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Explore Graduate Programs

  • An image of some students observing a large piece of art on the floor in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's gallery space.

    MA in Arts Administration and Policy

    Through an integrated approach to curriculum, practice and research, the Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy (MAAAP) program emphasizes collaboration, teamwork, and creative leadership. We are not a traditional arts administration program. As an academic program and a hub of creative activity, our approach views arts administration as a creative practice.

    Related department:

    Arts Administration and Policy

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    Graduate Overview
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    Featured Alum

    An image of Laura-Caroline de Lara sitting outside wearing a blue shirt.
    Laura-Caroline de Lara

    As the director of the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, Laura-Caroline de Lara (Dual MA 2012) brings the words and work of marginalized artists to the forefront.

  • An image of a large, group of students sitting in a classroom.

    MA in Art Education

    The Master of Arts in Art Education (MAAE) program prepares artists, educators, designers, curators, teachers, organizers, activists, and other professionals seeking to be creative agents of change within a wide variety of cultural and educational contexts. The MAAE program focuses include social justice pedagogical practices; socially engaged art; collaborative practices, curriculum and project design for school, museum, and community settings; creative youth development; museum education; and design and environmental activism.

    Related department:

    Art Education

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    Featured Alum

    An image of Calderon at work in her daughter’s nursery.
    Emily Calderon

    Emily Calderon teaches art at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy. When the pandemic hit, she had to reimagine every lesson plan. “If anything, I’ve learned what really matters," she said. "And some days, I spend 30 minutes just listening to the kids. Life is happening outside of the classroom."

  • Multiple colorful tiles from the "2021 MAATC Thesis Exhibition: Reconstructing Care."
    Susannah Ward, "25: An Abstracted Retrospection," 2020

    MA in Art Therapy and Counseling

    The Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling program cultivates influential, compassionate leaders who are critically engaged with the social and cultural contexts surrounding artmaking and healing.

    Related department:

    Art Therapy and Counseling

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    Graduate Overview
    Alumni

    Featured Alum

    An image of Noel King with her hands and fingers over her eyes with a rainbow.
    Noel King

    There was a time in Noel King’s (MA 2015) life when she thought she might be an art historian, photographer, or painter, disciplines she studied in high school. Then she pivoted in college and decided to major in psychology—which she loved—but something was still missing. Now, as a Deaf art therapist, King helps her patients explore their identity through creativity.

  • A large group of students sitting in a dark room watching a projector at the front of the room.

    Dual Degree

    The Dual Degree: Master of Arts in Modern and Contemporary Art History and Arts Administrations & Policy is a three-year, 63-credit degree that provides students the ability to earn two synergistic degrees while maintaining the integrity and high standards of each degree.

    Related department:

    Art History, Theory, & Criticism
    Arts Administrations & Policy

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview (Art History, Theory, & Criticism)
    Graduate Overview (Arts Administrations & Policy)

    Featured Alum

     a portrait of a woman wearing a black dress in front of a brick exterior
    Allison Glenn. Photo: Rana Young
    Allison Glenn

    For Allison Glenn (Dual MA 2012), the art of curation is about collaboration. So, when she was asked to helm an exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky, honoring the life of Breonna Taylor, Glenn knew what she needed to do: listen.

  • Two books placed on a white surface.

    MS in Historic Preservation

    SAIC’s dynamic Master of Science in Historic Preservation program prepares graduates to revitalize the built environment through the comprehensive exploration of science, history, creative arts, politics, and technology.

    Related department:

    Historic Preservation
    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

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    Featured Faculty

    An image of Nicholas Lowe working in his studio.
    Photo courtesy of Nicholas Lowe.
    Nicholas Lowe

    Tucked away in a quiet corner of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Nicholas Lowe’s mind is racing, connecting every historical document to its source and every source to contextual details, drawing maps in his head about where the archived material is, where it came from, and where it’s going to go next. Lowe is searching for a story.

  • A painting of two figures in study poses on fabric with mixed media.
    Faun Manne, Floral Duo, 2020

    Low-Residency MFA

    The Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts Program is designed for the 21st-century artist whose work and life demands both a rigorous engagement with an artistic community as well as flexibility, fluidity, and a self-directed approach.

