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View MS in Professional Media & Media Management Studies
View MA in Media Theory and Research
View Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy
Master of Fine Arts Degree
The Master of Fine Arts degree provides substantial advanced study for a small number of highly talented individuals. The program emphasizes the artistic development of the individual student and the creation of quality artistic works in photography, film, video, sound, interactive/new media. Degree requirements are 60 semester hours, including 51 hours at the 500-level. The program generally takes three years to complete.
While mastery of craft within Media Arts is a vital component of the MFA, the philosophy is that graduate study should expand the student’s breadth as an artist and encourage interdisciplinary study. Available course work in production, criticism, theory, history, and combined media studies emphasizes the interwoven character of traditional and contemporary approaches and technologies in the 21st century.
A distinguished faculty of artists and scholars, excellent facilities, and a variety of curricular offerings allow students to individually tailor their programs of study.
Admissions
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
Application deadline is Feb 1. Priority funding application deadline Jan 2. *
If you are unable to meet this deadline contact the Director of Graduate Studies.
Applicants must meet the following requirements for admission. Admissions will be awarded on the basis of program space and student qualifications.
• Complete Application for Admission to Graduate Study (accompanied by a financial statement for international applicants).
• Certified transcripts of all post-secondary studies.
• Three letters of recommendation from people who can evaluate your potential as a graduate student. Letters must be mailed directly to the Director of graduate Studies in MCMA.
• Prospective students must present evidence of exceptional talent and/or potential in one or two media pursuits in the degree program. This evidence will ordinarily consist of a portfolio of photographs or digitally generated art works, one or more films, videos, sound works, multimedia productions, web art projects, or other evidence of artistic potential.
• A resume outlining educational and professional experience.
• Personal statement explaining the importance of the mass media and what you plan to achieve with your degree.
• Application fee of $40.00 (U.S.) payable to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and mailed to the Director of Graduate Studies in MCMA.
• International students whose native language or first language is not English, or those with fewer than 100 graded semester hours of college credit at a U.S. college or university, are required to take the TOEFL. No exceptions will be made to this rule. The minimum score for admission to the graduate program is 600 (paper score) or 250 (computer score).
Curriculum
The minimum 60 credit degree requires 36 credits of common requirements constituting a core, 18 credits of electives, and a 6 credit Final Creative Project.
Core:
• MCMA 557-3 MFA Studio Arts Practice-6 (3,3)
• MCMA 558-3 MFA Studio Critique-15 (3, 3, 3, 3, 3)
• MCMA 592-2 Proseminar-2
• MCMA 550-4 Introduction to the History and Theory of Media Arts -4
• MCMA 551-3 History of Media Arts and Culture –3
• MCMA 531-3 Critical Research Methods in Media Arts and Culture -3
• MCMA 552-3 Seminar: Topics in the History and Theory of Media Arts -3
Electives: (18 Credits)
Select 18 credits from either inside or outside of the college. No more than 9 credits can be taken at the 400-level and no more than 6 hours of MFA Projects (3,3) can be taken. MFA Projects cannot be repeated with the same professor.
MFA Final Creative Project-6 (3,3)
New MCMA Courses in the MFA:
MCMA 557-6 (3,3) - MFA Studio Arts Practice
This first year course for all incoming MFA students in the college serves as an introduction to media creation strategies and concepts. The emphasis is on aesthetic and conceptual development as encountered within a variety of media arts. The course is team taught by a number of faculty in modules dedicated to various media forms—still image, time-based, spatial, and interactive.
MCMA 558-15 (3,3,3,3,3) - MFA Studio Critique
This critique-based seminar course is offered each semester to all graduate students in the MFA program except those in their last semester of Final Creative Project work. The goal for this course is to create an interdisciplinary forum where students develop research skills, learn how to best articulate their artistic production, and critique their peers’ works. This seminar meets once a week for three hours and each participant contributes with new work at least twice a semester. Seminar participants are expected to compile research materials (articles read, influences, journal entries, etc.) to be shared with others before their scheduled critique. At least one faculty member from each discipline (minimum 3 faculty per semester) participates and/or moderates each meeting time. Whenever possible, guest faculty and visiting artists/scholars are brought in to broaden the discussions and to give fresh insight. Participants are not expected to produce a completed body of work, though a significant level of resolution at the end of the semester is expected/desired.
MCMA 550-4 - Introduction to the History and Theory of Media Arts
This course introduces the history and theory of media arts from its grounding in the pictorial and representational forms that constituted the work of art prior to the age of reproduction to the reproducible and mass cultural forms and media of the modern period: printmaking, photography, cinema, television, digital media, internet and virtual reality, etc. In addition to art, cultural aspects of everyday life and commerce will be examined, with attention to a range of issues that may include race, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, colonialism, globalization, etc.
MCMA 551-3 History of Media Arts and Culture
This course is a survey in the history of the reproducible media arts, including photography, cinema, radio, television, and other visual, audio, and digital media. Media technologies will be located in the historical material conditions they arise in so as to understand how media interact with and make history, how aesthetic forms and movements arise historically, both in relation to preceding forms and in society, and how media contribute towards creating a "structure of feeling" at specific historical junctures. Significant cultural texts from various media will be introduced and tied together theoretically to understand the relation between culture and history and how cultural forms develop historically. Prerequisite: Introduction to the History and Theory of Media Arts, or Permission of Instructor.
MCMA 531-3 Critical Research Methods in Media Arts and Culture
This course introduces students to critical and interpretive research methods and techniques for the study of media arts and culture. It focuses on interdisciplinary approaches and covers a range of methods and theoretical perspectives that may include historiography, ideological and textual analysis, semiotics, psychoanalysis, critical ethnography and autoethnography, and/or other critical methods. Areas of emphasis may vary by instructor. Prerequisite: Introduction to the History and Theory of Media Arts or Permission of Instructor.
MCMA 552-3 Seminar: Topics in the History and Theory of Media Arts
This course provides an in-depth, study and discussion of selected topics in the history and theory of the media arts. Topics vary and will be announced in advance. The course may be repeated when the topic differs. Sample topics: "Marxism and Film: History, Theory and Aesthetics," " Media Culture and Late 20th Century Global Capital: Political Economy, Ideology and Cultural Texts," "Cyberculture Studies," "New Technologies and the Body," "New Media Theory," "Media & Space," "Feminism & Visual Theory," "Psychoanalytic Theory." Prerequisite: Introduction to the History and Theory of Media Arts or Permission of Instructor.
MCMA 564-3 Political Economy of Hollywood
Examines Hollywood as an industry, its structures and policies in the production, distribution and exhibition sectors. Global expansion of Hollywood and its power relations between the U.S. government, Canada and other governments are considered. Part of the course will be devoted to survival strategies for independent filmmakers including alternative modes of financing independent films, contractual terms and conditions in production, distribution and exhibition to understand the intricacies of dealmaking.
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