Master of Arts Program

The graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College provides practical training and experience in a museum setting and an intensive course of study in the history of the contemporary visual arts, the institutions and practices of exhibition, and the theory and criticism of the visual arts in the modern period. The program is broadly interdisciplinary. Its faculty includes curators and other museum professionals, scholars in the humanities and social sciences, artists, and critics. The curriculum is specifically designed to deepen students understanding of the intellectual and practical tasks of curating exhibitions of contemporary art, particularly in the complex social and cultural situations of present-day urban arts institutions, and to help students improve their interpretive and critical writing. While the Center's graduate program is organized with a view to the needs of curators and critics of contemporary art, its explorations of exhibition practice and the social and cultural contexts of exhibiting institutions address significant aspects of museum work generally. It can offer an alternative to traditional museum studies programs for students interested in periods of art other than the contemporary or areas of museum or arts administration other than curating.

The Center initiated its graduate program in curatorial studies in the fall of 1994. To date, 107 students have been awarded the M.A. degree. More than a hundred curators, critics, scholars, artists, and other arts professionals have taught seminars or lectured in practicums and courses since the program began. The Center also sponsors exhibitions, lectures and conferences, and research in the contemporary visual arts, society, and culture. The purposes of the Center's public and research programs are to create new forums for the discussion of important issues in the contemporary arts and culture and to encourage new scholarship and exhibition initiatives that can contribute to the development of the graduate curriculum.