There are other art schools, but they are not like this place.
The SMFA program was designed by artists, for artists. It puts you, the artist, at the center. You will be encouraged here. You will be pushed. To take risks. To work in a medium you've never tried before. But you won't be told what to do. You will work with the faculty to develop your own voice, your own point-of-view. Which is why our students, our graduates, go on to define new directions in the arts. Many are pioneers in their field. Others create entirely new fields. The education you receive here will prepare you for a world that is constantly changing and constantly placing very high demands on its participants.
The Museum School is a challenging place; it is designed to be that way. But in the end, it is an experience that will be profoundly rewarding. And that is what a really good education is all about.
Mission
The mission of the School is to provide an education in the fine arts for undergraduate and graduate artists - in experienced and advanced artists of widely ranging age groupings - that is interdisciplinary, self-directed and always evolving. It has special features: it values cultural, artistic and intellectual diversity; it must include a wide range of media; it stresses the development of individual vision; it values art making more than adherence to curricular rules; it stays deeply in touch with the external world of art. If the mission is constant, its practice is always emerging.
History
Since 1876, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has been educating artists by providing them with the respect and freedom they need to develop.
