly and creative MICA students to paint faces for four hours at the SoBo Halloween Bash. Compensation at $50/hour. For more details, email mippolito@mica.edu