Whether you’re interested in coding, VR/AR, apps, websites, projection mapping, sound, or other electronic forms, MCAD has the support to help you explore in an interdisciplinary environment. Our mentors will help you investigate technical, theoretical, and historical vantage points of the field.

See the Recent Mentors to get a sense of who our students are working with.

Equipment & Space

M/LAB is a 13,282-square-foot space fostering innovation and collaboration. You can check it out on our virtual building tour. It contains:

• Media Center (check out photography, film, digital, animation, lighting, sound, VR/AR, and exhibition AV technology)
• Black Box Gallery
• Analog and digital print studios
• Film and animation production studios
• Digital photo lab
• Sound recording and mixing studio
• Web and multimedia studio
• High-tech classrooms
• 2 multi-use production studios

Regional Resources

MCAD and the Twin Cities’ community also has many organizations, events, and studios, which support wide-ranging practices:

• Northern Lights — supports artists in the creation and presentation of art in the public sphere, focusing on innovative uses of technology to imagine new interactions between audience, artwork and place and explore expanded possibilities for civic engagement; organizes Northern Spark Festival, Creative City Challenge, and Art(ists) on the Verge
• Walker Art Center — a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences. Focusing on the visual, performing, and media arts of our time, the Walker takes a global, multidisciplinary, and diverse approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of art.
• Minneapolis Institute of Art — enriches the community by collecting, preserving, and making accessible outstanding works of art from the world’s diverse cultures.
• Minnesota Museum of American Art — showcases the unique voice of American artists from the 19th century to the present.
• Weisman Art Museum’s Target Studio for Creative Collaboration — space dedicated to collaborations between artists and scholars. It is a workplace, a convening space, a laboratory, a gallery, and a classroom. It hosts workshops, discussions, exhibitions, performances, and symposia. It is dynamic, evolving, and unpredictable, as all true collaborations are.
• Art Shanty Projects — an artist driven temporary community exploring the ways in which relatively unregulated public spaces can be used as new and challenging artistic environments to expand the notions of what art can be.
• Creative Mornings – every month, a free event that gathers to foster a united and connected creative community: features a speaker from the creative community, plus coffee/breakfast.
• Pollen Midwest – invests in human connection to fuel momentum for social change (hosts breakfast meetings with speakers)

Regional Funding

Additionally, MCAD’s MFA program can help you apply to several regional sources of funding. For some awards, you can apply during the summer between your first and second year to receive funding in the months after graduating.

• Jerome Foundation Grants
• Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program
• Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Grants
• Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants (can apply as a student, but project cannot be associated with your degree program)
• McKnight Foundation Grants
• Midway Contemporary Art Visual Arts Fund
• Red Eye’s Works-In-Progress Program
• and more (the funding environment in MN is ever-evolving and growing)

Professional Practices & Career Development

Each semester, we host a series of talks/workshops focused on professional practices (alumni are invited to attend, and we feature alumni as speakers when possible). Topics range widely and are selected based on current student interests and suggestions.

Travel

Each year, the MFA program takes a trip to either New York City or Los Angeles where we visit MCAD alumni studios and offices, in addition to all the rich art and design resources these cities offer.

MCAD MFA students are also invited to apply for summer abroad experiences via the WorkArt Fellowship Program (Germany), Burren College of Art’s Summer School (Ireland), DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia (Copenhagen or Stockholm),or USF’s Paris/Venice/London program (alternating locations depending on year). International travel is an optional added cost for MFA students (not required).

Visiting Artists

Visiting artists, designers, and critics are a central element of Graduate Critique Seminar. Each week a visitor is invited to present their work and critique two students’ work during class. By the time a student has completed the MFA Program, they will have seen approximately 30 different in-class visitors. Additionally, the MFA Program regularly invites artists for clusters of studio visits.

Selected Alumni & Achievements

You can view an on-going list of MFA alumni highlights here. A few call outs include:

• Kelley Meister ’08, Artists On the Verge 11 Fellowship 2019
• Essma Imady ’16, Artists On the Verge 10 Fellowship 2018
• Kelsey Bosch ’16 , Artists On the Verge 10 Fellowship 2017

We also have successful alumni working in these areas:

• Zander Brimijoin (Creative Director and Co-Owner of Red Paper Heart)
• Kelsey Bosch
• Zoe Cinel
• Essma Imady
• Jennifer Jurgens
• John Keston
• Donna Meyer