    Related department:

    Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts Program

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    An image of Hamza Walker.
    Photo courtesy of Artforum.
    Hamza Walker

    Even though SAIC is in the middle of the US, the School’s community still makes a major impact across the country and throughout the world. Take, for example, faculty member Hamza Walker, executive director of LAXART. “I am honored to be at the helm of one of L.A.’s premiere nonprofit spaces, to build on its legacy of supporting Los Angeles’s extraordinarily dynamic arts community, and to confront the challenges unique to alternative spaces,” Walker told Artforum.

  • An architectural model using black and clear material.
    Ashley Boduch, "Architectural Model," 2021

    Master of Architecture

    Students in the Master of Architecture program learn the history, theory, and technique of architectural design, developing the skills and experience necessary for professional practice and the critical thinking necessary to develop new ideas and drive invention and expand the discipline of architecture.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
    Historic Preservation

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    Graduate Overview
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    Featured Alum

    An image of Tizziana Baldenebro siting on a stool wearing a grey sweater.
    Photo courtesy of Baldenebro.
    Tizziana Baldenebro

    Tizziana Baldenebro (MArch 2018) has built a newsmaking curatorial career, which is firmly grounded in social and environmental justice. In 2023, she is helming the United States Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architettura. The theme: Everlasting Plastics.

  • A metal abstract form sitting against a bright red background.
    Joshua Stein, DISCARD ARCHIVE, 2020

    Master of Architecture track in Interior Architecture

    Students in the Master of Architecture program with a track in Interior Architecture gain all the expertise necessary for the practice of architecture while developing the sensibilities specific to the growing field of interior architecture.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
    Historic Preservation

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    Featured Alum

    An image of Tizziana Baldenebro siting on a stool wearing a grey sweater.
    Photo courtesy of Baldenebro.
    Tizziana Baldenebro

    Tizziana Baldenebro (MArch 2018) has built a newsmaking curatorial career, which is firmly grounded in social and environmental justice. In 2023, she is helming the United States Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architettura. The theme: Everlasting Plastics.

  • An image of blue, yellow and red abstract objects.
    Artwork by Ting-Yu Tseng

    Master of Design in Designed Objects

    The Master of Design in Designed Objects is a professional degree program with a structured curriculum that offers students the critical skills to imagine and create meaningful objects, systems, and experiences while challenging the boundaries of the field of design itself.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Norman Teague sitting in his studio surrounded by large wooden pieces.
    Alum Norman Teague in his Chicago studio. Credit: Vasia Rigou (MFA 2015). Photo courtesy of IIDA.
    Norman Teague

    Norman Teague (MDes 2016) is a Chicago-based designer and educator who focuses on projects and pedagogy that address the complexity of urbanism and the history of communities. He served as lead craftsman and co-founder of the Design Apprenticeship Program at the University of Chicago's Arts Incubator.

  • An image of a few small, wooden models on a windowsill.
    An image from Echo: A Site-specific Installation and Architecture Exhibition.

    MFA | Architecture 

    The Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Architecture program supports advanced work in architecture and its related fields that calls upon a broad range of art and design disciplines to challenge how architecture is defined and practiced.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
    Historic Preservation

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    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 
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    Featured Alum

    An image of Tizziana Baldenebro siting on a stool wearing a grey sweater.
    Photo courtesy of Baldenebro.
    Tizziana Baldenebro

    Tizziana Baldenebro (MArch 2018) has built a newsmaking curatorial career, which is firmly grounded in social and environmental justice. In 2023, she is helming the United States Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architettura. The theme: Everlasting Plastics.

  • A person crouching down in a gallery space to look at s monitor on the floor.
    An image from a Photography Graduate Critique.

    MFA | Art & Technology Studies

    Students and faculty in the Master of Fine Arts in Art & Technology Studies program are pioneers and innovators who create new aesthetic experiences and invent the tools and processes to realize their visions.

    In fall 2023, the Department of Art and Technology Studies and the Department of Sound are merging into Art and Technology / Sound Practices (AT/SP). New applicants can use this pathway to explore Art and Technology Studies work, Sound work, or both. This new synergy creates a place to explore, critique, and imagine the potentials of artistic production through focused study and interdisciplinary experimentation. 

