mooncake88

My parents want to come with me to dorm move in. I am going to be 27. Help.

Here are three related articles with job ideas/career paths for art historians. The Nontraditional ones especially are interesting - art crime investigator?? =)
Relevant to those of us who are in between jobs or are considering roles outside of academia:
 
The Top Nine Nontraditional Art History Careers
The Top Seven Self-Employed Arts Jobs for Art Historians
The Top Eight Traditional Careers in Art History 
 
 

This has changed within the past couple of years (from friends who attend there). They've restructed the program to be more in line with other graduate programs where they have started taking less PhD students (12 were accepted in my friends' cohort) with a guaranteed stipend. I don't remember how many years you get the stipend, at least 4. I don't think they offer any funding to their MA students nowadays.

I have not heard that the IFA has had problems funding its PhD students, although I do have friends in their MA program who did not receive funding. Everyone whom I know who is in their PhD program has full funding.

Hello there!
  Given my screen name, I couldn't help, but be compelled to write :-)    While I do not think you intended to be casual in your post, I would take your decision entering the museum field very carefully. Have you researched today's labor market for museum work? The picture is not attractive in terms of the job market right now; for example, some museum jobs in metropolitan areas are receiving several hundred applicants for entry and mid-level work. Even the museum that I work at now in a New England state received a couple hundred applicants for a single position. In other words, the competition is intense, and the "hanging in there" to get a job definitely seems to require sustainable passion and drive. I'd recommend an internship or volunteering in a museum if you haven't already. This will also help you get the institutional clues needed to apply for work, and some work experience.   You've written that you are unsure about curatorship. There are many roles in a museum that aren't "curatorial": development/fundraising, museum education, human resources, conservation, marketing/public relations, social and web media, collections... Do you have any idea which kinds of professional roles in a museum setting, which best fit your interests and abilities?   In addition to "museum theory," museum studies programs do train you and teach you a little about each professional role, so you can determine an appropriate fit for yourself. However, actual museum experience will probably tell and teach you even more whether or not it's a fit for you, and what an actual day-to-day is like. Generally, at smaller museums you'll be more likely wearing "all hats" (i.e. you may update the collections database AND give tours AND mail gift acknowledgments) and at larger museums you may be more niched, and limited (say, curator of decorative arts).   Based on your description of not wanting to do the "technical," I could only guess that you might not enjoy the data entry and the computer heavy work that collections technicians and managers do. Although, your library training would be probably most transferrable to collections manager, collections technician, cataloguer, and archivist kinds of roles in a museum (well, mostly -- you'll still have to know the particular databases of the institution, such as Past Perfect and Multi-Mimsy, and possibly, their ways of processing metadata).    You did remark about connecting with your art roots, however.  Do you have enthusiasm for art and/or history, and want to share it with people? Do you think you'd like to plan programs, tours, or interpret collections for visitors? Maybe a track, or focus, in museum education is for you. In any regard, it is absolutely ideal you have passion for what you do. Unless you are working for an upscale museum (like the Getty or the Met), generally museum positions are not highly compensated, so you'd be doing it for the love, really.    At the museum that I work for...   ... the HR staffer is PASSIONATE for employment law. ... the curator is PASSIONATE for minute details about objects. ... the education team is PASSIONATE for museum education theory -- and based on current studies, how multigenerations learn best in museums. ... the collections manager is PASSIONATE for deciding things like, whether in the database it is "medicine, bottle"... or "apothecary, bottle."   And on and on...   Our museum has a lot of fine art, but as you can see, it's not simply that they are connecting with their "art roots". Hence, my earlier comment on not being casual about entering the field -- this is a serious career, and there are many paths that you can elect to take, each with specific responsibilities.    So, should you matriculate in a Museum Studies MA, over Art History? That will depend on your interest to study for a year or two a topic, and  on a few other things that you want. If you seek to enter museum work, you can honestly work either degree to your advantage, especially if you couple it with actual museum experience (make sure any museum studies program you do enter supports internships or connects you in some way to the workforce).    Although, as I think about it, an art history MA may be slightly better for fulfilling work duties, even as a museum educator or what have you, because you have that important background of art. So much easier to develop a tour on a certain movement of art when you know it! Regardless, though, while depending on the job description, a MA in Art History, or a MA in Museum Studies, should get at least you considered for a job in museums, AND if all goes well, hopefully to the interview stage. Keep in mind, also, that museum jobs like HR, marketing, development -- you won't necessarily need a MA. You might, however, need other professional training. Maybe community college or business courses?   Finally, I offer my personal experience. I hold a MA in Museum Studies, and I am employed in a museum. Because I seek ultimately to research and curate American decorative arts in a museum or university museum, a further degree in material culture or art history would serve me better in my job search. While I am currently less competitive for academic museums or curatorial positions, with my MA in Museum Studies, and extensive museum experience, I do still receive invitations to interview for other professional roles in museums, which is great because it is so hard to get a museum job these days. However, for me, sadly, the degree that I have is generally not sufficient for curatorial jobs, of which role seek demonstrable academic knowledge/background in a particular subject or topic. Lastly, a PhD in Art History, or even a MA in Art History, might "over-qualify" you for a position like collections or database-driven development... which I like, too, so I have to weigh that when I apply to MA/PhD in Art HIstory.   Anyway, I truly believe that further graduate school in Art History would prepare me well particularly for the museum roles that I desire to fill. I couldn't imagine another career for myself, but to study dec arts in depth. Hence, why I'm on grad cafe, interested to learn more about the process myself :-)   My bottom line? I hope these rambles of some help to you, and I do wish you the best of luck deciding!

