Artistinquarantine

What would your dream art university look like? • Studio Space • Art Business courses • Interdisciplinary art courses

What would your dream art university look like? • Studio Space • Art Business courses • Interdisciplinary art courses

I came across this article on PH.D's in fine art. The questions the article asks: 1) Does a PH.D ruin the artist? 2) Does it deepen the artwork of the artist? 3) Do we really need a PH.D in fine art? 4) Does the PH.D simply create another barrier for artist and make it only accessible to a select few? https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/05/24/phd-challenges-mfa-requisite-degree-arts-professors-essay Now that you are a grad and continue working in the field, what is your opinion on this topic? Should the MFA remain the terminal degree or do artist need to get a PH.D like other disciplined told at Universities?

Curious how did your MFA programs fair over the pandemic? Did the universities compensate you for the loss of your studio's? We just found out that ours is closing end of June 2021. The alumni tried fundraising after we found out about the planned closing you can find more info here https://savesaci.com

They just posted on their website that they will be closing their Italian operation end of June 2021. There really is nothing other than an office and rented gallery in New York. They pretty much did not want our fundraising help from alumni away. When they finally agree to a pledge drive we got 3 weeks to raise the funds. To little to late. SACI Notice of Closure of Italian Operations | SACI College of Art & Design Florence.pdf There are sites which claim alumni can ask for loan forgiveness if they graduated within 3 years of the school closing. I am curious if anyone here has had success doing just that after their University closed. I am looking into a job either in administration and in teaching. All the institutions I have applied to do ask for transcripts. The loss of network is not minor and a great asset over ones career for grad students.

We created a alumni group to keep our network and connection alive. Right now there is a group of alumni and friends working on saving the institution. We started a petition and there are alumni ready to start a fundraiser if needed. We are also getting the word out and have contacted the board http://chng.it/RbQb6Ggg57 One of my undergraduate program professor reached out to the school as well to explain how important it is that graduates transcripts are on a fulfillment platform. It is good to know that even without that we still have a place to get them. Thanks

There are rumors that the grad school I attended for my MFA might be shutting it's door for good. Our official transcripts can only be ordered through their current secretary and are not online. Several grad students have reached out and asked for them to move our transcripts to an online portal. They seem reluctant even so we informed them all online application now require digital official transcripts. Is anyone here who had this experience and could give advise? Is this something I need to worry about? Does it effect the value of our degrees?

I just finished my MFA in studio arts in April and due to Covid-19 have to broaden my job range. Running a few searches all the information pretty much comes back to very basic and obvious jobs for artists. I like to invite fellow creative professionals to create a list which goes past the traditional lists such as Graphic Designer, Photographer, Art director, art therapist, and freelancer etc. Artist skills are used in so many fields but rarely do you see the job title which goes along with those skills. Ad unconventional art jobs you have encountered by chance and you did not know existed.

Here I am two years later. I graduated late April with my MFA in studio arts. Researching now where it will take me next.

Your art should speak for itself not the degree title. How about a doctored in the arts, that is the direction it is taking now.

We have gone to our administration by writing a letter with all us signing it. We did get a response, from which we received an larger show catalog in form of individual catalogs to form a set. We each will receive a certain amount of catalog sets and the one single one. They will give us a stipend of $1000 used towards art education, resident grants etc. I am in an international program in Florence Italy. For us to re-schedule our group show would be difficult. Thank god we did get our solo shows done before the closure. I myself experienced a great loss of money due to having to leave everything behind in Italy. We did not get any time off. Only after the students reached out via this letter did we get a weeks break. Our school does not give grad students a spring break. We are suppose to work until we graduate. This was expected of us even in lock down and no access to our studios. We are slowly getting to get them to understand this is not normal and should not be expected of us. Our program will continue online until we graduate end of April.

I started a post writing about my own experience

Do you have a green card or are you simply a student in the USA? There should be help from your University. If you are a green card holder I believe you can still return. The US consulate should be able to help you as well as that of your own country.

Up to a week ago I was in your situation. My program is in Italy and US travel advisory pretty much forced the issue and my school really could not stop us from leaving. We are finishing out degrees up online.

Please, share your experience in my post. I wrote about mine as well. Thanks

You might want to follow my post I just started to see how current students like myself dealing with their MFA programs.

My MFA studio art program is in Florence Italy. The program send the undergrads home due to pressure form their home universities and parents. The MFA students had been told we would continue having access to our studios. However, only a week later we where informed that the school would be closing and we would loose access to our studios. If it had not been for the students talking to each other, we would have had only two hours to get out supplies. We first where still able to get together and have dinners together. Then all Italy went into lockdown which isolated us from our fellow students. Through all this time students where expected to create work like nothing had happened and things are normal. We would get deadline reminders with no extensions helping us manage our current situations. As a unit we reached out to the administration and advocated for the MFA students. I was in lockdown for 3 weeks in Italy before I was forced to return to the USA due to travel advisory. I have been in self quarantine for 11 days our of the 14 days. Our last semester is continuing online. As students we have to be our own advocates now and ensure that on top of the work which we are required to do we are not receiving needless busywork to make a stressful time worth. Our program will be concluding end of April. All official graduation plans have been canceled. The MFA group show now is turned into a larger show catalog. I know the institutions experience as much of a transition as we do as students. But grad students should not become the scarifying lambs. I am sure looking back we will see what works and what did not. Lets document our experience.

How is your program dealing with the COVID-19?