SVA MFA Design Criticism Department

136 West 21 Street, Second Floor (between Sixth and Seventh Avenues)
Subway: F, V at 23rd Street; 1 at 23rd Street

The SVA MFA in Design Criticism is a pioneering two-year graduate program that trains students to research, analyze, and evaluate design and its social and environmental implications. Study with some of the best design writers and thinkers of our time, including MoMA’s senior curator of Architecture and Design Paola Antonelli, Design Observer blogger Alexandra Lange, and New York Times critic Phil Patton. Learn how to curate an exhibition, produce a radio segment, launch a blog, edit a publication, host a lecture series, and stage a major conference. Understand the forces shaping contemporary design and immerse yourself in the controversies that challenge it; find your personal voice, hone your writing skills, and develop your critical stance. Join D-Crit alumni working as editors, curators, researchers, managers, educators, and bloggers. 

The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City is an established leader and innovator in the education of artists. From its inception in 1947, the faculty has been comprised of professionals working in the arts and art-related fields. SVA provides an environment that nurtures creativity, inventiveness and experimentation, enabling students to develop a strong sense of identity and a clear direction of purpose.

On Tuesday evenings at D-Crit we present lectures by the most thoughtful and provocative writers, editors, designers, and curators practicing today in the interrelated fields of design, architecture and urban planning. Selected to supplement our curriculum with their original methods and alternative viewpoints, these speakers inspire and challenge our students. Our students, in turn, through the discussion they lead, help illuminate the concerns and priorities of design criticism today. 

We are already accepting applications for admission in the Fall of 2013. Please contact us for a tour and more information at dcrit@sva.edu.