    Related departments:

    Art & Technology Studies
    Sound

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    Admissions Information
    Art & Technology Studies Graduate Overview 
    Art & Technology Studies Facilities and Resources 
    Sound Graduate Overview
    Sound Facilities and Resources

    Featured Alum

    An image of Wafaa Bilal sitting in a large room with a scenic backgound projected on the walls.
    Photo courtesy of Civitella Ranieri.
    Wafaa Bilal

    To Wafaa Bilal (MFA 2003), how technology can illuminate human agency—or a lack thereof—is not new, or even controversial. His work uses video games, camera footage, and interactivity as conduits to illuminate how much power the West has, comparatively, if only they would stop and think about it. Crucial to his work is not only the scenarios it introduces; Bilal is also deeply concerned with how viewers respond to it.

  • Various sized ceramic pieces stored in a wooden frame.

    MFA | Ceramics

    Offering one of the few Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics programs that focuses on experimental, contemporary ceramics, both traditional and innovative processes and technologies are embraced. Students are encouraged to move fluidity across media, materials and methods to create bold work that subverts the ordinary.

    Related department:

    Ceramics

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    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 

    Featured Faculty

    J. Howard Rosier_MG-01082019_SpringMagazine2019_Spreads_Page_12_Image_0002.jpg
    Photo courtesy of Mie Kongo
    Mie Kongo

    Mie Kongo (BFA 2006) is an artist, a sculptor, and a professor, but above all, she is an observer. Fueled by a sense of curiosity and discovery, Kongo’s ceramics practice is rooted in exploring the nuance and subtleties of everyday life.

  • Red, green, blue and yellow neon lights grouped together in a metal frame.
    Yaazd Contractor, RGBY, 2019

    MFA | Design for Emerging Technologies

    The Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Design for Emerging Technologies program offers students resources in physical interface and interaction design, information architecture, physical computing, software-based optimization and analysis, and design for embedded control and robotic activation.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

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    Graduate Overview 
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    Featured Alum

    An image of Wafaa Bilal sitting in a large room with a scenic backgound projected on the walls.
    Photo courtesy of Civitella Ranieri.
    Wafaa Bilal

    To Wafaa Bilal (MFA 2003), how technology can illuminate human agency—or a lack thereof—is not new, or even controversial. His work uses video games, camera footage, and interactivity as conduits to illuminate how much power the West has, comparatively, if only they would stop and think about it. Crucial to his work is not only the scenarios it introduces; Bilal is also deeply concerned with how viewers respond to it.

  • A detailed shot of some wooden utensils.
    An image from Whatnot Studio in-progress in 2019.

    MFA | Designed Objects

    The Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Designed Objects program is suited to design practitioners looking to advance, define, and reinvent their practice.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview  
    Facilities and Resources  
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Norman Teague sitting in his studio surrounded by large wooden pieces.
    Alum Norman Teague in his Chicago studio. Credit: Vasia Rigou (MFA 2015). Photo courtesy of IIDA.
    Norman Teague

    Norman Teague (MDes 2016) is a Chicago-based designer and educator who focuses on projects and pedagogy that address the complexity of urbanism and the history of communities. He served as lead craftsman and co-founder of the Design Apprenticeship Program at the University of Chicago's Arts Incubator.

  • An image of brightly pink, green and yellow fluorescent fabric with flower details.
    SAIC Fashion Show 2017

    MFA | Fashion, Body and Garment

    SAIC's groundbreaking Master of Fine Arts in Fashion, Body and Garment moves beyond the merging of fine art with fashion design to explore the body in motion, on show, in suspension, in conversation, and immersed in the world.

    Related department:

    Fashion Design

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    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 
    Fashion Design Galleries

    Featured Faculty

    An image of Nick Cave in his studio.
    Photo by Jim Prinz.
    Nick Cave

    Nick Cave is an artist, educator, and foremost a messenger, working between the visual and performing arts through a wide range of mediums including sculpture, installation, video, sound and performance. Many might be surprised that an artist of Cave’s stature—his work has been celebrated and exhibited all over the world—is still teaching, but community has always been essential to his practice.

  • Various colors of yarn stitched across a plastic canvas.
    Jamie Lynn Lewin, In An Instant, 2022, yarn on plastic canvas

    MFA | Fiber & Material Studies

    The Master of Fine Arts in Fiber & Material Studies program fosters experimentation across disciplines. Students explore cloth, print, and constructed textiles, as well as new media technologies, computer-assisted tools, sculpture, installation, and performance to make complex, cross-disciplinary work.

