School of Visual Arts

Summary

The School of Visual Arts (SVA), is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States.[1] It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and was renamed in 1956.[2] It offered its first degrees in 1972.[3] SVA is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of 36 leading art schools in the United States.

Curriculum

SVA is a fully accredited for-profit college that requires the completion of a four-year, 120 credit course for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. This includes 72 accumulated credits' worth of studio classes (where the curriculum requires the creation of some type of art), 30 accumulated credits of Humanities and Sciences courses, 12 accumulated credits of art history courses, and six discretionary credits. The Master of Fine Arts degree requires completion of 60 credits and a thesis project, while the Master of Professional Studies degree requires 30–36 credits and a thesis project, depending on the program. The Master of Arts in Teaching degree requires the completion of 36 credits and a thesis project.

As of 2000, the undergraduate degrees offered at SVA are Advertising, Animation, Cartooning, Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects, Film & Video, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Photography, and Visual & Critical Studies.[4]

In 1983, the school introduced its first graduate offering, a Master of Fine Arts program in painting, drawing and sculpture. Currently, SVA offers graduate programs in nineteen fields: Art Education; Art Criticism & Writing; Art Practice; Art Therapy; Branding; Computer Art; Design; Design Criticism; Digital Photography; Fashion Photography; Illustration as Visual Essay; Live Action Short Film; Photography, Video and Related Media; Social Documentary Film; Interaction Design; Design for Social Innovation; Products of Design; and Critical Theory and the Arts.[5]

There are also non-degree departments offering courses in Art History and Humanities & Sciences, and a Continuing Education Division that offers non-credit courses from most SVA departments.[6]

Location and campus

The school has two Manhattan locations: in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, on the East Side; and in the Chelsea neighborhood, on the West Side, with a number of buildings catering to classes in different departments.

The Main Building is located at 209 East 23rd Street, between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, and features classrooms, administrative offices, a cafeteria (Moe's Cafe) and an amphitheater on the third floor. The upper floors are mostly designated for the film, video, graphic design, advertising, illustration and cartooning classes. The building’s lobby and an adjoining room also serve as a museum space for exhibits and public events.

The school does not own this entire building, which is located at 380 Second Avenue, but only three of its floors, including the second, where the school’s library and some classrooms are located, the fifth floor, where undergraduate animation studios and the graduate design department are located, the seventh floor, where the illustration classrooms and studios are located, and the eighth floor, where administrative offices, and classrooms designated for Humanities and Sciences classes are located.

Located at 214 East 21st Street, this building is where classrooms and studios used for undergraduate and graduate photography classes are located, as well as the school’s radio station, WSVA, and some administrative offices.

This building, located from 133 to 141 West 21st Street, between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue in Chelsea, contains most of the studios serving drawing and painting classes, particularly for freshmen. It also features classrooms for courses in interior design, printmaking, BFA & MFA computer art, and art history. The lower level also features an art gallery and a cafeteria.

SVA also owns the building across the street, at 132 West 21st Street, which has offices, classrooms and studios for undergraduate cartooning & illustration, and graduate interaction design, Illustration as Visual Essay, computer art, art education, art therapy, art criticism and writing.

Located at 335 West 16th Street, this building houses the BFA Fine Arts Department, Sculpture Studios and Digital Lab.

Located at 333 West 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, in Chelsea. It was formerly the Clearview Chelsea West Cinema, and was purchased in 2008. Renovation of it began that September, and it opened in January 2009. Designer and SVA Acting Chairman Milton Glaser produced designs for the Theater's interior and exterior of the building, including the sculpture situated atop its marquee. The 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) facility houses two separate auditoriums, one with 265 seats and the other with 480, hosts class meetings, lectures, film screenings and other public events. Community partners that have used the theater include the Tribeca and GenArt film festivals, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC environmental initiative, and the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.[7]

SVA has three gallery spaces: the Visual Arts Gallery, at 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor; the West side Gallery, at 141 West 21st Street; and the SVA Gallery/Visual Arts Museum, at 209 East 23rd Street. The galleries show a mix of student and professional art.

There are a number of residence halls for students at SVA: