Prentis Hall, 632 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
Lenfest Center for the Arts
New York NY 10027
USA
The School of the Arts presents MFA open studios on Sunday, November 15, featuring the Class of 2027. Get a preview of upcoming Visual Arts + Sound Art thesis projects in progress and meet the artists.
Open studios: Sunday, November 15, 2–5pm ET
Prentis Hall, 632 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027. Free and open to the public. More details.
Artists: Sarah-Mecca Abdourahman; Fatema Al Fardan; Amirah Albalawi; Bale Creek Allen; Jasem Alsanea; Ben Blaustein; Cherina Cheng; Minji Choi; Christopher Crary; Isaac Yuquan Duan; Jenna Inzetta; Leo Gevisser; Natalie Jacobs; Elizabeth Kaiser; Ina Kim; Natalya K Laudi; Hanwei Li; Dayana Matasheva; Becky Moon; Neta Moses; Natalia Neuhaus; Mary Osunlana; A'ssia (Ashu) Rai; Gianfranco Reyes; Mino Shih; Benjamin Shirken; Shaina Tabak; Camila Villa Zertuche. Sound artists: Leo Gevisser; Benjamin Shirken.
MFA admissions
Info session: Interested in pursuing an MFA? Join us for an information session and tours of our facilities before Open Studios at Lenfest Center for the Arts on November 15, beginning at 11am, to meet faculty and learn more about the programs’ curricula and admissions processes. RSVP here.
Can’t join in person? An online Visual Arts and Sound Art information session will take place on Monday, November 30, 2026, at 11am ET on Zoom. RSVP here.
Applications are open for the MFA in Visual Arts and Sound Art at Columbia University School of the Arts.
Columbia’s interdisciplinary MFA in Visual Arts is built for artists who want a course of study shaped by their practice rather than a single prescribed track. Students are invited to apply in the concentrations of Painting & Drawing, Sculpture, Printmaking, Photography, Sound Art, Moving Image, and Expanded Practice, with room to collaborate, experiment, and refine your direction. The Sound Art concentration is offered in association with the Department of Music and the Computer Music Center, for sound as a creative medium or conceptual subject, within New York’s experimental art and performance ecosystem.
The program has renowned faculty such as Rirkrit Tiravanija, Sable Elyse Smith, Sarah Sze, Delphine Fawundu, David Antonio Cruz, Tomas Vu-Daniel, Jon Kessler, Matthew Buckingham, Shelly Silver, Naeem Mohaiemen, Miya Masaoka, and Ted Moore. Our Artist Mentors include Shahzia Sikander, Matthew Ritchie, Ralph Lemon, David Humphrey, Michael Joo, William Cordova, Luba Drozd, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Ken Okiishi, and Rona Yefman.
With New York City as an extended classroom, artists can deepen and diversify their practice through courses across Columbia University (Art History, Film Studies, Anthropology, etc.) and Barnard College while connecting with museums, galleries, and artist-run spaces, developing a practice that’s eclectic, multidisciplinary, uncompromising, and singular.
Applications are due Tuesday, January 20, 2027, at 11:59pm ET.
We encourage you to contact the Admissions Office at soaadmissions@columbia.edu with any questions. For application requirements and to apply online, visit the Visual Arts application requirements and Sound Art application requirements pages.
About Columbia University School of the Arts
Columbia University School of the Arts offers the rare opportunity for artists across all disciplines to learn and create together in one vibrant community. We award the Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Writing, an interdisciplinary program in Sound Art that leads to an MFA in Visual Arts, and a Master of Arts degree in Film and Media Studies. Artists from each of these fields, and those working between and among them, are supported here, and challenged to express themselves in new and innovative forms.
For more details on the programs, visit arts.columbia.edu.
