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Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Performing Arts

Program description.

The PhD in visual and performing arts program is designed primarily for individuals who wish to conduct advanced research and to teach at the college level, and can lead to a wide variety of non-academic careers as well. It is open to qualified candidates who desire to enhance their knowledge and skills.

The program provides students with a flexible, interdisciplinary context within which to pursue their studies, built on connections among specific courses and areas of interest. Each student plans an individual program of studies in consultation with an assigned advisor.

Visual and performing arts is an interdisciplinary program of study, so students take the majority of their coursework in visual and performing arts courses, but must also take two seminars each in both history of ideas and literature. Students pursuing the PhD in visual and performing arts may submit a creative project as part of their dissertation.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of the program seek positions such as: artists, performers, teachers, researchers, arts administrators, arts entrepreneurs, arts writers/critics, editors, museum staff, consultants, archivists and other positions in research or professional practice. Career settings may include higher education, non-profits, cultural and historical organizations, publishing houses, government agencies, international development organizations, museums and archives, business/corporate entities and independent consulting.

Marketable Skills

Review the marketable skills for this academic program.

Application Requirements

Visit the  Apply Now  webpage to begin the application process.  

Applicants to the Doctoral degree program should have:  

• A baccalaureate degree (BA or MA) or its equivalent from an accredited institution of higher education, normally in an arts and humanities field.  
• Letters of Recommendation: Applicants must submit 3 letters of recommendation from faculty, or other individuals, able to judge the candidate’s potential for success in the program.  
• Admissions Essay: Applicants must submit a 650-word narrative essay, which should be reflective rather than factual. The essay should address the applicant’s academic interests and goals and indicate how the program would enable such pursuits.  
• A writing sample: Submit an academic writing sample (e.g., a seminar paper or a critical essay). 
• International applicants must submit a TOEFL score of at least 80 on the internet-based test.  Scores must be less than two years old. See the  Graduate Catalog  for additional information regarding English proficiency requirements for international applicants.  
• Each application is considered holistically on its individual merits. You must submit all supporting documents before the Graduate Admissions Committee can review your application. 
• The Graduate Record Examination is not required. 

Deadline:  The application deadline is January 15. All applications completed by the deadline will be reviewed for admission. Applications submitted or completed after January 15 may be reviewed for admission only if spaces remain within the upcoming cohort and will be reviewed in order by the date the application file became complete.

Contact Information

Dr. Catherine Parsoneault Clinical Professor and Program Head Phone: 972-883-2140 Email: [email protected]

Graduate Advising Pia K. Jakobsson Phone: 972-883-4706 Email: [email protected]

Graduate Admissions Phone: 972-883-6176 Email: [email protected] Request Bass School Graduate Program Information

Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas, JO31 800 W. Campbell Road Richardson, TX 75080-3021

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Theatre Arts & Performance Studies

Ph.d. program.

The Ph.D. Program in Theatre and Performance Studies at Brown University offers a rigorous environment for pursuing doctoral research.

Taking a broad-spectrum approach to the histories, theories, and methods of theatre and performance studies from a global perspective, the Ph.D. program trains doctoral students to use performance as an analytical lens to explore the labor of mimesis in the social.

Cross-currents

Brown’s environment is alive with the intersections of performance practice and theory: Ph.D. students benefit from formal and informal cross-currents with:

• Brown’s acclaimed  MFA Playwriting Program
• Brown/Trinity MFA Programs in Acting and Directing  (offered in consortium with the Tony Award winning  Trinity Repertory Company ),
• Brown Arts Institute
• Rhode Island School of Design (RISD )

Brown’s  libraries  provide exceptional special collections for performance-related research, including:

• Harris Collection of American Drama and Poetry
• Smith Collection of Conjuring, Magicana, and Popular Entertainment
• Albert-Bernard Shaw Collection

Open Graduate Education Program

Our students take full advantage of Brown’s unique interdisciplinary opportunities—including the  Open Graduate Education Program , which enables doctoral students to apply to pursue a Master’s degree in a secondary field of study at Brown—and gain teaching experience through a variety of opportunities in and beyond the department.

How to Apply

_______________________

Applications are due   January 4, 2024   and must be submitted via the Graduate School’s Online Application portal . You can find detailed instructions about the application process and components on the Graduate Website.  For other questions refer to The Graduate School’s application FAQ .

Application requirements.

• A statement of purpose (also called a personal statement, generally 2-3 pages) that should address your current academic research interests, why you wish to pursue a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies, and how you see your work benefiting from the broader context of the department and Brown as a whole. The most successful personal statements make a compelling case for why your research would best be served by our program given the current composition of our faculty and the resources that are available at Brown. 
• An academic writing sample (10- 25 pages). This is an especially  important element of the application, so be sure to submit an example of your strongest scholarly writing to date. 
• Three letters of recommendation. 
• Transcripts from all academic institutions where you have previously studied (graduate and undergraduate).

International applicants whose native language is not English must also submit an official Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score. 

• The GRE is no longer required in order to apply for the Ph.D. Program in Theatre and Performance Studies at Brown.

Financial Aid

Brown guarantees 6 years of funding for all admitted Ph.D. students, which includes full tuition remission, a generous living stipend, and health insurance. This financial support applies to both domestic and international students admitted to our doctoral program. Funding is provided through a combination of fellowships (two years) and teaching/research assistantships (four years). Our students have also been very successful in securing funding for their studies, as needed, through external and internal fellowships and grants. Further details about financial support is available through Brown’s Graduate School website  and the  Graduate Student Funding and Support website .

Frequently Asked Questions

Students in our Ph.D. program have many opportunities to gain teaching experience during their time at Brown. Typically students in their second year serve as Teaching Assistants for undergraduate courses in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. More advanced students can develop and teach their own classes. Our students find additional opportunities to hone their pedagogical skills through Brown's  Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning ,  Summer@Brown , the  Brown/Wheaton Faculty Fellows Program , and elsewhere.

As an intentionally small program with an emphasis on intensive mentorship and advising, we accept a cohort of approximately 2 to 3 students per year. Most of our Ph.D. students complete the degree within 5 to 7 years.

We welcome applicants who are interested in all aspects of theatre and performance studies research. The best way to learn about the range of research topics and methods that are being pursued in our program is by looking through the profiles of our  current faculty  and  Ph.D. students .

Yes. We accept students who have obtained Bachelor's degrees as well as students who have previously completed an MA or MFA. Depending on the field of study and with the approval of our graduate faculty, students may receive credit toward the Ph.D. degree for previous graduate coursework completed at other institutions.

Graduates of our PhD program have achieved a stellar placement rate into academic positions. Many have gone on to become leaders in the field, holding tenured or tenure-track positions at Yale, Tufts, NYU, UCLA, Washington University-St. Louis, Colgate, Emerson, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Rhode Island, among other institutions. A  recent national study of Theatre and Performance Studies graduate programs  showed that Brown was the top program in terms of placement, with 100% of our graduates holding tenure-track positions.

Please do not email the department with technical questions or requests to troubleshoot your online application submission. For questions about the application process (including how to submit TOEFL scores, Letters of Recommendation, and other technical matters), please contact the Graduate School directly at  a [email protected] .

Leon Hilton

Patricia ybarra, program handbooks.

• TAPS Doctoral Program Handbook (PDF)
• All TAPS Graduate Handbooks

Recent News

Phd student şeyda nur yıldırım published in theatre research international vol. 38, no. 3 (2023)., taps at the american society for theatre research conference, phd candidate marlon jiménez oviedo published in global performance studies.

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40 Arts Jobs You Can Get With Your Fine Art Degree

A fine art degree can prepare you for a wide range of arts jobs. Are you a grad on the hunt for an art-related job? Here are some art career options for you!

Whether you’ve completed a fine art degree or are considering applying to art school , you may be wondering: what can you do with an art degree? The answer: literally, anything. We live in a world where people are continuing to lean into creativity—we see it in advertising companies, in graphic design work, in the websites we browse through, the artwork tattooed on peoples’ bodies, and on your social media via photography, fashion, and videography.

We could list 100 job options for you, but we are going to stick to 40 of the top jobs.

A fine art degree gives you skills that will set you up in a wide range of art careers. As a fine art grad, the world is your oyster! Let’s take a peek at some of the art degree jobs out there for you.

Illustrator

There are a surprising number of illustrator jobs that can come from a fine arts degree. You can find illustrators who work in full-time traditional roles and others who work as freelancers. We see their work in media outlets, in medical and informative pamphlets, and inside children’s books or graphic novels. Fine art degree programs can help students excel in a career as an illustrator by teaching them different illustration techniques. As students complete projects and begin building an illustration portfolio , the coursework will also help them develop a style of their own. Here are just a few possible illustration careers for art majors:

• Fashion illustrator
• Children’s book illustrator
• Medical illustrator
• Comic book illustrator
• Film storyboard illustrator

If you’re looking for more information on illustration careers for art majors, check out these guides on who pays illustrators and how much , how to become a freelance illustrator , and a beginners guide to illustration . When setting up your illustration portfolio, check out these great portfolio examples for some inspiration.

Designers: Graphic & Web 

When it comes to the realm of the creatives, graphic designers are in high demand. This includes web developers and designers who work in the digital space. Let’s face it: virtually all businesses need graphic work for their marketing campaigns, social media platforms, and communications. A great thing about design is that it’s an art career that encompasses many cool professions and industries. Your art degree can come in handy for all types of design jobs, as it will help you learn how to solve problems creatively, and prepare you for working both independently and as part of a team. 

Once you’ve zeroed in on a design field, you should get started on building your online design portfolio . We have templates specifically created for design that you can fill with design case studies of the projects you’re most proud of from art school.

Some of the art degree jobs available for designers include:

• Graphic designer
• Web designer
• Video game designer
• UX/UI Designer (if you’re looking for some ideas for your online portfolio website , check out these UX designer portfolios )

If the route of UX/UI designer piques your interest most, check out everything you need to know to get started in that job. 

Photographer

Photography is a particularly diverse field when it comes to art major jobs. A fine art degree program can help prepare students for a career in photography in many ways. Besides gaining some technical photography knowledge and starting to build an online photography portfolio , fine art students can develop their photographer’s eye by learning good observational skills. They’ll also learn communication skills that will help with pitching their photography projects to clients.

If you have a passion for photography and are ready to dip your toe into doing it as a full time gig, we have great resources for you in how to start a photography career while staying at home and how to become a successful freelance photographer .

Some of the different types of photography careers for art majors include, but remember, this list isn’t comprehensive:

• Portrait photographer (including the trendy field of pet portrait photography )
• Wedding photographer
• Fashion photographer
• Travel photographer
• Landscape photographer
• Wildlilfe photographer
• Food photographer

Ready to build a photography portfolio website that captures clients’ attention? From image-focused themes to a built-in proofing tool, we’ve got photographers covered. Start your free trial with Format today!

If you’re determined to find a job practicing art, it’s because you’ve decided to make your passion your ‘job’ and become an artist. A fine art degree can help prepare you to become an artist in many different visual art disciplines. It can give students some background knowledge that provides context for their art, such as art history and social science.

As an artist, you may consider selling and monetizing your work as a side business or as an apprentice under another artist. There are so many types of art specializations and the ones listed below are very open-ended. Unlike becoming a food photographer or a medical illustrator , these art careers offer a lot of freedom in how you approach them and what subjects your art will focus on. 

But that freedom also means you’ll likely be going into business for yourself. As opposed to being a specialized field where skilled professionals are in demand, you’ll have to put more effort into promoting yourself and your online presence is going to be an important part in helping you succeed. Whether you are selling artwork through your own website or directing people to a market you’ll be at through your social channels, you need a strong online presence. Having a great online art portfolio is essential, and you’ll definitely want to set up an online store to help sell your work . (Want to learn more about art marketing? Here’s our guide to promoting your art .)

• Ceramics artist
• Makeup artist , including fashion editorial makeup or special effects makeup
• Digital artist
• Collage artist
• Glass artist
• Textile artist
• Craft maker
• Artist assistant

Fashion Designer

If you like to express yourself through clothing, fashion design may be the right art related job for you. A fine art degree can help you excel in this job by teaching you about concepts like fashion history, fashion trends, and color theory. In addition, as an art major, you’ll know how to present your ideas including techniques for sketching your designs and how to build a fashion design portfolio .

If you’re interested in getting into the world of fashion but don’t feel a design career is right for you, then consider becoming a fashion stylist . This job involves coming up with ideas for photo shoots and choosing clothing and accessories for shoots, clients, ads, and events. With the world of social media, having a platform to kick start your career as a fashion stylist is right at your fingertips, literally. Try starting your own account to share the looks you’ve created and develop your own personal styling brand that you can amplify. 

When it comes to working in fashion design, whether that be as a clothing designer or a stylist, there are so many options for your art to collab with others, whether it is with photographers, videographers, make-up artists, etc. To help you grow your business in fashion and build a network, you’ll need a rock solid online portfolio: create your fashion portfolio website in minutes using Format’s award-winning templates.

