Fine Arts Writing - School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Fine Arts Writing from School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a Campus Master Film degree that prepares you for a Art and Design career. SAIC's Master of Fine Arts in Writing program is for writers of all genres?fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting , and screenwriting?as well as for writers and artists who work with both image and text. The two-year program distinguishes itself from more conventional writing programs in that it both questions typical genre distinctions, and nurtures traditional writing approaches. This inclusiveness is the program's unique strength: an approach that fosters a community of writers and artists who are encouraged to evolve according to their interests, be it poetry, story, essay, drama, or collaborative projects that meld diverse literary and visual disciplines into new forms of artistic expression. SAIC's Writing program does not track genre and students are not limited in the ways in which they can work. The student-driven program provides the freedom to cross between media, and it emphasizes process, as students learn to sustain their careers as artists through seminars and one-on-one advising. The Writing program is not situated within an English department, allowing students to experience a shift in thinking, more directed toward the process of creating. Situated within an acclaimed school of fine art and design, students have the opportunity to enhance their practice with interdisciplinary study. Writing students are encouraged to develop a plan of study and work with advisors from any area of the school?be it performance, film, sculpture, or art history?that best supports and promotes their continued growth. The Writing program's distinguished faculty have expertise in playwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Tutorials anchor the curriculum, and each semester students choose one or two members from the SAIC graduate faculty at large to act as stewards of their development. For more than a decade this anchor has freed students and faculty to innovate pedagogically in the workshop and seminar curricular frameworks. It allows students to pursue elective work in any area of SAIC. Visiting writers have included: Eula Biss, Katherine Shonk, Stephanie Strickland, Kia Corthron, Magdalena Gomex, Geoffrey Bouvier, Joseph Lease, Pierre Joris, as well as Farrar, Straus, Giroux editor Gena Hamshaw, and Chicago Tribune editor Randy Curwen. A variety of opportunities exist for writing students to intersect with the institution, the museum, and its affiliate organizations. Five writing fellowships, in which graduate students assist in teaching sophomore seminars, are available each semester, as well as four teaching assistantships for undergraduate writing classes. Writing students who incorporate the visual in their production are included in the SAIC Graduate Thesis Exhibition, and all graduating writing students are featured in the annual publication Collected. Two other editorial opportunities exist for writing students with the award-winning F Newsmagazine and the Writing department's online magazine, Dear Navigator. In these extracurricular activities and more, students are free from the self-protection common in workshop communities. Adapting practices from their studio artist peers, students form collectives, small presses, storefront galleries, and theater groups creating independent arts organizations and venues that outlast their tenure at SAIC and revitalize Chicago's literary scene. Candidates are required to submit a thesis of appropriate length in poetry or prose in their final semester. Also in their final semester, candidates may choose to participate either in the Graduate Exhibition or in the MFAW publication, the Graduate Performance series, or take part in the MFAW reading. Students who choose to participate in the Graduate Exhibition should consider taking WRIT 5001: Writing for Exhibition, or a similar course with a concentration on the art of exhibiting. Students expecting to take part in the Graduate Exhibition should also enroll during their course of study in at least two Graduate Projects sections with an adviser from the studio areas of SAIC. View more details on School of the Art Institute of Chicago . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Film courses.