Graduate programs in Socially Engaged Art & Art Education

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Inquire. Research. Make. Refine. Innovate. Your work is just beginning.

Find your cohort and take the next step of your creative career at Moore College of Art & Design, located in the heart of the cultural hotbed of Philadelphia. Moore’s co-educational, one-of-a-kind Graduate Studies programs in Socially Engaged Art and Art Education with an Emphasis in Special Populations are open to people of all identities who wish to work in the fields of art, art education, museums, academia, community and public art, as well as emerging disciplines and institutions.

Moore’s challenging educational environment and outstanding faculty inspire graduate students to pursue their work and research with focus and intensity, and present opportunities to benefit from rich opportunities in Philadelphia and beyond, through projects, collaborations and community partnerships. You’ll be part of a group of makers, educators, researchers, activisits and thinkers who share a passion for learning and for study, production and experimentation. Students successfully complete their degrees with the capacity and drive to be insightful practitioners and influential thought leaders.

Moore Graduate Studies applicants are eligible for highly competitive fellowships and assistantships, which totaled over 150,000 USD in 2020.

Socially Engaged Art (MA and MFA)
Moore’s Socially Engaged Art degree programs bring together artists and organizers in the same space, to critically and pragmatically engage in the discourses and practices concerned with art’s relationship to place, collaboration, ethics, material and interdisciplinary research. Through classes, public programs, community partnerships, symposia and the work of renowned students and faculty, we ask challenging questions about the role, history and potential of art in relationship to society. 

Our two-year, 60-credit Socially Engaged Studio Art MFA program encourages artists to think across artistic disciplines and consider critical issues that arise when conceptualizing, making, disseminating and documenting artist. Our one-year, 30-credit Socially Engaged Art MA program is focused on administering, organizing and facilitating socially engaged art experiences, as well as studying community engagement through the arts.

“What I really love about the program is the sense of community and care. The past year has really blown my mind wide open both to the possibilities I have now moving forward, and also to the thoughts and ideas I want to spend my time reading, writing and thinking about.”
—Camille O’Connor MA ‘20, Socially Engaged Art

Current Socially Engaged Art faculty are artists, organizers and scholars, including Daniel Tucker (program director), Asuka Goto, Hammam Aldouri, Anna Drozdowski, Jacque Liu, Amanda Newman-Godfrey, Nehad Khader, Caitlin Butler, Asher Barkley, Ernel Martinez, Carolyn Chernoff, Robert Goodman, Mina Zarfsaz. Recent and upcoming visiting faculty include Sera Boeno and Alicia Grullón.

Art Education (MA with or without certification)
Moore’s Master of Arts in Art Education with an Emphasis in Special Populations is a rigorous 15-month (27-month with certification) program that prepares and empowers art educators to develop skills for adapting and implementing strategies that enrich the lives of all learners. We develop and test innovative techniques through action-based research in a field setting, while critically assessing art education policies and documenting the study of contemporary art education issues for diverse learners. Our candidates graduate prepared to enter the classroom and to advance the field of art education through their everyday practice. Our hybrid model brings students to campus for six weeks in the summer, then online in fall and spring.

“As an LGBTQ+ person of color, it’s refreshing to see a program that is aware of itself and is constantly re-evaluating. I never felt like I was being pushed to become a certain kind of educator or researcher. Instead I was being supported to discover the kind of educator I need to be.”
—Al San Valentin MA ‘19, Art Education with an Emphasis in Special Populations

Current Art Education faculty are experienced artists and educators, including Lauren Stichter (program director), Amanda Newman-Godfrey, Susan Coll-Guedes, Katherine Lee MA ‘17, Joyce Millman, Kathryn Snyder, Katherine Videira MA ‘18.

Forge your path at Moore. Request more information. Schedule a one-on-one info session. Or, if you’re ready, start your application today.

Contact: T 215 965 4015 / gradstudies [​at​] moore.edu