Practical Matters

Departmental and SVA Scholarships and Awards

Departmental Scholarships

Limited departmental scholarship funds are awarded based on merit and financial need. Interested students should mention in their applications their desire to be considered for these funds.

Teaching Assistantships

A small number of teaching assistantships is available each year. Teaching assistants usually work with a faculty member at SVA for one or two terms. The department seeks to award assistantships on a need-based selection process. Interested applicants should mention in their applications their desire to be considered for a teaching assistantship award.

SVA Matching Outside Scholarships

Award Description: SVA matching scholarships are available. SVA will match 25% of any outside scholarship, up to $2500, that a student obtains for enrollment at SVA.

Resources for Outside Scholarships

Department Resources

Why we are at an art school

“A program in Critical Theory and the Arts that is most of all involved in understanding art should be located at an art school surrounded by students who are up all night making things in their studios and working with distinguished New York City artists. We mean to be right down the hall from the print room, upstairs from animation and around the corner from video, photography and painting. Students in Critical Theory and the Arts will be able to study technical dimensions of art making in a way that is exceptional in an academic setting.”

SVA Library, Arnold Hauser Slide Library

SVA Library
The Visual Arts Library contains approximately 65,000 books, 400 current periodical titles and 160,000 slides. Electronic resources supplement these holdings with more than 30 online indexes and databases. These include periodical indexes that allow users to search for magazine and journal articles owned by the library and to access full-text information from more than 17,500 periodicals not found in the physical collection. Electronic resources include JSTOR. Other resources include image databases and online encyclopedias. In addition to the research materials housed in the Visual Arts Library and the program’s own library, students in Critical Theory and the Arts have access to the Bobst Library at New York University.

The Arnold Hauser Slide Library

Arnold Hauser’s four volume Social History of the Arts remains an unparalleled examination of the whole of western art. The Arnold Hauser slide library is a digital companion of images to the text. The slide library collection is an on-going collective effort of members of the graduate students in Critical Theory and the Arts. The slide library was initially compiled—generously—by Taylor Ruby.

Financial Aid

SVA participates in all federal financial aid options and requires only one form: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

To fill out a FAFSA form, click here.

The optimal filing date for new students to submit their FAFSA is February 1; transfer students by February 15; and returning students by March 1, 2013. Applications are processed and reviewed for eligibility on a first-come, first-served basis. MA applicants planning to apply for FAFSA should do so as soon as possible. You do not have to wait until your MA application is complete to submit the necessary forms to FAFSA.

For more information about financial aid at SVA, click here.

To contact the Office of Financial Aid at SVA, call 212.592.2030 or send an e-mail to fa@sva.edu.

Health and Counseling Services

Students at SVA are automatically enrolled in the school-sponsored accident insurance plan. This coverage is included in the tuition and cannot be waived.

Students are additionally enrolled in the SVA-sponsored sickness insurance plan and billed the Health Insurance Fee. The Health Insurance Fee is charged each semester and students who register and attend classes for the fall and spring semester have coverage for one year.

Students who have other health insurance that can be used in the New York City area and do not wish to keep the sickness portion of the SVA-sponsored insurance must complete the online waiver by the applicable deadline. Failure to complete the waiver results in automatic enrollment in the SVA plan at the current rate. There are no refunds of the Health Insurance Fee after the deadline has passed.

SVA provides confidential Counseling Services free of charge.

Housing

Campus housing is available for graduate students. To read about the SVA residence halls, costs and rates, tours, and applications, click here.

International Applicants

The International Student Office (ISO) provides information and services concerning visas and immigration regulations. Click here for further details.

SVA Student Resources

For general information on Student Life and the Student Resources provided by the School of Visual Arts, click here.

MA Critical Theory and the Arts

“In September 2012, a small master’s program at the School of Visual Arts, an art school in New York City, opened its doors: Critical Theory and the Arts. Adorno scholar and translator Robert Hullot-Kentor dreamt it up and put into action a school for artists and graduate students of various fields of inquiry for a collaborative intensive study over one year.”
-Bettina Funcke, Mousse Magazine, No 37

“The most interesting and lively model for critical learning that I have encountered, in the city or elsewhere.”
-Sam Lewitt, artist

Applications, academic year 2013-2014.
You can read about admission to the program here.