MFA in Community Arts

The Master of Fine Arts in Community Arts at the University of Texas at San Antonio is a new program that blends artistic practice, community arts education and community arts leadership to provide real-world experiences for those wanting to work beyond the studio. Students will have the opportunity to work across mediums, with core faculty bringing expertise in community music, applied theater and dance and socially engaged art. The flexible two-year curriculum allows students to build a program focused on their strengths and desired areas of growth through seminars, core community arts courses, university-wide electives and experiential learning.

Located in downtown San Antonio, students will primarily work from the Southwest Campus located on the banks of the San Antonio river. Full visual art studios are onsite and access to dance and theater venues are nearby. The Southwest campus is also home to UT San Antonio’s world-class community arts programming for youth and adults. For over 60 years this program has served over 5,000 community members annually and will be a learning lab for the program. 

Recent visiting artists in the program have included Teddy Cruz, Heather Raffo, Cruz Ortiz, Violette Bule, André de Quadros and Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Core faculty include Mark Menjívar, Emilie Amrein and Tanesha Payne. Application deadline is February 1, 2027. Limited funding packages available. For more information, contact Mark Menjívar at: mark.menjivar@utsa.edu.

About UT San Antonio
The University of Texas at San Antonio is San Antonio's only Tier One research-intensive academic health center and academic institution, nationally recognized for its research innovation, doctoral education and impact. UT San Antonio is proud to be in the nation's seventh-largest city and one of the fastest-growing in the country. UT San Antonio is one of the original 189 universities in the nation to be federally designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) by the US Department of Education.