Frequently Asked Questions

You may find our up to date admission requirements here: Admissions Requirements and Deadlines

No, the GRE is not required.

We do not require prerequisite courses for this program. We have candidates from a variety of different academic and professional backgrounds, and the curriculum is designed to provide a rigorous foundation and in-depth specialized training that builds on students’ prior experience.

An international credential evaluation and English language proficiency scores are required. For more information about required materials for international applicants, please visit: Graduate Admissions: International Applicants

The program’s interdisciplinary curriculum connects meaningfully with a wide range of undergraduate degrees.

Many students who have been admitted to the program have undergraduate degrees directly related to the art market, such as art history, fine arts, business, economics, and marketing while other students have studied communications, psychology, or social work, for example.

What matters more than the specific undergraduate degree is an applicant’s interest in the art world and the role they see for the program in realizing their professional goals. In addition, all students must demonstrate a knowledge of art, as well as strong writing and research skills.

Regardless of undergraduate major, all students must demonstrate a knowledge of art, as well as strong writing and research skills.

The program does offer a six-semester part-time option in which students enroll in three classes their first semester and two classes thereafter. Most classes are offered in the evening, too, to better accommodate students who are working or pursuing internships.

Classes are scheduled on Mondays and Tuesdays in the afternoons and evenings, with most classes scheduled in the evenings.

A trio of courses—Curating, Art Entrepreneurship, and Art Research—feature culminating projects that provide students’ with a portfolio that serves the function of a thesis or capstone project.

In Curating, students create an individual curatorial proposal for an exhibition; in Art Entrepreneurship, students create a business plan and pitch for a new venture (which may be commercial or non-profit, stand-alone or situated within an existing organization); and in Art Research, students write an article based on original research and submit it for journal publication.

Together, these three projects demonstrate our graduates’ ability to innovate, execute, and communicate across different roles and sectors of the art market.

Our curriculum offers students a unique blend of structure and autonomy. Within each required class, students have significant opportunities to cultivate their own areas of interest, and students can also supplement their MA classes with undergraduate courses from FIT’s vast catalog. The three culminating projects described above also give students the opportunity to showcase their individual interests and expertise.

Candidates who submit and complete their application by the priority deadline are the first applications to be reviewed, thus candidates are encouraged to submit their applications as early as possible.

Selection is based on all of the components of the application, though the department prioritizes applicants with a demonstrated interest in the field, relevant educational backgrounds, and prior professional experience. A candidate’s transcripts, letters of recommendation, resume, work experience, and test scores (if applicable) are reviewed holistically.

All candidates will be required to submit a recorded interview as part of the application. Applicants should be prepared to take part in a follow up live interview with their academic department upon request.

Between 15 and 20 students enroll each year.

No, the fall semester is the only intake period per year.

The program takes four semesters (two fall, two spring) for full-time students and six semesters (three fall, three spring) for part-time students.

Most graduates find employment in the commercial art world (galleries, auction houses, appraisal firms, art fairs, art advisory firms), but alumni have also obtained positions in museums and non-profit organizations as well as in the storage and logistics companies that service both commercial and non-profit clients. Some alumni have also pursued emerging opportunities at the intersection of art and technology, and others have started their own businesses (e.g., a gallery, a cultural marketing consultancy) after graduating.

The new program takes a more interdisciplinary approach to visual arts management by integrating perspectives from a broader range of disciplines.

While art history, cultural economics, and management science are still foundational, the program now features more courses (e.g., Art Worlds and Markets, Art and Ethics, Art and Technology) that incorporate other fields (e.g., anthropology, media studies, philosophy, sociology).