Interior Designer

Interior design involves making interior spaces more beautiful, functional, and safe. Interior designers need knowledge in a wide range of areas because they have to do everything from choosing decor items to designing spaces while keeping in line with building codes.

Interior designers play a much-needed role in the real estate market. There are lots of opportunities to find positions working with real estate agents to stage homes or commercial buildings or working with new builders creating spaces.

To become an interior designer or a spatial designer you’re probably going to need to take some interior-design-specific courses to get all the specialized knowledge required. But an art degree will prepare you to get started by teaching you about what can go into making a space beautiful, such as design theory. In addition, your art major background can help when it comes to getting your design plans approved by clients, including producing design drawings and making presentations.

Before you start building your interior design portfolio , take a look at these carefully curated examples .

Like interior design, architecture is another art-related job that calls for specialized education as it requires a lot of technical knowledge. If you love the fundamental principles of building design and art, then pursuing an architecture career post grad after you receive your art major may be perfect for you. The knowledge gained from an art degree background can be a valuable asset in architecture, especially if you have a history background. You can also draw on your illustration skills when it comes to making plans and getting your ideas across to stakeholders.

If you decide to follow this career path, take a look at these architecture portfolios for some design inspiration. Then get started on your own online architecture portfolio with templates specifically designed for architect work.

Videographer and Filmmaker

One of the hottest gigs on our arts jobs list? Filmmaking. 

Getting into the world of videography or film can involve shooting, video editing, and producing. You can work with agencies, for a company, or as a freelancer. There are so many options when it comes to this form of multimedia, from weddings, sports, and live events to commercials, training videos, real estate and advertising. 

Thankfully, many art programs include some film study and video production courses these days. So as an art grad, you’ll understand some of the techniques and basic rules that go into shooting video.

Building a portfolio for your videography is easier than ever. Just pick a website builder that is specific to film with built-in video embedding functionality.

Need some video portfolio inspiration? Check out these six creators with incredible video websites .

For more inspiration on how to start promoting your video work, check out our guide on how to make a Youtube channel , and list of 32 Youtube video ideas .

Art Management

There are also ample opportunities to move into a leadership or management role with your fine arts degree through various art director roles that cover a large range of art designations, ranging from an artistic director of an art theater to the art manager of an ad agency. These art management roles are necessary in marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television—essentially all of the job options we’ve discussed. This role is all about overseeing the art and the artists and creating unity in the work. You’ll find a lot of transferable roles between your fine arts degree and becoming an art manager, from following timelines to ensuring that work is submitted/ready when it needs to be.

Curators for museums and galleries are another great job option when it comes to art management. These roles are great for someone with a passion for sharing art as the curator assembles, catalogs, manages, and displays artwork.

When you are building your online portfolio for an art management role, be sure to showcase the art you’ve managed. Adding a blog where you can describe your role in the work or using descriptions throughout the website are two options. Make sure that you also credit any other artist that you’ve worked with in the portfolio examples you are using.

• Advertising Art Director
• Commercial art gallery manager
• Museum/Gallery Curator
• Exhibition Designer

Becoming a musician is another possible career for art majors. If becoming a musician or music teacher is something you’re interested in, consider having your fine arts degrees focus on music , whether that is through majoring or minoring in it or simply taking electives. The knowledge you can pick up from these courses includes everything from music theory and score-reading to composition and audio postproduction. So they’ll provide you with some of the technical knowledge you’ll need to build your music portfolio and launch your career.

Beyond teaching, musicians can find freelance work through different events or playing at different venues. Musicians are also needed to support other types of art, like community theater and Broadway productions. 

Following your dream of becoming a musician doesn’t mean you have to give up on your other art career ambitions. Here are five musicians who also create amazing visual art .

The Key to Success in Any Arts Job

Now that you’ve read through this list of careers in art, you should have a better idea what to do with an art degree, knowledge of how valuable a fine art degree really is and hopefully some inspiration on where you can take your career. Your fine arts degree is your starting point that offers you a path to a wide range of arts jobs by providing knowledge and a space to practice that will help you succeed. An amazing part of the art world is how collaborative it is; so many of these art job options we’ve listed have opportunities to work together with one another.

The key to excelling in any of these jobs that involve art is building an amazing online portfolio. Having a website to show off your talents to potential clients and employers will make it much easier to land whatever arts jobs you have your sights on. It’s important to choose the right online portfolio site: at Format , we have templates tailored to the various art forms so you can choose a template that fits your work. Make sure to pick one that really embodies your artistic style and brand. You can find countless stunning and customizable templates here and a list of the art professions along the side to help guide you. Once you get your portfolio sorted, you’ll be better prepared to take on whatever art career you have in mind.

Want to learn more about launching your dream art career? Want To Become An Art Therapist? Here’s How How to Get Your Work in an Art Gallery Learn How To Get An Art Teacher Job

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School of Art

• Graduate Programs
• Ph.D. in Fine Arts

School of Art Fine Arts Doctoral Program (Art)

Fine arts doctoral program (art).

The Art track of the Fine Arts Doctoral Program centers on art praxis, which we define as theoretically informed action aimed at creating change in academic, social, and community contexts. We have chosen the word "praxis" instead of "practice" to signal a different relationship to theory than assumed by the theory-practice binary, and to indicate a fundamental difference between MFA programs in studio practice and the PhD. For Aristotle, praxis meant an action that is valuable in itself, as opposed to that which leads to creation, and for scholars of modernity from Marx to Lefebvre, praxis was, and remains, infused with an ethical and political imperative, and designated a more grounded and intentional mode of social and political transformation.

The Art track is part of a College-wide Fine Arts Doctoral Program , which includes students focusing on music, theatre, dance, and visual art. All areas of the Fine Arts Doctoral Program require a series of core courses that bring together students from across the College for innovative interdisciplinary and collaborative inquiry. These core courses support the art area's commitment to blurring disciplinary boundaries through original modes of investigation.

Students conduct interdisciplinary research integrating methodologies from a home discipline related to Art with methodologies from disciplines of Music, Theatre, and Dance housed at other Schools in the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts or the University at large. Such interdisciplinarity is not simply additive, but transformative, blurring the chosen disciplines and even fundamentally altering them.

This program is for

• studio artists who want to transform their approach to making into a methodology for research,
• scholars who want to intervene in their home discipline by proposing novel ways of conducting research,
• curators and cultural practitioners who want to do community-engaged projects, and
• educators who want to rethink inquiry and develop meaningful practices organized around art and images that transform engagement through interdisciplinary initiatives.

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How to apply.

Interested candidates applying for admission to the Fine Arts Doctoral Program for Fall 2023 can do so through the Texas Tech University Graduate School portal.

A complete application - via the Graduate School application portal - will include the following:

• Official transcripts of all previous college-level study
• Official G.R.E. score report (The GRE score requirement has been waived for Fall 2024-entering applicants)
• 3 letters of recommendation
• Current resumé or curriculum vitae
• A scholarly writing sample (10-30 pages of academic writing)
• Art portfolio (optional)
• Statement of intent (800 words maximum; see tips on writing statements of intent). Please indicate in your statement the faculty members in the FADP(Art) program (see below) with whom you would like to work.
• For international students: passport and additional documents that prove your eligibility to study in the United States
• Registration fee

ENTRANCE QUALIFICATIONS

For acceptance into the doctoral program, the applicant must have completed a master's degree, or its equivalent, with emphasis in some area of the visual arts. Every effort is made to select candidates who show strong scholarship and professional competence.  Applicants who have not taken at least 15 hours of art history, art criticism, art education, arts administration, aesthetics, and/or visual culture courses at the college level may be required to meet the 15-hour minimum in the form of leveling courses taken here at TTU, which will not count toward the 60-hour minimum in the doctoral degree plan.

While the Fine Arts Doctoral Program (Art) takes applications year-round, please take into consideration the following dates:

JANUARY 15th for Fall semester entry, with full financial consideration.

OCTOBER 15th for Spring semester entry, with available/limited financial consideration.

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Degree handbook.

• PhD Handbook

ONLINE CATALOG INFORMATION

Student success, school of art alumni.

Class of 2012

Sara Peso White

Class of 2015

Bryan Wheeler, dissertation: “Painting ‘Section' or Painting Texas: Negotiating Modernity and Identity in the Texas New Deal Post Office Murals.” Lecturer in the School of Art and College of Media and Communication.

Class of 2016

Yuan-Ta Hsu

Lina Kattan, dissertation: “Conflicted Living Beings: The Performative Aspect of Female Bodies' Representations in Saudi Painting and Photography.” Associate Professor of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Class of 2017

Norah Alqabba, dissertation: “Globalization and the Role of the Sharjah Biennale in the Transformation of Saudi Contemporary Sculpture”

Class of 2019

Kimberly Jones, dissertation: “Women in Contemporary Israeli Cinema”

Katharine Scherff, dissertation: “The Virtual Liturgy: An Examination of Medieval and Early Modern Ritual Objects as Media Technology.” Full-time Lecturer at TTU, Art History and Global Art Program, Affiliated Faculty Medieval and Renaissance Studies Center.

Jared Stanley, dissertation: “Working Through Grief: Continuing Bonds in the New Golden Age of American Television.” Division Chair, Division of Art and Design, School of Fine Arts and Communication, Bob Jones University.

Class of 2020 

Niloofar Gholamrezaei, dissertation: “Photographic Images, Distanced Realism, and the State of Being Modern in the Works of Mohammad Ghaffari and Otto Dix.” Assistant Professor of Visual Arts and General Education, Regis College.

Class of 2021

Ahmad Rafiei, dissertation: “Objects in Motion: Global Interactions and Cross-Cultural Exchange from Safavid to Twentieth-Century Iran.” Curatorial Fellow, Toledo Museum of Art, 2021-2024.

Sylvia Weintraub, dissertation: “Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Online: Why Making Matters on Pinterest.”

Assistant Professor of Art Education in the department of Visual and Theatre Arts at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Class of 2022

Corina Carmona, dissertation: “Re-membering a Coyolxauhqui Pedagogy: Creative and Cultural Praxis at the Intersection of Ethnic Studies and Fine Art”

Deepika Dhiman, dissertation: “Using Autoethnography and Visual Storytelling to Examine How Identity is Informed by Social Normative Behavior in India and the United States”

Class of 2023

Kathryn Kelley: “Creatives Engage with Spontaneous Self-Affirmation as a Part of Their Writing Practices”

Quest ions?

Contact the interim coordinator.

Andrés Peralta, PhD Interim FADP Coordinator

Fine Arts- Art Doctoral Program Faculty

Klinton Burgio-Ericson, PhD

Kevin Chua, PhD

Theresa Flanigan, PhD

Rina Little, PhD

Jorgelina Orfila, PhD

Andrés Peralta, PhD

Maia Toteva, PhD

Heather Warren-Crow, PhD

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Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology

Visual and Performing Arts Graduate Programs

Integrate study and practice in the arts with academic enrichment from the humanities.

The graduate programs in the visual and performing arts provide an interdisciplinary context to pursue research and practice across a wide range of creative and academic traditions. You can focus your studies in film, visual art, performing arts or art history. You’ll also have the opportunity to enrich your practice in the performing and visual arts and to participate in seminars in other disciplines including history, philosophy and literature.

Doctor of Philosophy in Visual and Performing Arts

The PhD in Visual and Performing Arts degree program is designed primarily for individuals who wish to conduct advanced research and to teach at the college level, and can lead to a wide variety of non-academic careers as well. It is open to qualified candidates who desire to enhance their knowledge and skills.

The program provides students with a flexible, interdisciplinary context within which to pursue their studies, built on connections among specific courses and areas of interest. Each student plans an individual program of studies in consultation with an assigned advisor.

Visual and Performing Arts is an interdisciplinary program of study, so students take the majority of their coursework in Visual and Performing Arts courses, but may also take seminars in History of Ideas and Literature. Students pursuing the PhD in Visual and Performing Arts may submit a creative project as part of their dissertation.

Coursework: 42 semester credit hours

Forty-two semester credit hours of which at least 21 are taken as organized graduate-level courses in Visual and Performing Arts (VPAS).

Required Courses: 30 semester credit hours 

VPAS 6300  Proseminar in Visual and Performing Arts 1

ARHM 6310  Team-Taught Interdisciplinary Seminar

15 semester credit hours of organized graduate-level  VPAS  courses

9 semester credit hours of  VPAS 8305  Field Exam Preparation

Elective Courses: 12 semester credit hours

12 semester credit hours of electives in any graduate-level courses.

Students in all PhD programs in the Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology are expected to demonstrate intermediate-level reading proficiency in a foreign language (equivalent to two years of foreign-language study at the undergraduate level). Students must fulfill the language requirement before scheduling doctoral field examinations.

As part of its approval of a dissertation proposal, the Graduate Studies Committee will consider the appropriateness of a candidate’s language preparation for the research or creative project. Faculty members chairing field examinations and dissertations should ensure that students possess the necessary language proficiency to carry out their proposed doctoral research.

