Joint MA Programs in Art History and Museum Studies?

[Fat_Pets]

Hey all,

 

I am currently in the thick of the graduate school application process, and I was hoping Grad Cafe could offer some guidance. After a year and a half of internships and lower level museum jobs, I made the decision to apply for MA programs in Art History concentrating in Modern and Contemporary theory and criticism. I missed being in an academic setting, and thought that an MA would make me a stronger candidate to find work in a museum or other cultural institution. However, within the last few months I have become increasingly worried that my potential spread of employment opportunities would significantly narrow with an MA in Art History. I have never thought of myself as a potential curator, and it was never a career goal of mine to be a professor. Would an MA in Museum Studies be more practical? Would it allow more opportunities to remain open? Recently I have begun to seriously consider employment in a Museum’s education department as a possible career goal. At the same time though, I do not want to neglect my interests in Art History. Does anyone know of joint MA programs in Art History and Museum Studies, particularly in the Northeast? I know that both CUNY and Tufts offer Art History MA’s with concentrations in Museum Studies. Does anyone here have any experience with these programs, or ones like them? I also know that Williams requires a museum internship, which is also really appealing. Are there other MA programs that have similar requirements? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

My best and good luck to everyone applying for programs this fall. 

[GreenePony]

If you want to do museum ed- have you looked at GW's Museum Education department? It's not the normal Museum Studies Department program (collections, exhibit design/development, admin, historic house). If you have practical experience then you'll already have the gaps filled that I found the Museum Ed program has (some seem to think that by going through the program they have the other areas of museums down pat if they take an intro class. I've taken a educational programming course but I in no way feel qualified to be an educator.) Like the MSTD department, I believe Museum Ed allows you to have an academic focus, sort of like a minor. I did mine in American studies but I know some who chose art history, general history, etc. Art has never been my emphasis so I can't comment on the quality of the art history department (I do know of my collections management peers who focused on art and did at least one of their two required internships at one of the SI art museums or NGA so they didn't suffer from it at least.)

[intermsof]

You might be interested in School of the Art Institute of Chicago's MA in Arts Administration & Policy & MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History. It's a three-year dual degree program that covers both grounds.

[museum_geek]

I'm applying for similar programs, albeit with a focus on anthropology rather than art history.  I believe Arizona State has a Museum Studies program that focuses on art history, through the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.  I'm applying to the Museum Studies program at ASU that runs through the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.  I'm not sure if the two programs are linked.

 

http://art.asu.edu/museumstudies/