School of Visual Arts to end its master’s curatorial practice program
The news comes after SVA said it would move its MFA Art Practice program fully online.
Labor and Capital
The School of Visual Arts, a private university in New York City, has announced that it will end its master’s program in curatorial practice.
“After many successful years, the MA Curatorial Practice program is no longer accepting applications for future cohorts,” the university’s website reads. “We invite you to explore SVA’s other graduate offerings.”
The news was also shared with faculty in an email from Steven Henry Madoff, which was obtained by Art News.
Madoff, who founded the department in 2013, reportedly said in his email that he advised SVA president David Rhodes in 2024 that he plans to retire in May 2027.
Rhodes decided to end the program with Madoff’s retirement, Madoff said in the email. His email also referenced ongoing financial challenges at the university.
The news comes after David Ross, the former head of the MFA Art Practice program, told Urgent Matter in December that the art practice program would transition to a fully online degree beginning next academic year.
At the time, he billed it as an effort to eliminate mandatory in-person residency requirements while cutting per-credit tuition roughly in half.
That program has operated as a low-residency degree for the past 14 years, requiring students to spend six weeks in New York City during three successive summers, with the remainder of coursework conducted online.
SVA moves MFA Art Practice program fully online, cuts tuition
SVA is removing mandatory summer residencies and lowering per-credit tuition.
Adam Schrader
Under the new model, the residency requirement has been removed entirely, though students may still opt into a voluntary summer symposium in New York.
Ross has since resigned from the university after his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in the latest release of documents from the U.S. Justice Department. He has not faced any criminal charges, and associations with Epstein do not imply criminal wrongdoing.
He did not return Urgent Matter’s request for comment when the news broke.
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