The requirement can be satisfied upon enrollment in a PhD program by demonstrating evidence of one or more of the following:

• Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher (e.g., an undergraduate literature course in a foreign language) with a grade of B or better.
• Completion of a graduate course taught in a foreign language or with more than 25% of its required readings in a foreign language.
• An undergraduate major, graduate degree, or certificate in a foreign language.
• Successful completion of graded coursework at a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.
• A degree in any discipline from a foreign university at which the primary language of instruction is not English.

The requirement can be satisfied during graduate study at UT Dallas in one of the following ways:

• Completion of a second-semester, intermediate-level foreign language course or higher at UT Dallas or elsewhere with a grade of B or better.
• Successful completion of  LIT 6326  Translation Workshop with a grade of B or better.
• Successful completion of one of the following:  HUMA 6330  French Workshop;  HUMA 6331 Spanish Workshop;  HUMA 6333  German Workshop with a grade of B or better.
• Passing a written translation exam in an approved foreign language at UT Dallas.

The doctoral field examinations consist of three written sections and an oral defense. The examining committee, composed of three members of the faculty (at least two of whom are faculty in the Visual and Performing Arts Program), oversees definition and preparation of the three examination fields. Initial committee formation must take place during the semester in which students complete 36 semester credit hours of coursework, which will typically be followed by nine semester credit hours of  VPAS 8305 : Field Exam Preparation. Exams normally should be completed before completion of 60 semester credit hours.

Students are formally advanced to PhD candidacy when they have successfully completed the doctoral field examinations and received final approval for dissertation topics. Students should submit a preliminary dissertation proposal for consideration during the oral section of the doctoral field examination. After that examination, a four-person supervising committee is formed, normally from the examining committee plus an additional faculty member, to oversee dissertation work. The supervising committee must then approve a formal dissertation proposal before the student submits it to the Graduate Studies Committee for final approval.

Each candidate then writes a doctoral dissertation, which is supervised and defended according to general University regulations.

Master of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts

The Master of Arts in Visual and Performing Arts offers either a professional option or a research option. Students pursuing the research option for the MA in Visual and Performing Arts may submit a creative project as part of their portfolio.

Visual and Performing Arts is an interdisciplinary program of study, so students take the majority of their coursework in Visual and Performing Arts courses, but may also take seminars in History of Ideas and Literature.

Coursework: 33 semester credit hours

Thirty-three semester credit hours of which at least 18 semester credit hours are taken as organized graduate-level courses in Visual and Performing Arts.

Required Courses: 21 semester credit hours

Free Electives: 12 semester credit hours 

Twelve semester credit hours of electives in any graduate-level courses.

Students in the professional option must complete 33 semester credit hours of coursework. They are not required to complete a portfolio or meet the foreign language requirement.

Students in the research option must complete 33 semester credit hours of coursework, fulfill a foreign language requirement, and complete a portfolio.

The research option MA degree requires demonstrated proficiency in an approved foreign language. The requirement can be satisfied upon enrollment in the MA program by demonstrating evidence of one or more of the following:

• Successful completion of  LIT 6326 : Translation Workshop with a grade of B or better.
• Successful completion of one of the following:  HUMA 6330 : French Workshop;  HUMA 6331 : Spanish Workshop;  HUMA 6333 : German Workshop with a grade of B or better.

Two research papers or a creative project plus a scholarly essay originating in or completed for graduate courses are revised and presented in a portfolio for evaluation by a master’s committee.

Program Highlights

Research and Creative Opportunities

Since our school combines the humanities and the arts, many faculty members are engaged in the creation and performance of artistic works in creative writing and the visual and performing arts. 

Six centers and institutes affiliated with the Bass School promote interdisciplinary research:

• The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
• The Center for Asian Studies
• The Center for Translation Studies
• The Center for U.S.-Latin-America Initiatives
• The Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology 
• The Edith O-Donnell Institute of Art History

Discover Our Centers, Labs and Studios →

Our graduate students conduct and present research nationally and internationally. 

See our graduate student accomplishments.

Faculty Mentors

Our faculty members will help you gain the knowledge, skills and support you need for a rewarding career. Meet our faculty .

Student Organizations

Get real-world experience and leadership opportunities by performing with our musical ensembles, theatre groups and more.

Explore student organizations and music ensembles →

Dr. Robert Xavier Rodríguez

Chair in Art and Aesthetic Studies, professor of music

“I was among the first arts and humanities faculty at UT Dallas in 1975. My students and colleagues have brought me many joys, especially the former students who have kept in touch over the past 36 years. I have particularly enjoyed the opportunity to make music on campus with my Musica Nova ensemble and to have several of my works performed and sometimes premiered here. After the next 36 years, I will be 101, at which point I hope I can afford to retire.”

Contact Information

Catherine Parsoneault Clinical Professor and Program Head Phone: 972-883-2140 Email: [email protected] Office:  JO 4.120

Pia K. Jakobsson Graduate Academic Advisor Phone: 972-883-4706 Email:  [email protected] Office:  JO 4.128

Graduate Advising Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas, JO31 800 W. Campbell Road Richardson, TX 75080-3021 Phone: 972-883-4706 Email:  [email protected]

Office of Admission and Enrollment 800 W. Campbell Road Richardson, TX 75080-3021 972-883-2270 or 1-800-889-2443 [email protected] utdallas.edu/enroll

Doctoral Application Deadlines

MA Application Deadlines

• Degrees, Minors & Certificates
• Graduate Student Writing Resources

Our Film Studies program has the Global Cinema Symposium taking place in November 2024. Please take a look at the Call for Papers and submit your abstract.

Reach out to us  to get more information about your program of interest.

Review the Bass School’s  graduate application process and requirements.

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Arts & Humanities

Wide-ranging expertise, key details.

• Full-time or part-time study

School or Centre

• School of Arts & Humanities

Next open event

• Watch Open Day recording

Application deadline

• Applications closed. Please check back soon.

Career opportunities

• PhD study leads to a range of opportunities. You might become a researcher in industry or government or an academic in an international institution It is an opportunity for you to investigate a research question or issue in depth, enabling you to take a more reflective, more innovative role in design.

A dynamic interplay between theory and practice.

The School provides expert supervision across the spectrum of art and writing practice, art and design history and theory, curating and criticism. We welcome proposals for theoretical and practice-led projects, industrial collaborations and technologically focused research.

Our research interests are wide-ranging and reflect the expertise of our staff, focusing on arts, humanities and material practices, their scholarship and dissemination. The School’s distinctive research culture encompasses a broad range of activities from highly individuated scholarly and creative enquiries to projects that concern public policy and evaluation, collections and archival research, material and technical explorations as well as more speculative arts practice-focused projects. It includes the V&A/RCA PhD in History of Design, a degree offered jointly between the RCA and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Beyond your individual supervision, you’ll be able to participate in research groups, where staff and students cluster around an idea or issue.

Research takes place within an environment that is ambitious to generate new methods and insights. We thrive on interaction across the broad areas of fine and applied arts and the humanities, through School-wide lectures, workshops and tutorials delivered by key contemporary artists, writers, curators and thinkers, many of whom form part of our permanent staff base. The broad base of expertise offered by the School means we can support research interests across a large range of disciplines; moving image and sound, painting, performance, photography, printmaking and sculpture as well as jewellery, metal, ceramics, glass, curating, critical and theoretical writing and design history. The School embraces its cross-disciplinary perspective and celebrates the deployment of diverse and original methods of research and production.

Applications for the September 2024 intake are now closed. Applications for 2025 entry will open in September.

Programme details

• PhD: 3–4 years (full time), 6–7 years (part time)
• MPhil: 2–3 years (full time), 4–6 years (part time)

Explore further

Catch the replays from our latest online Open Day.

Object of Research residency, Techne Conflux, School of Arts and Humanities, 2018

School of Arts and Humanities Research: Aslyum Live, 2017

Clair Le Couteur, Despina Zacharopoulou

The Urgency of the Arts, NAFAE Research Student conference, 2018 hosted by RCA School of Arts and Humanities

School of Arts and Humanities Research Presents......Me with Professor Carol Mavor, 2019

School of Arts and Humanities Research Presents......Reenactment with Ali Smith, 2019

Entanglement Research Group

Object of Research residency,Techne Conflux, School of Arts and Humanities (Grizedale visit), 2018

School of Arts and Humanities Research: Flight Mode (Assembly Point), 2018

School of Arts and Humanities Research: Despina Zacharopoulou, Flight Mode (Asylum), 2018

Dr Josephine Berry

Tutor (Research)

Dr Josephine Berry is an art theorist, writer and editor. She supervises thesis only and practice based PhDs in the School of Arts and Humanities.

Professor Rachel Garfield

Senior Tutor (Research) and School Research Lead

Rachel Garfield is an artist and writer whose work is engaged with the role of lived relations in the formation and intersections of subjectivities.

Professor Johnny Golding

Professor of Philosophy & Fine Art

Johnny’s work situates post-Newtonian analytics, new materialisms and the erotics of sense as ‘radical matter’, a practice-led encounter with contemporary philosophy, art and the wild sciences.

Dr Peter Oakley

Reader in Material Culture

Dr Peter Oakley specialises in research on materials, making and manufacturing.

The School of Arts & Humanities is located across our Battersea and Kensington sites.

Shared workspaces are provided for all research students. There are a number of bookable seminar and project spaces across the site available to all Arts & Humanities students.

Daybreak: Asylum Live, Research Student Project, Adjoa Armah

Darkroom facilities (photo: Richard Haughton)

Gorvy Kiln Room (Photographer: Richard Haughton)

Hot Glass Workshop (Photographer: Richard Haughton)

Screenprint Workshop (Photographer: Richard Haughton)

More details on what you'll study.

Find out what you'll cover in this programme.

What you'll cover

What is a research degree.

At the RCA we offer both MPhil and PhD research degrees. Research candidates can study in part-time and full-time modes (subject to approval) and their research can be undertaken by project or thesis modes. The mode of research will be discussed in interview, and should be indicated in the application process.

A postgraduate research degree challenges you to complete a research project that pushes the boundaries of our understanding.

Unlike a taught degree, a research degree emphasises independence of learning and increased specialisation. You will manage your own research project in order to investigate your topic in depth and to produce new ideas, arguments and solutions.

A research degree will give you the subject matter expertise and transferable skills necessary for a wide range of senior roles in research and academia, as well as in business, industry and the cultural and creative sectors.

A PhD is awarded to students who produce a substantial piece of original research that makes a contribution to research in the field. This can take the form of a thesis (60,000-80,000 words) or by project (a body of work and thesis 25,000-40,000 words). If you’re a PhD candidate you’ll normally registered for three years full-time, with submission within four years, or six to seven years part-time. You must remain registered and pay an appropriate fee until submission.

An MPhil is awarded for original research and submission of a thesis. If you’re an MPhil candidate you’ll normally be registered for two years (full-time) or four years (part-time).

Our postgraduate community

We have more than 250 PhD students pursuing cutting-edge research and undertaking advanced training across the College:

• School of Architecture
• School of Communication
• Computer Science Research Centre
• School of Design
• Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
• Intelligent Mobility Design Centre
• Material Futures Research Centre

The RCA is a world-leading postgraduate university and is ranked the most research-intensive university of art and design in the UK since 2014. Both our students and staff are drawn from countries across the globe. Overseas students play a vital role in ensuring that our College community benefits from a diversity of experience and skills.

Doctoral training programme

At the RCA, research students undertake training both at a cross-College level and within their Schools/Centres, offering rich and robust preparation and learning opportunities for their research degree progression. Many of these also offer opportunities to build a portfolio of experience for future careers.

All students are required to attend our Doctoral Training Weeks in September, February and July (pro-rata attendance by negotiation for part-time students). These are opportunities to participate in the broader research community at the RCA, but also to undertake timely training to support research progression. These intensive weeks include a range of professional development seminars, training and advice in writing, getting published, achieving impact, entering the academic job market and more, and opportunities for you to develop and present your research to your peers and staff.

Our Research Biennale, held every alternate February, offers a showcase of research to internal and external partners and public. The events include space for testing and experimenting with public facing aspects of research, extending and challenging frameworks and perceptions of what art and design research can be.

We are committed to ensuring that you are well equipped, not only to complete your studies but also to develop your future careers.

Supervisors

All students are allocated supervisors upon registration; your supervisory team will have both subject specialism and experience of supervising to completion. Our of current staff index includes an overview of their research interests, recent research outputs and areas of expertise. These give an idea of the key areas of research that are covered at the RCA.

We are not able to guarantee allocation to a specific supervisor as we need to balance staff capacities and our research strategy. However, if there is a particular supervisor whose research aligns with your research proposal, please join us at one of our Open Days and we can talk with you about the possibilities.

Each student will have six supervisions per year (3 for PT students); these might be with the full supervisory team or with one supervisor. Students are expected to initiate these meetings, set the agenda and provide supervisors with pre-reading or other materials in an agreed timeframe for review.

Annual progress reviews

All research students have Annual Progress Reviews, which they must pass in order to progress into the next year of study. These are vital points where all candidates receive formal feedback not only from their supervisory team, but also from other members of the faculty.

