Final call for applications: MA in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture

Unique among American graduate programs, Bard Graduate Center (BGC) studies the cultural history of the material world, from the arts of the ancient world to the 21st century. The faculty is drawn from the various fields of art history, history, anthropology, and archaeology, and students come from an even wider range of undergraduate majors. Visiting researchers and speakers connect students and faculty with colleagues and institutions around the world. Exhibitions originating at Bard Graduate Center Gallery travel to major venues, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Bard Graduate Center’s two-year MA program offers an interdisciplinary, object-centered approach to studying the past, comprised of coursework, an internship, and a final qualifying paper. All MA students participate in a BGC-funded international study trip at the end of the first year. Alumni go on to careers as curators, preservationists, and educators, and many pursue further academic work at the doctoral level.

Join us at Bard Graduate Center, where we unite innovative research with path-breaking exhibitions to create a new context for the study of the cultural history of the material world.