NO.

ProspectStu, for someone so quick to cruelly judge others for not participating in the discussion put forth, you have not actually contributed anything substantial yourself. I actually disagree with some people here that this is nothing but semantics and I was intrigued when the topic initially popped up. However, I felt that the question was too vague to really engage with it. I think the term is problematic in many ways, for example, the types of objects it privileges, the types of (entrenched canonical) histories constructed around the term, its openness to the attachment of even vaguer terms like "visuality." Where were you hoping to go with this discussion Prospectstu? Instead of continuing to be a jerk on this forum, you might have saved a bit of face by explaining your thoughts on the matter. Also, an apology wouldn't hurt either.

ProspectStu,,
 
 
This is uncalled for and unnecessarily hurtful. The reply you got to your original question from Mary Queen of Scotch is thoughtful, unlike your reply to it here. Stop using such language, as it will not be tolerated any further.

There's probably a reason why you're sitting on a pile of rejections.

Having now successfully weathered the storm that is the application process, if I were to do it over again I would do three things differently:
 
- Apply to 10 schools. Thankfully I was accepted to my top choice, but having chosen to only apply to six I was not left with as many options as I had hoped for. I realize that for many ten seems excessive (it did to me at least), but if you want options and potential "bargaining chips" cast a wide net. PhD applications are a crap shoot.
 
- Master the art of being generally specific. While not confirmed, I have a strong feeling that although my Statement was well written and tight, for a number of programs the way in which I articulated my interests may have been too temporally/geographically specific.
 
- Embrace the fact that rejections do not determine your self-worth. This is echoed over and over on the forums, but it is so true that it doesn't hurt to say it again.

Da Vinci Code!! *throws head back and laughs*

In all seriousness:

The Return of Martin Guerre, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Pollock, Fur, Basquiat, Frida, PBS's Art21 series...

I don't think there are any "must read" books.  Given your interests are "theory & criticism, modernism/post-modernism and photo history," I would suggest the following selection might put you at an advantage in the discursively overcharged domain of modern and contemporary art history...
 
* Kant's Third Critique
* Hegel, Phenomenology of the Spirit and Aesthetics
* All of Marx, especially the German Ideology, Critique of Feuerbach, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1848, First chapter of Capital vol I, and The Communist Manifesto; Engels, Principles of Communism. 
* Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and the Untimely meditations; perhaps also The Gay Science
* All Freud
* Bergson, Creative Evolution 
* Sartre, Being and Nothingness
* All major theorists and writers of the Frankfurt School, but especially:
--Walter Benjamin, Das Kunswerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (in German preferably)
--Adorno, if nothing else, - and Horkeimer, Dialektik der Aufklärung
--Siegfried Kracauer, The Mass Ornament
* All of Brecht, including essays
* Meyer Schapiro's major essays on modern art
* Heidegger, "The Origin of the Work of Art" and anything else you can read, especially Being and Time and the 1950s essays 
* J.L. Austin, How To Do Things WIth Words
* Saussure
* Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author"; Mythologies; Camera Lucida
* Jacques Lacan, Écrits
* Clement Greenberg's major essays (esp. "avant-gard and kitsch," "toward a newer laocoon," etc.) and Michael Fried's, "Art and Objecthood"
* Harold Rosenberg, The Tradition of the New
* Merleau-Ponty, The Visible and the Invisible* Major texts of structuralism, especially the work of Jacques Lacan
* All of Foucault, but especially The Order of Things, Discipline and Punish, and writings on governmentality, biopolitics, etc. 
* Major theorists in cultural anthropology: Mauss, Levi-Strauss, Geertz, Appadurai, et. al.
* Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities
* Major texts of post-structuralism - I'll leave that to you, with the random suggestions of:
Jacques Derrida,  all essays in Margins of Philosophy, The Truth in Painting, and Specters of Marx 
Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus
Slavoj Zizek, The Sublime Object of Ideology
Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer
Kaja Silverman, Flesh of my Flesh
* As much as you can stomach of the criticism of the October school: Krauss, Buchloh, Foster, Bois
* Look at new publications from MIT Press, Duke, California, Chicago - Look at the Dokumenta pubs - Look at journals such as October, Grey Room, Critical Inquiry, Art Journal, Res, Representations, Third Text, Qui Parle, TDR, PAJ, Discourse, Signs, Camera Obscura, Screen and magazines like Artforum, Parkett, Frieze, FlashArt, etc.
 
