New York Arts Program

THE CULTURAL RESOURCES OF NEW YORK CITY are well known. The milieu of the large urban setting of the professional artist the people, places and events which constitute the artists environment, world, and immediate audience provide benefits through daily access to these resources. Students share this world through working apprenticeships with artists in the visual, performing, literary, publishing, film, and communication arts. Through this involvement they develop an understanding of the intentions, problems, and means of the arts as practiced in this multi-cultural world.

THE PROGRAM HAS TWO MAIN GOALS: to provide advanced experience and knowledge in highly focused arts areas (primarily through the apprenticeships), and to provide a broadened knowledge of all the arts as practiced in New York (through the Area Studies). The means of achieving these goals are adapted to the individual participants. SINCE 1967 OVER 2500 PARTICIPANTS have completed this unique program and over 800 apprenticeship sponsors have worked with the students in the program. The program maintains housing and offices, supportive facilities, and a full-tme, on-site staff in New York City.

THE PROGRAM

1. THE APPRENTICESHIPS FORM THE CORE OF THE program by offering the participants a view of professional standards, procedures, materials, and personnel associated with the student's interest. Participants are engaged in full-time apprenticeships with professional artists or organizations in wide variety of fields.

The program has extensive placement opportunity files, and a network of contact persons, to place students in all of the arts as apprentices. The placement does not pay for a student's time, but must provide a professional who works closely with the student and his/her faculty advisor to assure a learning experience.

Placement opportunities are extremely diverse. It would take pages to list the specifics of the numerous placement opportunities. Your application should be specific as possible about kinds of work and goals you have in mind, even giving examples of artists and organizations. This will help the student's New York Academic Advisor to narrow the field when you come to New York. Based on your academic background, life-skills, and interests, we can arrange an internship with a sponsor in an appropriate field, whether it is for you to explore new areas of work or to advance studies begun on campus.

2. AREA STUDIES. Area studies present topics from diverse arts areas. They have three goals: To provide background for contacting the works and events currently available in New York; to reveal common concerns among the arts; and to encourage discussion among participants and with guest artists. Typical area studies subjects have included; Urban Planning, Drawing, Musical Theatre, Contemporary Music, Performance Art, New York Poetry, Public Art, the Dance Scene, Comedy, and a changing spectrum of subjects. Area studies usually meet in the studios, theaters, galleries, offices, and actual sites in the city to discuss work and ideas with those who re creating in these areas.

3. THE JOURNAL. The semester residency in a large urban center saturated with arts events is an educational benefit of the program. All participants are required to keep journals of their residency. The journal is not to be kept as a diary, but rather a composite of individual experiences, observations , and discoveries which have personal significance for the participant.

AREAS OF INTEREST

STUDIO ARTISTS. Internships are available for students of fine arts with painters, sculptors, photographers, performance artists and printmakers. Students are exposed to an enormous range of styles and media. Craft options include fabrics, jewelry making and papermaking.

DESIGNERS AND APPLIED ARTS. Apprentices in applied arts assist illustrators, graphic or advertising designers, architects, photographers, and interior and fashion designers. Students learn skills, presentation techniques and in some instances use computer graphics. You could work closely with the creative or business areas of design gaining exposure to the field you are exploring.

ART HISTORY. Gallery positions entail organizing exhibitions, dealing with artists, clients and the public and clerical duties. Museum work would duplicate some gallery responsibilities plus the advantage of working with specific collections and the resources of the museum. A variety of departments are open to apprentices including membership, education, public relations and curatorial. Students may work with independent curators and contemporary critics or auction houses. Publishing and work with scholars might serve the student with an interest in writing.

ARTS ADMINISTRATION IN ALL DISCIPLINES. Theatre Administration students assist management personnel in a Broadway production office or an off-Broadway theater. Work includes payroll, assigning seats, auditing and the daily operation of the office. Audience development internships involving subscription campaigns and advertising are also available. Music and dance administration would include many of the same opportunities and roles but serve to introduce the student to work in his/her area of the arts in that capacity. Art and Art History administration includes museum fund raising and exhibition promotions and their parallels in the galleries. There are opportunities with corporate funding and collecting as well as governmental granting.