2025-2026 Info Sessions: University of California, Santa Cruz Environmental Art + Social Practice MFA Program (hosted on zoom)

Tuesday October 1, 2024. 12:00pm - 2:00pm PST
Saturday October 19, 2024. 12:00pm - 2:00pm PST
Saturday November 2, 2024. 12:00pm - 2:00pm PST
Tuesday December 3, 2024. 12:00pm- 2:00pm PST

These informal meetings will be excellent opportunities to hear more about the EASP program and to meet EASP MFA faculty. We will give an overview of the curriculum and program, as well as answer any questions you might have about the admissions process, facilities, and life as an MFA student at UCSC.

RSVP for one of these sessions via this Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13z2K5b4A5UT1Hv5mcPqZvUyltUVVhohFFPbnXb3VFV8/edit

About Our Program

This unique, two-year, residential program seeks prospective applicants who want to develop their artwork in relation to social and environmental justice questions, contexts and communities. Headed by internationally-recognized artists and including affiliate faculty from across campus, the program integrates the resources of a great public university with the Art Department’s mission of educating and training students in cross-disciplinary, multimedia art practices. Students translate concerns for environmental and social justice into contemporary art practices through professional training combining project-based research, seminars, faculty mentorship, electives, visiting artists, and peer critiques. Working individually and collaboratively, in the studio and in the field, students will experiment with different approaches to build their practices conceptually and practically, while critically and creatively exploring art’s role as a catalyst for radical change.

The MFA at UC Santa Cruz offers:

The intellectual and interdisciplinary resources of a research university renowned for its in-depth engagements with ecology and social justice
Close association with the diverse communities and ecologies of northern and central California
A committed art faculty recognized for our engagements with social practice and environmental art
A curriculum that provides an inclusive frame to foster critical learning and for practicing art in direct relation to issues, places, and communities
Facilities that support traditional and new technologies and media
Dedicated MFA studio space
Faculty-led research centers which act as focal points for topic-based research as well as external funding
The University of California Library system connecting users with up-to-date global research resources
Full funding support through Teaching Assistantships

With these important pieces in place, we invite students to join us in the ongoing creation of this program, one in which socio-bio-diversity is acknowledged, respected, and celebrated, and through which we can cultivate our ability to respond to urgent contemporary issues connected to the complex relations between art and life on earth. The contemporary urgencies of systemic social inequality and rapid environmental change add momentum to the implementation of this program.

We welcome practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds and training to study, imagine and create together new possibilities for what art can do and become.

If you think you would like to join us, or if you want more information, contact the Director of Graduate Studies at: artmfa@ucsc.edu