School of Visual Arts Ends Photography MFA Program
Founding Chair Charles Traub said he believed the closure could have been avoided with “better coordination” and more strategies for “how we were going to deal with the future of AI.”
The School of Visual Arts (SVA) is ending its graduate Photography, Video, and Related Media program due to the university's growing financial deficit. SVA Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jason Koth announced the program's termination in an email shared with Hyperallergic. Koth stated that MFA Photo candidates will be able to complete their degree without interruption, marking the program's closing after 40 years - with its final graduation class being the Class of 2028.
The provost explained that the decision to shut down the program was a result of SVA's ongoing economic challenges, a nationwide decline in enrollment for graduate-level photography programs, and broader federal policy and financial difficulties that have made it unsustainable to maintain the program's current structure. This move follows the announcement of the termination of SVA's graduate curatorial practice degree track next spring, following the retirement of its founder and chair, Steven Henry Madoff.
Founding Chair Charles Traub expressed regret over the closure of the MFA Photo program, attributing it to a lack of proper coordination and a failure to address the future implications of AI in the field.
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