    Related department:

    Fiber & Material Studies

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    Graduate Overview 
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    Featured Alum

    A photo of a young woman standing in front of a brightly painted canvas
    Bryana Bibbs

    Bryana Bibbs is the founder of The We Were Never Alone Project, a series of weaving workshops for survivors of domestic violence. During the workshop, Bibbs teaches participants a basic plain weave and gives them space to share their stories. She sees these workshops as part of a tradition of community spaces that have been centered around knitting.

  • A video still of abstract green and grey shapes.
    An image from An Evening with Rachel Rossin in 2019.

    MFA | Film, Video, New Media, & Animation

    Expanding the possibilities of moving-image is at the heart of our Master of Fine Arts in Film, Video, New Media, & Animation program. Students push boundaries while engaging in formal experimentation, technical innovation, and critical investigation in all forms of media-based work.

    Related department:

    Film, Video, New Media, & Animation

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 

    Featured Alum

    An image of Apichatpong Weerasethakul standing in front of a projector.
    Photo courtesy of Prestige.
    Apichatpong Weerasethakul

    Apichatpong Weerasethakul (MFA 1998, HON 2011) is a filmmaker who most recently won the Prix du Jury award for his film Memoria (2021) at the Cannes Film Festival. In previous years, Weerasethakul won the Prix du Jury for his film Tropical Malady (2004), the Prix Un Certain Regard for Blissfully Yours (2002), and the Palme d’Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010).

  • Three square paintings using a black checkered pattern over orange, yellow and green writing and abstract shapes.
    Olivia Minshall, "Split," 2022

    MFA | Painting & Drawing

    Widely considered one of the most important studio programs in the country, the Master of Fine Arts in Painting & Drawing program promotes the development of new approaches that are redefining contemporary painting. Through studio production, critical discussion, and experimentation, students acquire the conceptual, material, and methodological tools to build a sustainable practice.

    Related department:

    Painting & Drawing

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview  
    Facilities and Resources  
    Alumni

    Featured Alum

    An image of Angel Otero sitting on a stool in front of a large abstract mural in his studio.
    Photo by Greg Reigh.
    Angel Otero

    “Painter” is the description that Angel Otero (BFA 2007, MFA 2009) identifies with most, but using that title has the unintended effect of singling him out. The artist’s compositions made of dried oil paint smash together colors, textures, and focal points—almost daring viewers to discern a hierarchy.

  • A person wearing royal blue sweeping a branch on a grassy hill.
    Photo by Camille McOuat.

    MFA | Performance

    One of the only graduate-level contemporary live art programs in the country, our Master of Fine Arts in Performance program cultivates artists who produce experimental work that reflects radically changing concepts of the body, time-based art, social practice, new media technologies, and the social and cultural conditions of a mobile society.

    Related department:

    Performance

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Students & Alumni 

    Featured Alum

    An image of Nyugen E. Smith against a bright blue background.
    Photo by Erica MacLean.
    Nyugen E. Smith

    To try to summarize Nyugen E. Smith’s (MFA 2016) oeuvre would be a fool’s errand. His work is too vast and too full; it spans every conceivable art form and is at once about the universal experience of being alive and the specific experience of being a first-generation American born to parents from Caribbean countries.

  • An image of some students critiquing a photography exhibition.
    An image from the 2017 Photography Graduate Critique.

    MFA | Photography

    Considered one of the strongest in the country, SAIC’s Master of Fine Arts in Photography program is focused on investigating, understanding, and expanding upon traditional and experimental forms of image making, while nurturing students as emergent artists, intellectuals, and professionals.

    Related department:

    Photography

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    Graduate Overview 
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    Featured Faculty

    An image of Dawit Petros standing in front of a large bookshelf.
    Photo courtesy of Dawit Petros
    Dawit Petros

    Dawit Petros is a visual artist, researcher, and educator. His work is informed by studies of global modernisms, theories of diaspora, and postcolonial studies. His works have been recognized with awards including a Terra Foundation Research Fellow, an Art Matters Fellowship, and artist residencies at The Studio Museum in Harlem, Addis Ababa Photo Fest, and an Independent Study Fellowship at the Whitney Museum of American Art.