The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Master of Arts (MA) in Arts Administration and Policy program provides a teaching and learning environment in which the role of the administrator is understood as critically engaged: not mere conduits through which art must pass between artist and audience, Arts Administrators are charged and entrusted with shaping, maintaining, re-envisioning, and even revolutionizing the very platforms and organizational mechanisms through which arts-inspired conversation and change can occur. As such, they must be responsive, dialogic problem-solvers and re-imaginers whose work with art and artists is, by nature, mutually creative.
The MA in Arts Administration and Policy program encourages students to think beyond existing institutional and policy structures and assumptions and to work flexibly and adaptively in a dynamic cultural and institutional landscape.
This is a two-year program that emphasizes hands-on work in professional situations. Students plan their studies around their professional goals, culminating in a thesis. Interactions and practical experiences are actively encouraged and are facilitated through coursework in the Management Studio sequence, Critical and Cultural Policy studies curriculum, and Proseminar: Leadership Talks with a series of invited, distinguished guest lecturers.
Alumni of the program enjoy a high rate of post-graduation success, and have gone on to professional positions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Milwaukee Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Creative Time, Chicago Humanities Festival, Field Museum, Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Sundance Film Festival, U.S. State Department, MAXXI/Rome, Chiang Mai Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and more.
For more information about the program, visit saic.edu/maaap.
Apply Now
Applications are due on January 10, 2021. To learn more about the application process and to apply, visit saic.edu/gradapp.
Contact the Office of Graduate Admissions with any questions.
Email: gradmiss@saic.edu
Phone: 312.629.6100
Toll free: 800.232.7242
About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman. For more information, please visit saic.edu
