Type | Proprietary art and design school |
---|---|
Established | 1947 |
President | David Rhodes |
Academic staff
|
971 |
Undergraduates | 3,602 (Fall 2016) |
Postgraduates | 650 (Fall 2016) |
Location | New York City, New York |
Campus | Urban |
Affiliations | AICAD |
Website | sva |
School of Visual Arts (SVA) is a for-profit art and design college located in Manhattan, New York, founded in 1947. The college is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, a consortium of 36 leading art schools in the United States.
SVA offers 11 undergraduate and 22 graduate degree programs, and its stated mission is to provide:
"undergraduate degree programs in art and design that prepare students for entry into an array of professional fields in or related to the visual arts, while also equipping students with the skills necessary to become productive and thoughtful members of society; rigorous and practice-based graduate programs in the visual arts and its allied fields; a continuing education program intended to meet the diverse needs of New York City’s professional art and design community and the larger community within which the college resides; and a commitment to serving the greater good through community service."
SVA was established by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth in 1947, as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School. The school began with three teachers and 35 students, most of whom were World War II veterans who had a large part of their tuition underwritten by U.S. government's G.I. Bill. The college was renamed the School of Visual Arts in 1956. It offered its first degrees in 1972. In 1983, the college introduced its first graduate offering, a Master of Fine Arts in painting, drawing and sculpture.
Today the school has a faculty of more than 1,000 and a student body of over 3,000. The school offers 11 undergraduate and 22 graduate degree programs and is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.