(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts has announced that beginning next fall, all incoming visual arts graduate students will receive scholarships equivalent to full out-of-state tuition in the first year and full in-state tuition for the second year of the MFA program. The scholarships reflect the school’s belief that graduate study in art should be accessible to students from a diverse range of backgrounds. Combined with private studios and the resources of a major public research university, these scholarships give students the opportunity to fully focus on their work within a stimulating and supportive community of equals.
“As a public university, we feel that critical art practice should be the focus of our graduate program and that access should be as democratic as possible,” says Gerry Beegan, chair of the Visual Arts Department at Mason Gross. “We encourage artists to engage in a dialogue with each other, faculty, visiting artists, and critics. They can also connect with our undergraduates through teaching and mentorship opportunities.”
The full-time 60-credit MFA degree program offers seminars in painting, sculpture, photography, media, and printmaking. Each graduate student at Mason Gross receives private studio space that is available year-round, 24 hours a day, for the duration of their study.
Graduate students mount exhibitions in the school’s 4,000-square-foot gallery space, dedicated to showcasing student work, and follow up their final thesis show with an exhibition in New York City.
The Mason Gross School’s MFA program was established in 1960 as the first non-disciplinary-specific fine art graduate program in the United States. This intimate community of artists within Rutgers University has a history of being a vibrant locus for interdisciplinary inquiry and critical reflection. Notable MFA alumni include Alice Aycock, Cheryl Dunye, Amy Feldman, Raque Ford, Matthew Day Jackson, Paddy Johnson, Jennie C. Jones, Israel Lund, Jeanine Oleson, Cliff Owens, William Pope.L, Charles Ray, Lucas Samaras, Juan Sánchez, George Segal, Mimi Smith, Joan Snyder, Keith Sonnier, Jackie Winsor, and Wendy White.
Applications for fall 2016 admission are being accepted through February 1, 2016.
About Mason Gross School of the Arts
Founded in 1976, Mason Gross School of the Arts is the flagship public arts conservatory of New Jersey. Part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the school is home to the departments of Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts as well as the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, Mason Gross Extension Division, Arts Online, and the Rutgers Center For Digital Filmmaking. The school’s enrollment of 750 undergraduates and 300 graduate students across four departments, combined with a faculty of 213, ensures students the opportunity to work closely with accomplished artists within their fields. For more information visit www.masongross.rutgers.edu
Photo of Mason Gross visual arts class in the Civic Square Building by Matt Rainey for Mason Gross School of the Arts.