There is a formal Confirmation Exam that takes place midway through the period of study to ascertain your readiness for PhD submission; if you who do not meet the requirements at this stage then you’ll usually be recommended to submit for MPhil examination.

Our research

In addition to supervision from world-leading artists, academics, historians, theorists, curators and critics, the School’s MPhil/PhD community offers a rich and stimulating range of doctoral training, including the College-wide Doctoral Training Programme, the School-based Research Groups (small groups that include seminars, workshops and crit sessions, open to all Arts & Humanities research students) and opportunities for exhibiting and publishing research in student-led group exhibitions and symposia and in Prova (the School’s SoAH annual research journal). New student-led initiatives are encouraged and facilitated by the School. Public engagement is a vital part of our practice and we are keen to support interdisciplinary studies and dynamic and innovative projects that expand the potential for arts and humanities research both within the academic context and the wider cultural community

Beyond their individual supervision, students are able to participate in Research Groups, where staff and students cluster around an idea or issue. You will select a group based on your own research interests and attend weekly sessions led by senior academics and with input from a wide range of research-active staff. These groups are also closely linked to our 'SoAH Research Presents....' series, public events with guest speakers and performers, devised by the Research Groups. Additionally, you can attend twice termly research events examining the platforms for their research and forms of dissemination, as well as having the opportunity to present your research formally within the School. The year includes an exhibition, conference, event or publication. In 2017 this was Daybreak , a project which included Asylum Live and exhibitions at Safehouses 1&2 and Amp. In 2018 we staged Flight Mode and in 2019 we hosted the NAFAE conference, The Urgency of the Arts , as well as staging an exhibition, There’s Something Lurking In The Shadows That May Be Interesting .

Requirements

What you need to know before you apply

The programme welcomes applications from candidates from across the world and of all ages, including those with academic and professional backgrounds.

Applications are considered in terms of quality of proposal, quality of practice (where appropriate), readiness to undertake a research degree at this level and supervisory capacity.

What's needed from you

Portfolio requirements.

Your portfolio showcases your work as an artist or designer and can be made up of images, videos or writing examples. Your portfolio helps us to understand your application better and allows you to show evidence of your ability and motivation to undertake a given programme.

Generally, we’re looking for you to demonstrate your:

• Creativity, imagination and innovation
• Ability to articulate the intentions of the work
• Intellectual engagement in areas relevant to the work
• Technical skills appropriate to the work
• Potential to benefit from the programme

If you are applying for a research degree by project please submit a single PDF portfolio of between 8–16 images/files that relate to your proposed research project.

In addition to image files, please include a piece of writing (between 2000–5000 words) that demonstrates your approach to articulating ideas. This can be a piece of writing that you have completed within the last three years or a new piece of writing.

Video requirements

We ask that you upload a two-minute video recorded on your phone or laptop, speaking to us directly. High production qualities are not needed. We will review the work in your portfolio, so keep your video simple.

We would like you to create a video where you identify one project demonstrating how research was an important aspect to its completion. Explain the impact this has had on others and yourself and how this motivated you on your journey to the RCA.

English-language requirements

If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, MPhil candidates will need the equivalent of an IELTS Academic score of 6.5 with a 6.5 in the Test of Written English (TWE). PhD candidates will need the equivalent of an IELTS Academic score of 7.0 with a 7.0 in the Test of Written English (TWE).

If you need a Student Visa to study at the RCA, you will also need to meet the Home Office’s minimum requirements for entry clearance.

Fees & funding

For this programme, fees for new students.

Fees for September 2024 entry on this programme are outlined below. From 2021 onward, EU students are classified as Overseas for tuition fee purposes.

Home: High residency

Home: low residency, overseas and eu: high residency, overseas and eu: low residency.

New entrants to the College will be required to pay a non-refundable deposit in order to secure their place. This will be offset against the tuition fees for the first year of study.

Overseas and EU

Progression discount.

For alumni and students who have completed an MA, MA/MSc or MRes at the RCA within the past 10 years, a progression discount is available for Doctoral study. This discount is £1,000 per year for thee first three years of full-time study.

Continuation fees

Candidates who have completed the minimum three years of study (FT or 6 years PT) for PhD will be eligible to apply for Continuation Status. This is a period of study, for up to one academic year, during which a candidate will be focused upon revising and editing their thesis/project.

Scholarships

Rca scholarships.

Sir Frank Bowling Fund support is available for both MPhil and PhD students for 2024/25

The Sir Frank Bowling Studentship

For: full-time, three-year PhDs will be applicable (both high and low residency routes)

Eligibility criteria: UK students from Black African and Caribbean diaspora heritage, or from mixed Black African and Caribbean diaspora heritage

Eligible fee status: Home fee status

Value: Tuition fees for a three-year period of full-time study, a stipend of £20,622 per annum, and access to research training support.

The successful applicant must commence their PhD between September 2024 and October 2025.

How to apply: Applications closed on Friday 3 May 2024.

Successfully shortlisted candidates will be called for interview either in person or online.

Any questions? Email [email protected] in the School of Arts & Humanities.

Sir Frank Bowling Scholarships

For: All programmes excluding PhD & short courses

Eligibility criteria: Black or Black British Caribbean, Black or Black British African, Other Black Background, Mixed - White and Black Caribbean, Mixed - White and Black African

Value: Full fees & maintenance

Applying for a scholarship

More information, mphil/phd fee bands.

The RCA is introducing two separate tuition fee bands for MPhil/PhD students with effect from the academic year 2023/24: Low Residency and High Residency. For more information about what the different fee bands entail, and for frequently asked questions on fee bands, visit:

Additional fees

In addition to your programme fees, please be aware that you may incur other additional costs associated with your study during your time at RCA. Additional costs can include purchases and services (without limitation): costs related to the purchase of books, paints, textiles, wood, metal, plastics and/or other materials in connection with your programme, services related to the use of printing and photocopying, lasercutting, 3D printing and CNC. Costs related to attending compulsory field trips, joining student and sport societies, and your Convocation (graduation) ceremony. 

If you wish to find out more about what type of additional costs you may incur while studying on your programme, please contact the Head of your Programme to discuss or ask at an online or in person  Open Day .   

We provide the RCASHOP online, and at our Kensington and Battersea Campuses – this is open to students and staff of the Royal College of Art only to provide paid for materials to support your studies. 

We also provide support to our students who require financial assistance whilst studying, including a dedicated Materials Fund.

External funding

With the Government's introduction of the new Doctoral Loan and the continued support available via the Arts and Humanities Research Council, there are more financial support options than ever before.

Tuition fees are due on the first day of the academic year and students are sent an invoice prior to beginning their studies. Payments can be made in advance, on registration or in two instalments.

Ask a question

Get in touch if you’d like to find out more or have any questions.

More opportunities to study at the RCA

Related programmes, master of research rca.

An interdisciplinary research MRes by practice or thesis across art and design

Contemporary Art Practice

A discursive environment of experimentation, self-reflexivity and critical art practices

Committed to broadening the understanding of painting

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• Join our PhD Art History Program (VA76)

Ph.D. Art History Program (VA76)

The Department of Visual Arts offers a PhD in art history, theory, and criticism with specializations in cultural areas in which faculty do research (VA76). Offering a distinct alternative to other PhD programs in art history, our program centers on a unique curriculum that treats the study of art past and present—including fine art, media and new media, design and popular culture as part of a broad inquiry into the practices, objects, and discourses that constitute the art world, even as it encourages examination of the larger frameworks—historical, cultural, social, intellectual, and theoretical—within which the category “art” has been contextualized in the most recent developments in the discipline. This program is also distinctive in that it is housed within a department that has been for many years one of the nation’s leading centers of art practice and graduate education in studio, media, and—most recently—digital media. The offering of the PhD and MFA is based on the department’s foundational premise that the production of art and the critical, theoretical, and historical reflection upon it inherently and necessarily participate in a single discursive community. This close integration of art history and art practice is reflected in the inclusion of a concentration in art practice within the PhD in art history, theory, and criticism.

To Apply:   https://connect.grad.ucsd.edu/apply/

Application Opens:  September 6th, 2023 for the Fall 2024 application cycle

Application Deadline:  December 6th, 2023 for the Fall 2024 application cycle

Interdisciplinary Specializations

Students within the PhD program who are interested in the opportunity to undertake specialized research may apply to participate in an interdisciplinary specialization. Students accepted into a specialization program would be expected to complete coursework in addition to those required for their PhD program. The department offers interdisciplinary specializations with the following campus programs.

• Anthropogeny:   for students with an interest in human origin
• Critical Gender Studies:   providing specialized training in gender and sexuality
• Interdisciplinary Environmental Research : for students interested in environmental solutions

Application Requirements

All applicants must satisfy the following to be considered for admissions to our department:

Completion of a four-year Bachelors degree or equivalent: 

• 3.0 GPA minimum or 'B' average
• Submission of unofficial transcripts required 

English Language Proficiency:

• Demonstrated English language proficiency is required of all international applicants whose native language is not English. Non-native English language speakers may either display proficiency by meeting the minimum speaking scores listed below or can be exempt from the test scores requirement if they received a degree from an institution which provides instruction solely in English. Please refer to the following link for more information regarding the degree from an institution exemption: English Language Proficiency .
• TOEFL iBT speaking scores of 26-30
• IELTS speaking scores of 8-9
• PTE speaking scores of 84-90

Letters of Recommendation:

• Minimum of 3 recommendations required
• Letters of recommendation should come from individuals, preferably previous professors, who can best explain why you are prepared and would be successful in rigorous academic studies at the graduate level.

Statement of Purpose:

• 750-1000 word limit, not to exceed 3 pages
• Focus your Statement of Purpose on the reasons you are interested in attending this graduate program. You can include the research you hope to pursue within our program and give the Admissions Committee a sense of who you are and what you hope to accomplish. The statement should be well organized, concise, and completely free of grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.
• Writing Sample
• 2000 word Research Statement

Portfolio Requirements

Writing Sample (4000-8000 words):

Examples include: senior honors thesis, MA thesis, or other research or critical paper, preferably in art or media history.

Research Statement (2000 words maximum):

The Research Statement should explain the research that you wish to pursue within our program. There may be some overlap between the Research Statement and Statement of Purpose however these should be viewed as two distinct prompts that will give the Admissions Committee a greater sense of who you are and what you would accomplish at UC San Diego.

File Names for Portfolio Items:

Please name your files, with your Last Name, First Initial underscore and the document type. So if my name was Terry Triton, I would have the following File Names:

Graduate Student Research

Check out our annual Research Colloquium . PhD students who have recently advanced to candidacy present their research to the local community. Please explore the recent work completed within the department, in addition to the Faculty and Graduate Student personal pages. 

2023 Research Colloquium

2022 Research Colloquium

2021 Research Colloquium

2020 Research Colloquium

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• Career Opportunities

  ↘  Harvard Opportunities

↘  undergraduate opportunities , ↘  for graduating seniors , ↘  graduate student opportunities , ↘  postgraduate opportunities , ↘  external opportunities .

The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA) is a support system for your experience in the arts, both at Harvard and beyond. While we are not a career services organization, we are here to support you as you begin your career in the arts.

The following list is a collection of opportunities for Harvard affiliates looking to build careers in the arts. Whether you’re a student at the college looking to break into an arts field through a summer internship or a recent alumnus with a few years of experience looking for the next step through a grant or fellowship, there are opportunities available that could suit you. This list, however, is not exhaustive. We encourage you to reach out to your professors, proctors, tutors, deans, teaching fellows, and advisors in your academic departments for additional support in finding resources. Other opportunities, too, could be revealed through individual research, with even basic Google searches providing helpful results. We also encourage you to visit our partners at the Mignone Center for Career Success (MCS) and the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF) for broader guidance.

A Guide to Using This Webpage

I’m only really interested in opportunities at Harvard. How do I know which opportunities are right for me? This list is divided into multiple sections, with the broadest divisions being between Harvard Opportunities and External Opportunities.

How can I find opportunities I’m eligible for? The next level of division after Harvard or External Opportunities is eligibility. For example, one subdivision in the Harvard Opportunities section is “For Graduating Seniors.” This section includes opportunities that are only relevant to that group of students.

I’m interested in some of these opportunities, but I’m worried that my resume and/or other application components aren’t good enough. While the OFA does not provide career advising, we encourage you to utilize resources provided by the Mignone Center for Career Success to improve these application components.

I’m not finding any opportunities in this list that suit me. What can I do? This list unfortunately is not exhaustive. We encourage you to access other Harvard resources like those at the Mignone Center or URAF as well as navigating to some of the databases and listings linked in this list to find other opportunities. You also can and should reach out to your support system for advice, including professors, teaching fellows, tutors, proctors, deans, friends, and family.

Do I need to be an active student to be eligible for these opportunities? No! Many of these opportunities are for active Harvard undergraduate and graduate students, however many others are either for Harvard alumni or for anyone regardless of Harvard affiliation. Affiliates at any point in their early career can find opportunities in this list.

