Interdisciplinary graduate programs

The School for the Contemporary Arts (SCA) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver takes a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to studies in the arts, offering an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, an MA in Contemporary Arts, and a PhD in Contemporary Arts.

The SCA offers a meeting place for artists and scholars who value experimentation, dialogue, and the evolving languages connecting art, sound, music, movement, cinema, performance, thought, and writing.

MFA and MA application deadlines: January 8, 2027. PhD application deadline: January 31, 2027.

SFU’s MFA is widely recognized as unique in North America for bringing together artists from dance, film, music/sound, theatre, visual art, and production design in an integrated, full-time, two-year cohort. Our model fosters mutual influence and exchange through shared seminars, critiques, and collaborative research. Our MA thinks across the arts, supporting theoretical and historical approaches from art history, cinema studies, performance studies, and digital arts as well as public-facing dissemination of cultural knowledge and practice. Our research-intensive PhD program focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to the fine and performing arts and supports both scholarly and practiced-based research.

The internationally-recognized artists and scholars that make up our faculty work at the generative fringes of Dance, Film, Music & Sound, Theatre & Performance, Performance Production & Design, and Visual Art, with a focus on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary practices. Our state-of-the-art facilities in downtown Vancouver accommodate studio practice across the disciplines as well as spaces for seminars, exhibitions, performances, and public gatherings. Come study with us.