Priority application deadline: January 15, 2018
The application period for the 2018 cohort of the Nomad/9 MFA in Interdisciplinary Art is now open.
“With many of the program’s teachers hailing from fields beyond art, Nomad/9 is an example of a program looking to challenge the retrograde structure of higher education from within—a difficult task, but a crucial one.” –Artsy
Program
Created in 2015, Nomad/9 MFA program is a low-residency program offered by the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford, with high-impact residencies that include ecology, history, and the craft-to-code technology continuum. The Nomad/9 MFA offers artists a revolutionary new way of engaging with their home community and other communities across the Americas, while preparing to address today’s most pressing cultural and social issues through their work. This singular MFA program is dedicated to regenerative culture and built for the 21st century with dynamic, cross-disciplinary, experiential coursework at sites throughout the Americas, including El Salvador, New York City, Oakland, CA, Miami, FL, and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Curriculum
The Nomad/9 Interdisciplinary MFA curriculum brings together art, ecology, the technology continuum (from craft to code), and the study of history and culture. Featuring a rigorous critical discourse, the program includes artists from diverse creative disciplines on the faculty, and in the student cohort and supports art practices in craft, social practice, eco-art, design, art and healing, and community engagement. The 26-month, accredited program uses a living classroom approach to hands-on learning. During each residency, students engage in a reciprocal relationship with the site, learning from local practitioners and contributing to regional initiatives. Each site fosters awareness of the histories, cultures, and ecosystems present. Between residencies, students continue their practices independently while working closely with faculty.
Faculty
Faculty and visiting artists include curators, educators, program managers, designers, and active visual, multimedia, performance, and video artists: Christine Baeumler, Cat Balco, John Bielenberg, Amanda Carlson, Mark Dion, Ted Efremoff, Christy Gast, Hope Ginsburg, Gene Gort, Muriel Hasbun, Pablo Helguera, Seitu Jones, Amanda Lovelee, Shanai Matteson, Mary Mattingly, Colin McMullan, Nomad/9 Director Carol Padberg, Ernesto Pujol, Allison Smith, Mona Smith, Sandy Spieler, Linda Weintraub, Nico Wheadon, and Caroline Woolard. In a time of rapid environmental, social, and economic change, the Nomad/9 program is dedicated to providing artists with an education that goes beyond the art world. In 2016, Nomad/9’s first-year learning experiences included green woodworking in a forest classroom; a workshop on materiality, death, and regeneration; and and experiencing North American indigenous knowledge systems with Dakota teachers.
How to apply
The priority application deadline for scholarship consideration is January 15, 2018.
Information on applying, and Nomad/9 MFA’s generous merit scholarships, can be found at nomad9mfa.org. Interested students may call T (860) 768 4639 for more information.