What can the OFA do for me early on in my career? While the OFA is not a career advising organization, we encourage you to reach out to our staff members. Our staff work in the arts and have a wealth of knowledge about their specific fields. Feel free to identify OFA staff members and reach out to them through our staff listing.  

Fellowships, Grants, and Scholarships

Harvard opportunities .

Mignone Center for Career Success  (MCS) Formerly known as the Office for Career Services (OCS), the Mignone Center for Career Success provides career advising for Harvard College students as well as other affiliates and alumni. Their event calendar provides a useful list of events they provide to serve students and affiliates in building their careers.  Crimson Careers , a service of MCS, is a database of job, internship, and networking opportunities.

Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF) The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships provides information and advice for Harvard students, administrators, alumni, and other affiliates regarding research and academic funding sources, like grants, scholarships, and fellowships. URAF’s services allow students to identify the best opportunities for them and how to best apply.  CARAT  is a useful resource on which students and affiliates can apply for such opportunities.

Undergraduate Opportunities 

For all undergraduates:, on campus opportunities:.

American Repertory Theater Internships Professional internship opportunities in performing arts, production, and arts administration for undergraduate students. Students should reach out to  Ryan McKittrick,  Director of Artistic Programs, American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.).

Harvard Residential Positions Application Portal

Positions include: 

Summer Proctor: Summer proctors are undergraduate students and other Harvard affiliates who live in residence with their assigned students on campus and have the opportunity to take summer school classes.

Radcliffe Research Partnerships Research opportunity for undergraduates to work with Radcliffe Fellows in the arts, gender studies, the humanities, public policy, and science. There are around fifty fellows , all of whom hire student partners.

Travel/Study Abroad Opportunities:

Harvard Summer School Study Abroad Opportunities Listing of various study abroad programs offered for undergraduates by Harvard Summer School.

Asia Center Funding Opportunities Listing of research and travel grant opportunities related to the study of Asian societies and cultures , many of which are offered for undergraduates , through the Harvard Asia Center.

Bliss Symposium Awards - Dumbarton Oaks Grant opportunity for up to three Harvard students, including undergraduates , to travel to and attend Dumbarton Oaks symposia in landscape studies in Washington, D.C.

David Rockefeller International Experience Grant Grant opportunity for undergraduates to live and study abroad in internship, experiential learning, study abroad, and other opportunities.

Davison Fellowships Grant opportunity which provides funding for summer undergraduate music research that requires travel away from Harvard, with projects with an academic component being preferred.

German Work Abroad Program Study abroad opportunity for undergraduates interested in summer internships in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Korea Institute Funding and Fellowships Listing of study abroad, research, and internship opportunities for undergraduates from the Harvard Korea Institute.

Reischauer Institute Grants Listing of grant, internship, and research opportunities for undergraduates interested in studying and working in Japan.

The Robert Bacon Fund Grant for Undergraduate Summer Study or Research in France Funding opportunity that supports undergraduate travel and study in France. This opportunity is available only to undergraduates who receive financial aid.

Teodoro Raffaele Diaco Memorial Grant for Study in Italy Funding opportunity that supports undergraduate travel and study in Italy.

BACK TO THE TOP

For graduating seniors: .

Harvard University Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarship Funding opportunity for students, including rising seniors in the History of Art & Architecture Department , to support summer travel and research for a senior thesis project , with one awardee.

The Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. ‘36 Beneficiary Aid Fund Funding opportunity for rising seniors in the History of Art & Architecture Department , to support summer travel and research for a senior thesis project.

The Mathhew Abramson ‘96 Traveling Fellowship Funding opportunity for rising seniors in the History of Art & Architecture Department , to support summer travel and research for a senior thesis project.

Dressler Family Traveling Grant Grant opportunity for sophomores and juniors for summer travel and study in a country where romance languages are spoken, with one or two awardees.

Sydney M. Williams Jr. Travelling Fund for Visual Art Funding opportunity for undergraduates, sophomores through first semester seniors , to support creative visual art summer projects that require international travel , with up to two awardees.

Graduate Student Opportunities 

For active graduate students:.

Asia Center Funding Opportunities Listing of research and travel grant opportunities related to the study of Asian societies and cultures , many of which are offered for graduate students , through the Harvard Asia Center.

Bliss Symposium Awards - Dumbarton Oaks  (for undergraduate and graduate students) Grant opportunity for up to three Harvard students, including graduate students , to travel to and attend Dumbarton Oaks symposia in landscape studies in Washington, D.C.

Graduate Student Fellowships Funding opportunity for graduate students who will finish their dissertations in the following year.

Positions include:

• Resident Tutor:  Resident tutors are alumni, graduate students, or other Harvard affiliates who live in residence with undergraduates in one of the College’s houses, providing students with advising and community.
• Non-Resident Tutor: Non-Resident Tutors are alumni, graduate students, or other Harvard affiliates who serve a house community through advising and services while living off campus.
• Proctor: Proctors are graduate students or Harvard staff members who live with a cohort of first year students in a first year hall, providing advising and creating community for students.
• Faculty Dean Aide: Faculty Dean Aides are alumni, graduate students, or other Harvard affiliates who help Faculty Deans plan and execute house events while living in the house.
• Rising Scholar Proctor: Rising Scholar Proctors are graduate students or Harvard staff members who live with a cohort of incoming first year students the summer before their first year.

Harvard University Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarship Funding opportunity for students, including graduate students in the History of Art & Architecture Department , to support summer travel and research for a dissertation project , with one awardee.

For prospective graduate students:

Beinecke Scholarship Funding opportunity for juniors with a history of receiving financial aid to support graduate studies in arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Edward Eager Grant for Continued Studies in Creative Writing Grant opportunity for graduating seniors to pursue a graduate education in creative writing.

Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship Funding opportunities for prospective graduate students from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom to study the arts or other fields at Harvard.

Fulbright Foreign Student Program Funding opportunity for non-American prospective graduate students to study the arts or other fields at Harvard and other institutions.

Le Baron Russell Briggs Grant for Continued Critical Literary Studies Grant opportunity for seniors graduating with a degree in English with honors to pursue a graduate education in literature.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowships Funding opportunity for Canadian prospective graduate students to study the arts or other fields at Harvard and other institutions.

Postgraduate Opportunities 

Alex G. Booth Fellowship Funding opportunity through URAF for graduating seniors to support a year of postgraduate travel.

Comparative Literature Visiting Scholars Application

Fellow: Fellows are scholars who recently earned their PhD or soon will who conduct independent research under the supervision of a faculty member.

Associates: Associates generally are department alumni or others who require Harvard affiliation.

Harvard ArtLab Residencies Funding opportunity for alumni in the arts to work and engage with other artists.

Harvard Ed Portal Ceramics Community Scholarship Funding opportunity for residents of Boston’s Allston-Brighton neighborhood to take a course at the Harvard Ceramics Program.

Resident Tutor: Resident tutors are alumni, graduate students, or other Harvard affiliates who live in residence with undergraduates in one of the College’s houses, providing students with advising and community.

Non-Resident Tutor (for alumni, graduate students, others): Non-Resident Tutors are alumni, graduate students, or other Harvard affiliates who serve a house community through advising and services while living off campus.

Faculty Dean Aide (for alumni, graduate students, others): Faculty Dean Aides are alumni, graduate students, or other Harvard affiliates who help Faculty Deans plan and execute house events while living in the house.

Harvardwood Fellowships Funding and mentorship opportunities for graduating seniors and alumni in entertainment.  

Fellowships include:

• Mia and David Alpert Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship
• Jonathan Sethna Harvardwood LGBTQ+ Fellowship
• Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Harvardwood AAPI Artist Fellowship

John Knowles Paine Fellowship Funding opportunity for graduating seniors with a degree in Music to travel and study in the summer after graduation.

The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asian Institute Visiting Artist Fellowship Funding opportunity for artists from South Asia for eight weeks of study at Harvard.

Le Baron Russell Briggs Traveling Prizes Grant opportunity for seniors graduating with a degree in English with honors to travel both abroad and domestically.

Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship Funding opportunities through URAF for graduating seniors to support a year of postgraduate travel, with five or more fellows.

Postgraduate Traveling Fellowships Funding opportunities through URAF for graduating seniors to support a year of postgraduate travel, with fifteen fellows across the four postgraduate travel fellowships.

External Opportunities 

Mass Cultural Council A central resource for arts programming and opportunities in Massachusetts.

Cambridge Arts A central resource for arts programming and opportunities in the city of Cambridge.

CreativeGround CreativeGround is a directory of arts organizations and individuals across New England, for both students and alumni.

New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) NEFA is a New England grant-giving organization which provides support through grants and other programs to New England artists, including students and alumni.

Massachusetts Grant Watch Arts and Culture Grants An online database of grants opportunities in the arts in Massachusetts.  

Databases for Internships, Jobs, and other Opportunities

• American Advertising Federation
• American Alliance of Museums
• American Marketing Association
• Association of Performing Arts Professionals
• EntertainmentCareers.net
• Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC)
• HigherEdJobs.com
• HireCulture
• Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
• Video Collective  

Educational Opportunities

Arts for Learning Massachusetts Roster Artist Application Employment opportunity for alumni to join the Arts for Learning Massachusetts team to work with students in school environments.

Arts for Learning Massachusetts also provides a  list of partner organizations in arts education, which are based both in Massachusetts and nationwide.

Arts|Learning Arts Mentorship Program Mentorship opportunity for alumni in arts education in which up to 150 novice arts teachers are paired with experienced arts education mentors.

Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts Professional Development for Art Teachers Professional development opportunities for alumni in arts education including workshops, summer intensives, and other programs.

Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA) Professional Development Programs Professional development opportunities for students and alumni to develop skills in the field of arts education.

MAEA also offers an annual conference.

STARS Residencies Funding opportunity for alumni in education where the Mass Cultural Council pairs “cultural partners” with schools.

Employment Opportunities in Greater Boston:

• Boston Baroque
• Boston Civic Symphony
• Boston Dance Company
• Zander Fellowship
• Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Cambridge Symphony Orchestra
• Central Square Theater
• The Huntington Theatre
• Lyric Stage Company of Boston
• The Theater Offensive
• Speakeasy Stage Company

International Advanced Study Opportunities:

DAAD Scholarship for a Master’s at a German university Funding opportunity for alumni to pursue a graduate education in architecture, fine art/design/film, performing arts, or music at a German university.

Fulbright Scholarships Funding opportunity for graduating seniors “to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide,” studying the arts or other fields with around 2,000 yearly awardees worldwide.

Konrad Adenauer Foundation Funding opportunity for alumni to continue their education in Germany in arts fields like journalism as well as other fields.

Marshall Scholarship Funding opportunity for graduating seniors to pursue a graduate education in the arts or other fields in the United Kingdom.

Mitchell Scholarship Funding opportunity for graduating seniors and recent alumni to pursue a graduate education in the arts or other fields in Ireland. Harvard senior applicants first apply for an internal endorsement from Harvard before the general Mitchell application, while alumni directly apply.

Rhodes Scholarship Funding opportunity for graduating seniors to study in the arts or other fields for two or three years at Oxford University. Harvard affiliated applicants first apply for an internal endorsement from Harvard before the general Rhodes application.

ArtSake Artists Opportunities Listing of funding and other opportunities for Massachusetts-based artists through ArtSake, a service of Mass Cultural Council.

Arts and Business Council Greater Boston (A&BC)

The Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship Funding and professional development opportunity for alumni which supports eight to ten fellows with coaching, seminars, and a stipend.

The Walter Feldman Fellowship Funding and professional development opportunity for alumni in visual arts with exhibition, skill training, and professional development opportunities.

Assets for Artists Listing of various opportunities for Massachusetts-based artists through the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts (Mass MoCA) with grants, workshops, and residency opportunities offered.

Barrington Stage Company Professional Internship Program Summer internship opportunities for undergraduates and alumni to train across administrative departments in the Western Massachusetts theater.

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) Residencies and Opportunities Listing of funding opportunities for alumni at the various spaces and programs at BCA.

Congress Bundestag for Young Professional Summer internship opportunity for U.S. citizens between the ages of 18.5 and 24 which provides 75 Americans with study and internship opportunities in Germany.

Creative Management Program at Bertelsmann Professional development opportunity for alumni where enrollees will work for a year at Bertelsmann in Germany.

Deutsche Welle International Traineeships in Journalism Traineeship opportunity for alumni in journalism to train at DW News in Germany.

Gloucester Stage Company Apprenticeship Program Apprenticeship opportunity for graduating seniors and alumni to train in the fields of directing, youth education, stage management, production management, scenic and technical, and video and digital marketing.

IFP Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film Funding and networking opportunity for alumni in film with up to five fellows .

Jacob’s Pillow Administrative Fellows Program Professional development opportunity for alumni to work in dance administration.

MASSCreative Create the Vote Fellowship Funding and professional development opportunity for alumni in public advocacy and the arts .

Musealoge Akademie Traineeship opportunity for alumni in museum work to gain a “Specialist for Collection Management and Quality Standards in Museums” certification from Musealoge Akademie.