Also, read in French and German!  
  This is just what comes to mind immediately - a tiny sampling of what you should probably be reading if you dream of being successful and publishing widely in these fields.  You might have to read these works over again in grad school, but having already read them would give you a lot of very good knowledge.  Understanding them would make you formidable!

Are you serious? Grad school is not intended for hobbyists, its intent is to train scholars so that they can get a credential to obtain a job. Don't romanticize it. 

I actually applied to the MA program at BGC and interviewed last week and this is how they explained funding (and their relationship with Bard College): 
 
-The funding for BGC (scholarships and grants) has nothing to do with Bard College. This funding comes from BGC and is distributed among accepted students based on merit. 
-Financial aid IS dealt with at Bard College. The college examines the FAFSA information and how much federal aid a student will be able to get and then passes that information along to the BGC. 
-The BGC is otherwise a separate entity (or at least that is how they consider themselves).  

Quick update:
 
NYU... was informed that Phd accepts have been notified, and they are now deciding who they will offer the MA option instead.  It would not give me the status of my application!
 
Columbia... still reviewing apps... by early April with all the results.  It seems (personal observation) as if the people being funded have already heard from the school though.
 
Harvard... couldn't really get much, but it sounded like "no news is bad news," at this point.  Forgot to say one thing... decision letters will be mailed out no later than March 15th.
 
Yale... emailed inquiring, but have not heard back yet.

Hang in there!
 
http://i.imgur.com/qqLDI.jpg

I'm fairly certain that the above poster IS Dr. Weingarden..... 
 
The user created their account yesterday.... for the sole purpose of promoting Lauren Weingarden on two seperate threads....
 
Not sayin', just sayin'...

i think we are competing for spots, per a friend who interviewed with them last year (and got in, but chose columbia instead). 

If you want to do continental with an art historical influence, then what you're actually looking for is a visual studies program.  They place much greater emphasis on theory.  Also, some schools (UCLA comes to mind) have professors in Art History departments who are also involved in critical theory institutes.  Irvine, Santa Cruz and Rochester are great visual studies programs.  But, just a heads up, there are some departments with visual studies in the name that don't really practice visual studies (Duke, which seems to be a somewhat traditional art history department and Harvard, whose visual studies has a cinematographic bent).  You might also consider the recent proliferation of interdisciplinary PhDs, if any have a willingness to work with visual material.  For example, Stanford's program in Modern Thought and Literature, Santa Cruz's History of Consciousness or Princeton's Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program.  All of the programs I've listed are very highly regarded and have strong placement records, from what I've been able to uncover.

Wellesley is a all women's undergraduate college, so I don't think you will have much luck pursuing an MA there. 

Not necessarily! 
 
There's still time

Congrats TJ! I think it's gonna take a bit more than a few silly posts on a grad thread to tarnish my reputation in the Chicago art scene. Maybe not, maybe it's over for me. Outside of online living though there is this thing called reality where honest relationships free of online personas and code-names exist. I'm actually a really nice and thoughtful human being and I work really hard each day to connect regular non-art viewing/caring people with the subject we all love. I literally work to make what we do valued more in the dominant culture (not that it matters, but it may go to my real passion and it could lead you to see what I really care about). 
 
My posts have been off the cuff responses to the hostile reactions. I must say most of my writing has been a reaction to your reaction to me and I played a pompous character here (perhaps I got carried away in being immature). I will admit to not being myself. The post about the book was meant to get under your collective skin.
 
I am sorry for some of the things I've said here. In all seriousness, I do regret disrupting the harmony of your routines. I have those regrets, but what hurts me most is being labeled misogynist. I respect our gender positions, but it is hard to ignore the gender binary through the harsh treatment. I was just calling the tone as I felt it.
 
I am insecure, I think we all are and I'm okay with that.
 
My website is a free one, so I know the template is not "rad". It's not meant to be great (cheap shot).
 
I am really sorry though gang (no sarcasm), I hope you can accept the apology. Good luck on those apps.

Double check, but I don't think Edward Sullivan is actually at the IFA.  He's at NYU.  There's a separate art history department there, even though the IFA is part of the university.  I'm not sure how much the faculty cross over.

He's listed here, on the IFA faculty page: http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/faculty/index.htm

I would definitely apply for the conservation programs! It seems like you have a good background and a good grasp of what knowledge you still need to make it. They don't expect you to be a conservator going in--there isn't really an undergrad degree in it, so you learn as you go along, to a certain extent.

If you do need another backup option the IFA's master students can take conservation courses, and you could possibly even do a master's thesis on conservation issues. I wouldn't suggest doing a program that doesn't have a close link with a conservation center if art history is not really what you want to go into. It seems like it might just be a waste of money.