A first of its kind program, this innovative MA is designed for a new generation of artists looking for the entrepreneurial acumen that is necessary today to build a sustainable creative practice and professional life in the arts.
The new program merges studio practice from the Master of Fine Art (MFA) program with coursework in the business, markets, history and theory of art, as well as core courses in finance, accounting, law, and marketing. Students maintain a fine art practice while learning broadly transferable business and management principles and techniques. In contrast to a conventional MFA, candidates for this degree pursue an entrepreneurship sequence, capped by the Startup Studio—a course in which creative initiatives are pitched to panels of artists, arts professionals, business leaders, and entrepreneurs from the Los Angeles community.
Understanding the culture of the studio, and the kind of work, planning, and management required to engage in ambitious artistic projects, either at large scale or over long periods of time, is more necessary today than at any time before.
