Program

Program Summer

Bard MFA takes place over two years and two months, with students in residence on campus during three consecutive summers, and two winter sessions of independent study completed off campus. Each summer session runs for eight intensive weeks. We do not offer an MFA program that runs on a traditional academic year schedule.

The day-to-day focus is on the individual process and work in progress, as each student confronts the conceptual and practical questions that are at the core of all artistic production. Work toward the MFA degree continues during independent study sessions in the two intervening winters. The schedule of summers in residence and winter independent work can make earning the MFA degree possible without sacrificing employment or other commitments. The result of this program design is a diverse group of students, including active mid-career artists, teachers, and professionals in other fields, as well as recent college graduates.

When applying, each candidate chooses a primary field: Moving Image, Music/Sound, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, or Writing. Regular meetings with faculty in the student's chosen field and meetings with faculty from other disciplines are an intrinsic and necessary aspect of the program. Students are their own taskmasters in achieving credits for individual work and participation in community activities.

The 2025 Summer Session dates are June 2 - July 26, 2025. Attendance throughout the summer is mandatory for all accepted students.

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Faculty and Students

Program faculty members are drawn from a range of mid-career working artists from diverse backgrounds. Their experience is available to students in all six disciplines: a writer will meet with a painter, a sculptor with a filmmaker, a musician with a photographer. These intense one-on-one Conferences are the core of the program.

The broad intellectual and artistic concerns of those who teach and learn at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts call for, and create, a context of critical support and respect that extends beyond professional boundaries and categories. An awareness of other disciplines and a willingness to take risks mark successful artists in every field. Students must be willing to become actively and articulately involved in the interdisciplinary program while concentrating on their chosen discipline. Knowledge of, and interest in, other fields should accompany primary involvement in their own.

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