SVA is closing its MFA Curatorial Practice program

The School of Visual Arts announced Thursday that it will no longer offer an MFA in Curatorial Practice starting next year. Steven Henry Madoff, who founded the department in 2013 and has served as its chair for the past 14 years, shared the latest news with faculty via email.

The sudden announcement comes after years of financial difficulties for the New York art school. Earlier this month, David A. Ross, chair of SVA’s MFA Art Practice program, resigned suddenly. art news Revealed he had a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and appears multiple times in newly released emails.

In his letter to faculty, Madoff explained that he notified SVA President David Rhodes a year and a half ago that he planned to retire in May 2027, and that Rhodes decided to end the master’s program upon Madoff’s retirement. “We call it the ‘instructional plan,'” he wrote, also citing the school’s “financial challenges.”

As recently as January this year, SVA was promoting the curatorial practice project online and soliciting applications for next fall.

“I know this may sound abstract, but the necessity of curation as a tool for making things for the world is both large and specific, based on technical skills and practical training…” Madoff wrote in a post electron fluxA platform for art schools. “That’s what we’re trying to achieve together in the Master of Curatorial Practice program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.”

When the program launched in the summer of 2013, it was positioned to provide “professional training based on practical work with curatorial, art historical and theoretical experts.” At the time, Madoff had been teaching in SFA’s Art Practice program for two years (Ross had been chair of the department since 2008). Well-known curators such as Matthew Higgs, Hou Hanru, and Claire Gilman were announced as the first faculty members. Current faculty include Ruth Estévez (co-director of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture), Chrissie Iles (director of the Whitney Museum of American Art), and Charles Renfro (partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro).

Ultimately, SVA will no longer accept new students this fall. Instead, currently enrolled students will be in their last year earning their degrees, while those teaching first-year courses have just learned that this will be their last year.

SVA did not respond to a request for comment.