Application and scholarship deadline: March 15, 2015
Studio Art Centers International (SACI) Florence
Office of Admissions
50 Broad Street, Suite 1617
New York, NY 10004
T +1 212 248 7225
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SACI MFA in Studio Art
The SACI MFA in Studio Art is the first Master’s degree from the US completed entirely in Europe. Based in Florence, Italy, the two-year 60-credit program develops an intense, first-hand immersion in the contemporary art world.
The students are challenged with diverse activities that will offer them the complete spectrum of the global art scene. Studio courses offer time to develop individual practices and to explore approaches, methods and technologies. Students are encouraged to experiment with various media and have the opportunity to work with instructors from all studio and academic areas of SACI.
Opportunities are presented to develop personal directions and interests with chosen instructors or external experts and professionals in the field, both within the specific studio art disciplines and in the broader cultural panorama. Academic classes engage in the most important historical and contemporary critical debates; studio visits with Italian and international artists give the possibility to directly experience and have contact with the issues and practices of art; field trips to cities such as Venice, Rome, Turin, Milan, Naples, Berlin, and London are fundamental occasions to get inside the development and production of exhibitions in terms of art practice and display solutions.
The two-year program is a full immersion experience and builds strong awareness of the personal practice within the contemporary debate. Active participation and critical dialogue is constructed by the continuous exchange students have with professors and collaborators of the program, as well as with the personalized instructors (DIS and Major Professor) who closely follow the specific development of each student.
SACI MFA in Photography
In SACI’s MFA in Photography students travel to major art sites and attend international art and photography fairs throughout Italy and Europe. They visit the major European photography festivals, such as Paris Photo, Fotografia Festival Internazionale di Roma, and Photolux in Lucca.
Students in SACI’s MFA in Photography program pursue a curriculum integrating practical and critical skills that encourages individual innovation, creative collaboration, mentorships, and instruction from SACI’s outstanding faculty. They benefit as well from interaction with members of SACI’s Artists Council and the Friends of SACI, which include established artists, photographers, critics, curators, and publishers, many of international renown.
Working in their studio space in a fully renovated Renaissance palazzo in the heart of Florence, students are near the Alinari National Museum of the History of Photography and the Alinari Archives. Students are surrounded by great works that have drawn artists and photographers past and present to Florence to seek inspiration and develop their own pictorial language. In their graduate seminars, students explore a range of contemporary photographic practices, visit photographers in their studios, and interview museum curators, critics, and other significant figures in the art and photography worlds.
MFA in Photography students attend SACI in Florence for two successive academic years and earn 60 credits. During their first year, under the mentorship of their selected Major Professor, they put together a program that balances independent study with classroom study. In their second year, emphasis is placed upon career options for emerging photographers. Students gain practical experience as SACI Teaching Assistants and their photographic work is featured in major exhibitions in Florence.
SACI is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). Applications received by the March 15 application and scholarship deadline are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Founded in 1975, Studio Art Centers International (SACI) is a US non-profit 501(c)3 university-level institution in Florence, Italy, offering undergraduate and graduate students fully accredited studio art, design, conservation, and liberal arts instruction. SACI’s study programs include Academic Year Abroad, Academic Semester Abroad, two-year MFA degree in Photography, two-year MFA degree in Studio Art, one-year MA degree in Art History, Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Year Abroad in Studio Art, Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Year Abroad in Conservation, Summer Studies, and Venice Biennale Summer 2015.
