Fine Art / Studio Art Graduate Programs in NYC

Transart Institute, Manhattan:
Founded in 2004 by two artists, the Transart Institute in Manhattan, NYC is an art school that provides a contemporary learning experience without grades or pre-formatted curricula. We offer an international low-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and a practice-based PhD program for working artists in a highly individualized format. The Unschool Art School grew out of a desire to form a truly student-driven program that goes beyond established institutional education by offering a plethora of models and diversify input in a multi-perspective environment.

The MFA in New Media program was accredited by the Austrian Ministry of Education and Culture through Donau University Krems, Krems, Austria and the first summer residency was held in 2005 with an international body of 25 students and eight faculty. The current MFA Creative Practice program is validated through the School of Art and Media at the University of Plymouth in the UK.

Student Testimonial:
"This program has changed my life in profound ways. My art practice is more informed, better articulated, more open, more thoughtful, more grounded in theory."
- Nicki Stager

Our Students:
Our students are emerging and mid-career artists and teachers at tertiary institutions. They are generally working professionals with wider world experience than students from a serial undergraduate / graduate course of study. The low-residency approach, with intensive residencies, gives our students the opportunity for deeper academic experiences than within a traditional full residency context.

- Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Programs: The innovative MFA program consists of three intensive summer residencies with lectures, workshops, critiques, seminars, performances and exhibitions in Europe and two fall residencies in New York. In the four semesters between residencies, students create their own course of study realizing individual art and research projects with the support of faculty and self-chosen artist mentors wherever they work and live.

- PhD Programs: The MPhil/PhD is a three to four year full time degree program with an average work commitment of 30 hours per week. The Degree is only offered for practice-based research (creative work) accompanied by a written thesis that contextualizes the work.

- Summer Residency Certificate: Participants join MFA students in workshops, lectures and critiques and leave the residency with input on project plans for the year ahead.

Our faculty comes from a wide range of academic and artistic backgrounds as well as geographic locations. Studio faculty include international artists working with sound, performance, dance and choreography, photography, drawing, sculpture, film and video, intervention and installation. Current theoretical areas of expertise include curatorial work, cyberfeminism, African diaspora, interface technologies, digital arts, continental philosophy, media, social studies in colonialism, capitalism and tourism, word and image relationships, and contemporary asian art history.