RISE Germany - Research Opportunities at German Universities Funding and summer internship opportunity for undergraduates to intern and conduct research at top German universities.

Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program Funding opportunity for alumni to engage in a cultural immersion program in Germany , with around sixteen fellows per year .

Ruhr Fellowship Funding and summer internship opportunity for sophomores, juniors, and seniors to engage in a immersement program at a German university followed by an internship in the arts or other fields at a Ruhr area company or university.

Travel and Service Opportunities:

Luce Scholars Internship Program (for graduating seniors, graduate students, and young professionals)Funding and professional development opportunity for graduating seniors, graduate students, and young professionals for immersive study in Asia, with around 18 scholars per year .

• First Year Arts
• Resources For Undergraduates
• For Graduate Students
• For Staff and Faculty
• Arts Prizes
• Helpful Links

Careers in Art & Design

Life after saic.

An education in art and design can open the door to a surprising range of careers, including some you may never have thought of. At SAIC, we help you explore your options. We prepare you—whether you’re hoping to carve a professional life as an artist, a scholar, or an entrepreneur. And we connect you. With a vast choice of internships, job and interview prep, and a network of alums across the country and around the globe who want you to succeed, you’ll graduate with the skills, connections, and insights you need to build a creative career after SAIC.

Start Here, Go Anywhere

Creativity, and the critical thinking and problem solving skills you learn here, are sought after in every type of workplace today. They're also essential for any entrepreneurial project. Take a look at what a few alums are doing now.

Anna Russett

Russett is a senior product specialist at YouTube.  She also has her own consultancy as a social influencer for brands and creatives.

Emily Pilloton

With an MFA in Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects, Pilloton founded Girls Garage, the country’s first-ever design construction school for female identifying youth.

Gabriel Bump

Chicago native Bump is a professor and award-winning author of the book  Everywhere You Don’t Belong.

Amy Lawson Smeed

As head of animation at Walt Disney Studios, Lawson Smeed’s work can be seen in films like  Tangled, Moana,  and  Frozen.

Naka is Atlas Obscura's director of creative development, overseeing everything from podcasts to film production.

Amanda Ross-Ho

Ross-Ho is a visual artist whose work has been featured in solo shows worldwide and in the 2008 Whitney Biennial.

Sasha Simochna

Samochna infuses new technologies with human-centered design at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Javier Lopez

Currently working on Google’s Material Design team, Lopez is a visual and interaction designer.

Your Career Prep Hub

Career and Professional Experience is where you’ll connect with SAIC’s career resources and services as a student and, later, as an alum. Start early: CAPX can even help you figure out your strengths.

How We Prepare You

Professional practice experience.

Required for all undergraduates, this course preps you for life after SAIC. Instructors from across all departments guide third- year students through an evolving curriculum of job prep, project development, and network building.

360-Degree Advising

Career, faculty, and peer advisors work with students and alums, tailoring coaching to serve your individual needs while helping you to identify your strengths, values, skills, and experiences.

Job Search / Interview Training

CAPX offers on-demand virtual interview training for all experience levels. Internet access is all you need for 24/7 practice and valuable feedback from a dedicated team.

Help With Emerging Industries

Bold, unconventional, innovative —these are just some of the qualities SAIC encourages in students. For artists and designers who want to forge a more unique path after graduation, CAPX has dedicated resources for building a future in an emerging industry as a freelance creative or through entrepreneurship.

Career- Focused Events

CAPX hosts career-related events throughout the school year. Through panels, practical workshops, info sessions, and professional expos, students and alums have the opportunity to meet with industry leaders for career advice, creative critiques, and professional recruitment.

A World of Internships

CAPX has ties to hundreds of internship providers, including studios and museums, publishing firms, fashion houses, tech startups, and community organizations in the US and globally.

Alum Allison Glenn and the Power of Listening

For School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) alum 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.

Amy Sherald, Breonna Taylor, 2020, oil on linen, 137.2 x 109.2 cm / 54 x 43 in, © Amy Sherald. Photo courtesy of Bill Roughen

The Curator

Allison Glenn

Image Credit: Rana Young

The Exhibition

Glenn served as the guest curator of  Promise, Witness, Remembrance at Louisville’s Speed Art Museum, an exhibition honoring the life of Breonna Taylor. Anchored by a portrait of Taylor by Amy Sherald, the exhibition reflected on Taylor’s life, her killing in 2020, and the local and national protests that ensued in the following year.

The entrance to Promise, Witness, Remembrance. Photo: Bill Roughen

The Process

Glenn chose the title from a conversation with Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother and—as Glenn describes—the exhibition’s key stakeholder. To develop the exhibition, Glenn convened an advisory panel of artists and filmmakers, arts administrators and historians, and relatives of Alton Sterling and Trayvon Martin. She worked alongside additional members of Taylor’s family, a Steering Committee of Louisville community members, local and national artists, and the Speed Art Museum staff to strike the right tone for this massive undertaking.

Left: Sam Gilliam, Carousel Form II, 1969, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 900 in. Right: Lorna Simpson, Same, 1991, 16 color Polaroids in four frames with 11 plastic plaques. Photo: Bill Roughen

The Influences

For Glenn, local community involvement was critical. In one of her first meetings with the Louisville Steering Committee, they asked Glenn to incorporate new elements, including a suggestion that the exhibition have more color to reflect Taylor’s spirit. “There were moments of discomfort for me, which absolutely led to complete growth, and moments where I was humbled. But, to actually listen … might mean you have the opportunity to pivot toward ideas that, overall, can have a stronger impact.”

Hank Willis Thomas, Remember Me, 2014, neon, © Hank Willis Thomas. Photo: Bill Roughen

What Is This?

Maria Gaspar

The Details of Life

Angel Otero Defies Definition

How we connect you, expert exchange.

The weekly Expert Exchange lets students and alums connect virtually with creative professionals to get personalized career advice and discuss future work opportunities.

The SAIC Job Expo

Undergrads, graduate students, and SAIC alums can attend the annual Internship & Job Expo. This all-virtual event offers individual meetings and group sessions with more than 125 leading organizations from the creative and cultural industries.

Connect With an Alum

SAIC alumni volunteer to offer practical help to current students, including workshops that cover the everyday lives and work of artists and creatives, from grant writing to social media marketing, and portfolio reviews from professionals in many fields.

Gallery Experience

The School's public exhibition spaces—both SAIC Galleries and the two student-run SITE Galleries — offer opportunities for you to gain professional experience as an artist or curator. You'll learn how to write an exhibition proposal, install and light art and design work, maybe even run a gallery. Take a look at some recent shows.

Careers with a Fine Arts Degree

• Engineering

A fine arts education is, by its nature, broad and diverse, rather than narrow and specialized.

As a graduate of this field, you will be highly employable because of the fact that your broad education base has helped shape a set of both unique skills that are applicable to careers in the fine arts, as well as transferrable skills that enable you to seek employment in careers outside of the field.

More On What You Can Do with a Fine Arts Degree

You may have taken a degree in fine arts to nurture your creative side, and follow your dreams of working as a creative artist.

Your career options however, are not limited to such work. Aside from becoming a creative artist, you can use your degree as the foundation for a broad range of career directions, from teaching to management, to media and advertising.

While a fine arts degree may not 'get you a job', per se, it can make you highly employable, and arm you with the skills necessary to succeed in a variety of occupational fields. For example, an education in fine arts helps shape an inquiring mind, and inquiring minds can help employers evaluate conflicting points of view during their business operations. Your employability becomes even greater when you use it as a foundation for a graduate or professional degree.

So, if you’d like to know more about what you can do with this degree, read on below. This careers guide contains detailed occupational information on career paths relevant to this degree. Included are job descriptions, expected salaries, educational requirements and other pertinent information related to these careers.

Employable Skills You'll Gain For Relevant Careers

As a result of this coursework and practical experience, a degree in fine arts can provide you with a set of skills that is specific to the subject matter. Although these skills are largely applicable to a broad range of careers, they are particularly applicable to careers that are in some way or another closely related to the arts.  

• Ability to articulate ideas and information comprehensibly in visual, written and verbal forms

• Ability to employ materials, media, techniques, methods, technologies and tools with skill and imagination

• Ability to disseminate the material outcomes that constitute our visual culture

• Ability to create original artwork, special effects, and animation using a variety of media and techniques

• Ability to combine artistic skills with knowledge of other disciplines, such as political science or communications

Career Guides: Directly Related to a Fine Arts Degree

Now that you have an idea of what skills you’ll be able list on your resume, it's time to find out what careers you can pursue wherein they'll be of great use:

•  Advertising Illustrator

•  Aerial Photographer

•  Animation Instructor

•  Animator

•  Antique Restorer

•  Architectural Illustrator

•  Art Consultant

•  Art Critic

•  Art Director

•  Art Editor

•  Art Historian

•  Art Instructor

•  Art Therapist

•  Arts Advocacy Agency Director

•  Arts Council Director

•  Assistant Photographer

•  Automobile Painter

•  Background Artist

•  Band Director

•  Billboard Designer

•  Cabinet Maker

•  Caricaturist

•  Cartographer

•  Cartoonist

•  Ceramist

•  Children's Book Illustrator

•  Choreographer

•  Cinematographer

•  Colourizing Technician

•  Comic Book Writer

•  Commercial Artist

•  Composer

•  Corporate Designer

•  Costume Designer

•  Court Artist

•  Creative Director

•  Cultural Administrator

•  Digital Animator

•  Digital Artist

•  Display Artist

•  Editorial Illustrator

•  Ethnomusicologist

•  Exhibit Designer

•  Expedition Photographer

•  Fabric Designer

•  Fashion Buyer

•  Fashion Designer

•  Fashion Illustrator

•  Fashion Merchandiser

•  Film Critic

•  Film Director

•  Film Editor

•  Furniture Designer

•  Gallery Director

•  Gallery Owner

•  Graphic Designer

•  Greeting Card Designer

•  Hair Stylist

•  Instrumental Musician

•  Interior Decorator

•  Interior Design Consultant

•  Jewelry Designer

•  Layout Designer

•  Lighting Designer

•  Lighting Technician

•  Logo Designer

•  Magazine Designer

•  Makeup Artist

•  Medical Illustrator

•  Multimedia Designer

•  Muralist

•  Music Advisor

•  Music Agent

•  Music Critic

•  Music Editor

•  Music Journalist

•  Music Lawyer

•  Music Librarian

•  Music Specialist

•  Music Therapist

•  Music Video Director

•  Photo Editor

•  Photo Retoucher

•  Photo Technician

•  Photographer

•  Photojournalist

•  Police Artist

•  Programming Director

•  Prop Maker

•  Re-Recording Mixer

•  Record Sales Manager

•  Recording Engineer

•  Seamstress

•  Scientific Illustrator

•  Sculptor

•  Set Designer

•  Silversmith

•  Sound Editor

•  Sound Effects Designer

•  Sound Technician

•  Special Effects Technician

•  Stage Manager

•  Story Editor

•  Studio Musician

•  Tattoo Artist

•  Technical Illustrator

•  Technical Writer

•  Television Director

•  Theatre Director

•  Theatre Manager

•  Toy Designer

•  University Professor

•  Urban Planner

•  Video Editor

•  Visual Effects Artist

•  Visual Merchandiser

•  Voice Coach

•  Voiceover Actor

•  Wallpaper Designer

•  Wardrobe Supervisor

•  Web Designer

Please Note: Some of the careers listed above may require additional education and training. Click on careers you are interested in to visit their guide and find out more!

Transferrable Skills You Can Develop

Apart from the skills that are specific to careers in fine arts, you can also acquire general, transferrable skills as a result of your studies. You can apply these skills to plenty of careers that are, and are not, directly related you degree:

• The ability to develop individual ideas and collaborate with others

• Strong observational, research and analytical skills

• Creative problem solving

• The ability to learn from criticism and be objective about your work

• An openness to new influences and concepts

• The ability to meet deadlines

Other Career Guides: Indirectly Related to a Fine Arts Degree

Not interested in a career that’s directly related to your fine arts degree? That’s okay, because of the skills you’re able to gain as a result of your studies, you have plenty of career options, including:  

•  Advertising Consultant

•  Architectural Technologist

•  Art Auctioneer

•  Art Dealer

•  Artist Manager

•  Booking Agent

•  Broadcaster

•  Broadcasting Technician

•  Camp Director

•  Choral Director

•  Concert Promoter

•  Consumer Advocate

•  Copywriter

•  Daycare Worker

•  Elementary School Teacher

•  Entrepreneur

•  High School Teacher

•  Historic Preservationist

•  Lithographer

•  Liturgist

•  Market Researcher

•  Producer

•  Production Assistant

•  Production Coordinator

•  Publicist

•  Publisher

•  Radio Program Director

•  Radio Program Producer

•  Radio Station Manager

•  Retail Sales Associate

•  Sales Representative

•  Stunt Coordinator

•  Talent Agent

•  Talent Coordinator

•  Technical Director

•  Tour Manager  

Increase Your Employability: Consider a Double Major

Pursuing a second major in a field that is typically highly employable can greatly increase your chances of finding work that is directly relevant to your university education. For example, by pursuing a second major in one of the following fields, you will still be able to study what you love, fine arts, while also being able to earn a highly employable, transferable skill set:

• Communications

• Graphic Design

• Interior Design

Marketing Yourself for Careers in Fine Arts

Developing a portfolio.

