Low-residency MFA Art and Social Practice Program

The low-residency Art and Social Practice MFA program is a unique combination of mentorship, community collaborations/partnerships and an annual conference on socially engaged art practice at PSU that brings together artists, curators, scholars and students from around the world. This program blends critical and professional engagement with social engagement on a global and local scale.

Beginning in the fall of 2010 we will implement the low-residency MFA program in Art & Social Practice that will be connected to the annual Open Engagement conference as the focal point of this distance education program.

This program will accept 4 students annually with a focus on the representation of global diversity.

The three year program will focus on field work, public pedagogy, and community collaboration/partnership. Students will connect their art practice to research in the field through their electives and community partnerships, promoting cross-disciplinarity. This work and research conducted by the MFA candidates will be presented annually at the Open Engagement conference leading up to their final graduate project in the third and final year of the program.

The resident MFA in Contemporary Art Practice Art and Social Practice concentration at PSU will work in concert with the Low-Residency MFA Art and Social Practice to explore and promote similar methods: a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of art and social practice, a student-centric learning atmosphere in which students can shape the direction of their education and study, community mentorship and access to internationally acclaimed visiting artists, faculty, and the development of a worldwide network of scholars working in socially engaged art and the promotion of local fieldwork.

Each year the conference will be organized around a variety of themes related to the interests of the students in both the Art and Social Practice MFA concentration and the low-residency program. As a group the students select three artists to invite to the conference as featured artists under the understanding that they are also selecting individuals whom they wish to learn from and work with. The conference also provides the opportunity to annually share their work and research as well as be immersed in the current thinking and work in their field.

More information on application requirements and deadlines will be posted with in the next few weeks.

Comments

[Lenine Bourke]

Hey this sounds amazing! and quite possibly a brilliant way for international students to be able to live and work in different countries but do their masters with all of you (somehow).. keen to hear more Cheers