If you decide to pursue a career as a creative artist of any kind, it is strongly recommended that you develop and maintain a portfolio of your best and most recent work, as it is extremely difficult to secure employment without one.

A good place to start the development of a portfolio is by doing creative work while you’re in school. For example, if you want to work as a set or exhibit designer, get as much experience as you can working on school productions or exhibits.  

Speaking to teachers and professors, and letting them know what your professional interests are, can lead to plenty of these in-school opportunities. But don’t limit yourself to these routes, you can also actively pursue opportunities outside of school to volunteer your services, as this is a great way to hone your skills and add to your portfolio.

Whatever you do, don't limit your portfolio to simply examples of mandatory assignments you had to complete for classes. The more examples of your own creative work you can display in your portfolio, the better.  

Working as an Assistant to Open Doors

A great way to gain career experience in creative fields can be in the form of working as an assistant to a creative professional. If you demonstrate strong aptitude ability and a willingness to learn, you may be fortunate enough to earn gain more responsibilities while working under the professional, and eventually get a chance to showcase your designs and creations as you gain more experience.

Factors that Can Influence Your Future Earnings

The salary you could earn as a fine arts graduate depends on what career you pursue. For example, if you go on to become an exhibit designer, your earnings may be different, for better or for worse, from what you would earn if you choose to become a music critic. Other factors that have an effect on your earnings include:  

• Your level of education (such as if you went on to graduate studies)

• The industry in which you find work

• The size and type of your employer

• The region in which you work

• Other work experience you may have accrued

• Other skills you may have

Some Actual Salary Figures for Fine Arts Graduates

Salaries in Ontario: According to a salary survey in 2011 conducted by the Ontario Council of Universities, $34,653 CAD is the average salary earned by  graduates in Fine and Applied Arts programs, 2 years after graduating from Ontario universities in 2008. Unfortunately, similar statistics for other Canadian provinces and the United States cannot be found from reputable sources, nor can more recent statistics.

Success Tip:  To get a better idea of what you could earn, click on some of the career fields listed above, in the " Career Guides: Directly Related to a Fine Arts Degree " section. It is more accurate (although still not perfect) to estimate your potential future salary based on the career field you plan on pursuing, rather than by your general degree.

Fine Arts Scholarships

Help yourself pay for tuition by finding a scholarship from our database that's  specifically for students in a fine arts degree program .  

Success Tip: Be sure to apply for any and all scholarships for which you qualify, as there are millions of dollars of scholarships in Canada and the United States that go unused every year due to a lack of applicants.

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What Are You Going to Do With Your Humanities PhD? Career Opportunities Outside Academia was originally written by Emily Tobey and published on joblist.mla.org .

If you are completing your PhD in a humanities field and are considering job possibilities outside academia, you might be wondering which potential employers would open their doors to you. Contrary to what you might think, your PhD in the humanities opens up a lot of opportunities. You have a wealth of transferrable skills that make you a highly qualified candidate for all sorts of jobs. The challenge isn’t so much finding a specific job. It’s figuring out what  you  want to do and how to get there. To help you think about the options, here are just a few of the job sectors that are often a good fit for humanities PhDs.

Higher Education Administration

If you thrive in a community of people who share a love of learning, you want to advance the mission of a school you believe in, and you want to support students and help them succeed, consider a career in  higher education administration . Higher education institutions offer many rewarding employment opportunities besides faculty positions that use the multitude of skills you have developed in your humanities PhD program.  According to the Office of Career Strategy at Yale University , “These skills include critical and innovative thinking, written and oral communications, project management, and qualitative and/or quantitative analysis.” Some of the many administrative roles at colleges and universities are in  academic affairs, student affairs, admissions, alumni relations, institutional advancement, business, financial aid, human resources, communications, and more . PhDs aren’t always required for these jobs, but your insider experience and skill set will be welcomed by employers and will help you advance in this job sector.  Read about one PhD’s path  to a fulfilling administrative job at her institution.

Translation and Interpretation

As globalization and international communication become increasingly important in most job sectors, the field of translation and interpretation continues to evolve and grow. If you are a native speaker of a language other than English or have an advanced degree in a modern language or linguistics, translation and interpretation might be a good fit for you. Translators and interpreters work in a diverse array of work environments. According to the  US Bureau of Labor Statistics , the largest employers of interpreters and translators in 2022 were

• professional, scientific, and technical services
• educational services
• government and diplomacy

However, NGOs and humanitarian organizations, professional conferences, legal settings, publishers, and the travel industry are all employers of people highly skilled in linguistics and communication. Note that some employers may require or prefer some type of certification from the  American Translators Association  or other certifying organizations.

Publishing and Editing

According to  Beyond the Professoriate , “Grading student essays, writing and defending your dissertation and publishing in academic journals make you a good candidate for publishing and editing roles.” If you have an eye for detail, a love for style guides, and strong project management skills, scholarly and private publishers, government agencies, and even tech companies will be seeking candidates like you. Some of the  job titles  in this field that you might see in job ads are

• technical writer
• copy editor or fact checker
• digital content editor
• associate editor
• publicity assistant
• documentation specialist
• literary agent

If you are considering a career in editorial or publishing sectors,  these three English PhDs working at the Modern Language Association (MLA) shared their stories  about their paths from graduate school to nonacademic jobs, the wisdom they’ve gained in the process, and advice on what to do to increase your chances of success.

Nonprofits and NGOs

Many PhDs seek out nonprofit jobs after graduate school where the culture of the organizations can be particularly PhD-friendly and because they want to make a positive contribution in an area about which they are passionate. The good news is these organizations need people with the skills you acquired during your graduate studies.  Nonprofit organizations cover a wide range of sectors , including health, educational, religious, arts, and charitable organizations, as well as advocacy groups, professional societies, and research institutes. Some of the positions within the nonprofit sector that would benefit from your experience and knowledge are

• grant writing
• fundraising
• program evaluation
• program development

In this  Connected Academics post  on  MLA Commons , you can read about one PhD in French literature who left academia to work in nonprofit development and says, “The field of development is a good choice for literature majors. To fund-raise you need to be able to tell and sell a story.”

With advanced training in the humanities, you are also an excellent candidate for a wealth of rewarding job options in many other fields, including  conducting user experience research ;  teaching at independent schools  or public K–12 schools;  writing  for cultural or arts venues; copywriting for marketing, communications, or advertising companies; doing policy analysis for government agencies; and many more. Keep an open mind, conduct informational interviews, become adept at  talking about your transferable skills , and listen to the  stories of other PhDs  who have found success outside academia. The path may not be as clearly delineated as the process of applying for academic positions, but if you think outside the box, you will widen your professional opportunities and facilitate your personal growth!

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Art History and Performing Art Majors Face Highest Rates of Unemployment, New Study Finds

By Tessa Solomon

Tessa Solomon

Reporter, ARTnews

Art history, visual and performing Arts, and graphic design majors nationwide have the bleakest employment prospects across all college majors in the United States, according to data analyzed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (NYFED) for the first quarter of 2024. The NYFED also revealed that more than half of art history and arts majors are “underemployed,” meaning that they are working in fields that don’t require a college degree. 

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Fine arts majors finish in close second place with a 7.9 percent unemployment rate, but enjoy marginally brighter field placement with a 55.5 percent underemployment rate. 

On the other hand, performing arts majors come through at a 5.5 percent unemployment rate, but lead in underemployment out of the included creative studies fields, at 65.3 percent. Graphic designers, while primarily only holding bachelor’s degrees, according to NYFED, had the lowest underemployment rate in the creative sector at 33.7 percent.

Industrial engineering, construction services, and medical technician majors, and various engineering tracks, meanwhile, enjoy the highest job placements, and minimum six-figure median salaries by mid-career (ages 35 to 45, per the NYFED).

Data-wise, it’s been a dispiriting few months for aspiring creatives: The NYFED report follows a survey published in May by Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) that found the majority of artists in New York state experience financial insecurity, despite the arts and culture sectors accounting for 7.4 percent of New York’s economy . CRNY launched its program in 2021 to provide a monthly guaranteed income and jobs for New York state artists, more than half (57.3 percent) of whom participated in its study self-reported earning less than $25,000 the previous year. (Nearly 86 percent earned under $50,000.) Additionally, 45.5 percent of respondents said they relied on gig work and temporary employment.

“Fundamentally, our economy doesn’t view artists as workers,” CRNY executive director Sarah Calderón told Hyperallergic upon the publication of the study. “For this reason among others, there is no wage protection, paid—or even affordable—healthcare options, or any other elements of the social safety net that are afforded to other classes of workers.

“We need to establish that art is labor, and we need artist-centric solutions to improve the lives and livelihoods of artists,” Calderón added.

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Graduate Student Instructor (GSI)

How to apply.

Mandatory: Please answer the following questions as part of your application. 

• How is `intergroup relations' important to your graduate studies?
• Describe your facilitation / teaching experience.
• Why do you want to teach with IGR?

Please include the following in ONE document. Email the document to Christina Morton ( [email protected] ). 

• Your answers to the above questions
• Your vitae/resume

The Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) is a social justice education program. IGR blends theory and experiential learning to facilitate students' learning about social group identity, social inequality, and intergroup relations. The program prepares students to live and work in a diverse world and educates them in making choices that advance equity, justice, and peace. IGR was founded in 1988 and was the first program of its kind. IGR is a partnership between Student Life and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Course Description

The Program on Intergroup Relations is seeking a graduate student instructor for ALA 321: Practicum in Intergroup Relations. Practicum (ALA 321) focuses on helping students develop and improve their skills as intergroup dialogue facilitators and peer social justice educators. This will be done in the context of the belief that facilitation skills can be used throughout life to create positive social change. 

Responsibilities*

IGR GSIs are part of a dynamic teaching team of instructors and practitioners who meet weekly to plan and implement the course strategy.  GSIs are equal partners in the grading, teaching, and evaluation of students in the courses.  The GSI position is a 50% appointment.

Required Qualifications*

Enrolled as a graduate student for Fall 2024 and in good standing at the University of Michigan. Ability to effectively teach and evaluate undergraduate students. Must have an understanding of intergroup dialogue, facilitation, and social justice pedagogy.

Desired Qualifications*

• Experience with co-teaching or co-facilitation
• Experience teaching or working with diverse student populations
• Experience utilizing interactive, experiential teaching strategies
• Ability to utilize inquiry to facilitate conversation across difference 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Familiarity with social justice and/or liberatory education 
• Previous mentoring or coaching experience 

Contact Information

Christina Morton ( [email protected] )

Decision Making Process

All applications will be submitted for review to IGR faculty/staff members. After review of applications, a short list of interviewees is developed, and interviews are conducted. Each candidate is interviewed by two IGR faculty/staff using a protocol of questions.

Selection Process

 Selection criteria include merit, teaching experience, and experience working with intergroup relations.

GEO Contract Information

The University will not discriminate against any applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, familial status, parental status or pregnancy status, sex, gender identity or expression (whether actual or perceived), sexual orientation, age, height, weight, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, HIV antibody status, political belief, membership in any social or political organization, participation in a grievance or complaint whether formal or informal, medical conditions including those related to pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, arrest record, or any other factor where the item in question will not interfere with job performance and where the employee is otherwise qualified. The University of Michigan agrees to abide by the protections afforded employees with disabilities as outlined in the rules and regulations which implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Information for the Office for Institutional Equity may be found at https://oie.umich.edu/ and for the University Ombuds at https://ombuds.umich.edu/

Unsuccessful applications will be retained for consideration in the event that there are last minute openings for available positions. In the event that an employee does not receive their preferred assignment, they can request a written explanation or an in-person interview with the hiring agents(s) to be scheduled at a mutually agreed upon time.

This position, as posted, is subject to a collective bargaining agreement between the Regents of the University of Michigan and the Graduate Employees' Organization, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO 3550.

Standard Practice Guide 601.38, Required Disclosure of Felony Charges and/or Felony Convictions applies to all Graduate Student Assistants (GSAs). SPG 601.38 may be accessed online at https://spg.umich.edu/policy/601.38 , and its relation to your employment can be found in MOU 10 of your employment contract.

U-M EEO/AA Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

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Why Some Selective M.F.A. Programs Are Going Tuition-Free

Some M.F.A. programs at Juilliard and the University of Southern California, among others, won’t charge tuition starting next fall. But will it expand access to the arts?

By  Kathryn Palmer

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Juilliard drama students perform in a production of As You Like It in 2019. Juilliard's drama M.F.A. program is going tuition-free starting this fall.

The Juilliard School

A number of selective graduate programs in the fine arts—including some at the University of Southern California , Carnegie Mellon University and the Juilliard School —have recently dropped their hefty sticker prices and gone tuition-free in the name of expanding access to arts education.

“The impact of these gifts on our students’ futures—and the field—cannot be overstated,” Evan Yionoulis, dean and director of Juilliard’s drama division, said in a news release last September when the New York City–based institution announced it would no longer charge tuition to students seeking a master of fine arts degree in drama beginning this fall. “Entering the profession without additional debt will allow these gifted artists the opportunity to take the kind of work, especially in the theater, that will allow them to develop their craft and provide a stable foundation for a lifelong career.”

And when USC announced last month that its acting and dramatic writing graduate programs would stop charging tuition next year, Emily Roxworthy, dean of USC’s School of Dramatic Arts, characterized it in a news release as “an important investment in the future of storytelling and the performing arts.”

That may be true. But even as philanthropic donations allow the country’s most selective M.F.A. programs to go tuition-free, the larger arts landscape in higher ed is increasingly under siege. Many art institutions are in dire financial straits, and the field as a whole has faced mounting public skepticism about the value of pursuing a degree that doesn’t promise clear-cut career paths or high earnings postgraduation.

Over the past several years, a number of cash-strapped independent art schools have closed , including the Memphis College of Art, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In June, the abrupt closure of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia left students scrambling to figure out where to complete their degrees.

But the handful of tuition-free master’s of fine arts programs—which also include those in the drama departments at Yale and Brown Universities —won’t be able to absorb all the aspiring writers, artists and actors who face diminishing options for formal fine arts training.

In fact, eliminating tuition is only making the application process to already-selective programs even more competitive. Just as the number of applications it received substantially increased after New York University’s medical school went tuition-free in 2018, tuition-free M.F.A. programs have also received record numbers of applicants.

Juilliard, for instance, received twice as many applications for its drama M.F.A. program this year as last, according to Yionoulis. She told Inside Higher Ed that the art school’s top priority over the next few years is to make “as much of Juilliard tuition-free as we can manage,” and she hopes to show more fine arts schools and programs that it’s possible.

“It’s something that we who are in higher education in the arts have always wanted to have happen,” she said. “This is going to make a huge difference to students once they get out of school, a huge difference to the field and therefore the culture.”

Applications to Yale’s drama M.F.A. program increased by 29 percent after the program went tuition-free in 2021. And applications from Black and Indigenous would-be students and other people of color increased by 45 percent, said James Bundy, dean of Yale’s drama school, adding that the program’s student body reflects the nation’s demographic diversity.

White students have historically dominated fine arts education programs, which equip graduates with both the refined skills and industry connections they need to realize success in the oversaturated television, film, theater, art, publishing and design markets. Roughly 50 percent of the graduates of visual and performing arts master’s programs in 2020 were white, while 7 percent were Black and about 9 percent were Hispanic, according to the National Center for Education Statistics . And that dynamic carries over into the entertainment industry , which has historically prioritized and critically acclaimed a disproportionate share of art by and about wealthy, white people.

“Going tuition-free was primarily about equitable access. There shouldn’t be barriers to training in the arts, specifically because of the arts’ intrinsic value to society and also because careers in the arts aren’t necessarily lucrative,” Bundy said. “It’s important strategically not to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in training someone who then ends up, because of financial pressure, unable to pursue the career for which they’ve been trained.”

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For Eliza Kuperschmid, who is entering her last year of the dramatic writing M.F.A. program at USC, the announcement last month that the program was going fully tuition-free came as a huge relief—even though she was already receiving an 85 percent discount on tuition.

“USC is almost spearheading equity in the arts during a time when we’re seeing theaters shutting down and arts programs losing funding. It’s a nerve-racking time to work in theater,” she said, noting that she’s still not sure which direction she wants to take her career—playwriting, arts administration or teaching. “Tuition being lifted is allowing me to dream more broadly about my options.”

Overcoming Sticker Shock

Although many top M.F.A. programs—including USC, Juilliard and Yale—already offered substantial financial aid packages to the vast majority of admitted students before they went fully tuition-free, they’ve still struggled to overcome perceptions about poor return on investment and sticker shock.

A widely circulated 2021 article in The Wall Street Journal profiled graduates of Columbia University’s film master’s program who were “hobbled for life,” with half of graduates earning less than $30,000 while taking on a median of $181,000 in student debt. That same year, students at Juilliard staged a rare protest after the school hiked tuition, even as administrators reminded protesters that 92 percent of students received financial aid.

But when those big tuition discounts aren’t widely advertised, they don’t translate to prospective students or the public in the same way that explicitly eliminating tuition does, said Bundy, Yale’s drama dean.

Before Yale’s drama program eliminated tuition in 2021, the sticker price was about $32,000 a year.

“Even when we were saying we were providing need-based aid and the average student was only paying 11 percent of the cost of their education, that was a long-winded message that didn’t translate to further investigation on the part of prospective students,” Bundy said. “Being tuition-free gets people’s attention, and it makes them think differently about their prospects.”

Robert Townsend, director of humanities, arts and culture programs at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, said that while applicants from more privileged communities may already be aware that most students pay far less than an M.F.A. program’s advertised price, it’s not typically as clear to students without that social advantage.

“Being more explicit about the fact that these programs are free is really important in helping to diversify, not just the race and ethnicity demographics, but also the kinds of class demographics of the people trying to come into these programs,” Townsend said.

But offering free tuition at selective M.F.A. programs alone won’t diversify fine arts education or the arts industries.

In addition to helping students refine the technical skills associated with their chosen craft, an M.F.A. degree equips graduates with broad, marketable communications skills. But that’s not always made clear to students from lower-income backgrounds who may have the talent for an art degree but fear the industry’s infamous financial uncertainty.

“We need to start seeding the ground for this from the high school level on so that people who may not necessarily see this as a career path become more familiar with it as an opportunity and space they can go into and feel more comfortable taking the risk and earning that degree and working their way into these industries,” Townsend said. “But there are a lot of hurdles along the way. To the extent that a program like USC’s is lowering at least one of those hurdles, that could make an important difference.”

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Mary Meeker pushes for universities to partner with business and adopt AI—and quickly.

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Elektrostal

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Elektrostal , city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia . It lies 36 miles (58 km) east of Moscow city. The name, meaning “electric steel,” derives from the high-quality-steel industry established there soon after the October Revolution in 1917. During World War II , parts of the heavy-machine-building industry were relocated there from Ukraine, and Elektrostal is now a centre for the production of metallurgical equipment. Pop. (2006 est.) 146,189.

With 1999’s ‘Bigger & Blacker,’ Chris Rock risked his career — and secured his legacy

Animation by Tomasz Czajka / For the Times; photographs by Getty Images, HBO, NBC, Los Angeles Times, Warner Bros. Pictures

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School shootings, presidential sex scandals, taxes, racism and the big piece of chicken.

Despite all the ways that the world has changed since Chris Rock stepped onstage to deliver his third special, “Bigger & Blacker,” which premiered on HBO on July 10, 1999, all you have to do is watch it to realize how much the concerns of our country are still the same. Taking the stage in an oversize leather coat, looking like Morpheus from the year’s hit movie “The Matrix,” Rock pierced the heart of the country with a blade of truth that made us laugh until it hurt — and kept going until the pain felt good.

In an era when comedy specials still felt special because only those in the highest echelon were even allowed to have one, Rock’s follow-up to the groundbreaking “Bring the Pain” was a high-wire act that reminded us that the multi-hyphenate — then at the peak of his celebrity — ultimately values one thing above all else: telling jokes that ring true to Black America, with punchlines that are quotable for anyone with a pulse and sense of humor.

The 1999 Project

All year we’ll be marking the 25th anniversary of pop culture milestones that remade the world as we knew it then and created the world we live in now. Welcome to The 1999 Project, from the Los Angeles Times.

On the heels of filming a major movie (“Lethal Weapon IV”) and anchoring hit TV shows (“Saturday Night Live,” “The Chris Rock Show”), Rock could’ve easily played it safe by softening the edges in his act to avoid turning off the mainstream. Instead he cranked up the volume by doing what every great comic does when faced with controversy — doubling down.

Belied by his diminutive frame (which we now know can take a hit ), Rock’s persona in the 1990s was caustic, aggressive and truthful, down to the way he paced back and forth on stage. The purpose in his jokes matched his stride as he opened with jokes about Columbine and the “trench coat mafia.”

“What the hell is wrong with these white kids shooting up the school? They don’t even wait till 3 o’clock either. Killing people in the morning, that ain’t right!”

In moments like these, comics of Rock’s caliber know how to distill tragedy to its most hilariously simplistic elements. The imagery of a group of homicidal misfit teens having more friends than Rock ever had when he was in school turned mass murder into a joke that slayed his audience.

One has only to replay the crowd reactions throughout the special to see its effect. When was the last time you saw crowd laughter in a special that was almost as funny as the jokes themselves? People falling over on their loved ones sitting next to them, standing up with their best Arsenio-esque “Whoop! Whoop!” and rolling in the aisles like Pentecostals moved by the spirit. The absence of cellphone cameras makes it feel like a moment when the entire crowd at the iconic Apollo Theater in Harlem was in it together, which is how the special made people watching at home feel.

To this day, Rock’s jokes about the differences between men and women — from former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton to the people in our own families — made “Bigger & Blacker” an instant classic. Most Rock fans can quote the special by heart after 25 years.

Some of the best lines (that we can repeat):

“We don’t need gun control, we need bullet control. I think all bullets should cost $5,000. ’Cause if a bullet cost $5,000 there’d be no more innocent bystanders.”

“It’s all about Mama, Mama, Mama. Nobody give a f— about Daddy. Think about everything a real daddy does … and what does Daddy get for all his work? The big piece of chicken, that’s all Daddy gets.”

“Clinton damn near got impeached for what? For what? Lying about [oral sex] so his wife wouldn’t find out. Is that against the law? Do you need the Supreme Court for that one? You could have took that one to ‘The People’s Court.’ You could have took that one to Judge Judy.”

“We got all these taxes. ... You don’t get the money ‘til you’re 65, meanwhile the average Black man dies at 54. S—, we should get Social Security at 29. We don’t live that long, hypertension, high blood pressure, NYPD, something will get you.”

“All I had when I was a kid was Robitussin. No matter what you got, Robitussin better handle it. ‘Daddy, I got asthma.’ ‘Robitussin!’ ‘I got cancer.’ ‘Robitussin!’ ‘I broke my leg.’ Daddy poured Robitussin on it.”

“They ain’t never curing AIDS, don’t even think about it. There ain’t no money in the cure, the money’s in the medicine. That’s how a drug dealer makes his money, on the comeback. That’s all the government is, a bunch of motherf— drug dealers!”

Even today, most comedy stars at the height of their commercial success wouldn’t get anywhere near half the jokes Rock spouted on stage. Whether fearful of angering half the country, Hollywood executives or activist groups, even the most provocative comics can reach a point where they shy away from poking the bear in favor of a squeaky-clean gig with steady residuals. And it’s possible that “Bigger & Blacker” cost Rock the chance to make an even bigger bag somewhere down the line. But on stage, he proved that the price of greatness trumps the price of gold any day of the week.

Listening back to his jokes, it’s even more amazing how true they remain given where we find ourselves as a nation a quarter century later, on the verge of yet another high-stakes presidential election and with new deadly viruses and racial tensions and suffocating costs of living bearing down on us. Without specials like “Bigger & Blacker” to keep us laughing through the pain, society might just wake up from “The Matrix” and realize that we’re doomed. Just as it was back in 1999, the need for laughter to ease the tension is the primary reason people will always turn to stand-up — and to Rock, who remains the Morpheus of the art form decades later.

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L.A. stand-up specials stand out in a year of DIY comedy

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Nate Jackson is a deputy editor for Entertainment and Arts. Previously, he served as a news editor for the Wrap and the music editor for OC Weekly. He returns to The Times after being both a Metpro and a staff writer in Calendar from 2009 to 2012.

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Application details.

Registrations for the program start from 3 rd July, 2024.

Last date to apply is 14 th July, 2024

Candidates graduating in 2026 with a non-engineering Bachelors degree

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The Toll of Starting a Golf Career So Young

In a game full of players who turned pro in their teens, burnout is common.

By Paul Sullivan

Asterisk Talley was faced with a tricky question after she made the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open, the second women’s major of the year. Would she have time to finish the homework that her teachers back home had assigned?

“I have a bunch of homework and it’s all due today,” said Talley, 15, part of a growing number of young golfers playing at the highest level of the game.

The admission spurred a raft of suggestions for excuses for why it wouldn’t get done, not least of all that she was teeing off late on Saturday, just a few shots off the lead.

When asked after the second round if she was feeling any pressure, Talley responded: “Not really. I feel like I’m kind of used to it.”

Women’s golf has been becoming younger for decades, and Talley is nowhere near the youngest player to tee it up in a major like the Women’s Open. Lexi Thompson, who is retiring this year at 29, was just 12 in 2007 when she qualified for her first one. (The youngest ever was Lucy Li, then 11.)

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