10 Signs Your Art School is Just a Money Sucking Cult

1. The Teachers Aren’t Artists

You’ve paid thousands of dollars and the people who are teaching you are not working artists. They have little or no history of art making outside of the school. You may not like or respect their artwork and yet you pay thousands of dollars to learn from them.

2. The Power Structure is Skewed

There is one person in the program who, if you get on their bad side, can ruin your entire educational experience. As a result, this person controls the feel and tone of the program while you and your classmates do your best not to ruffle this person’s feathers.

3. You Have Witnessed or Experienced Abuse

Power mongering is a normative for the leaders of the program. Because you’ve accepted this type of treatment, you act in a way that attempts to keep you from being the target of the abuse. There is no real redress procedure—the abusers are also the redeemers.

4. You’re Required to Perform Invasive Tasks

Your teachers think their “unorthodox” methods make you uncomfortable because they are so challenging. You suspect that the teacher doesn’t know how, or doesn’t have anything, to teach and therefore are providing students with an “art school experience” to justify the expensive tuition.

5. Everyone Pretends to Love Each Other

From the moment you were accepted into the program, you found yourself the recipient of an artificially manufactured camaraderie.

6. Elitism, Not Capitalism

The people in power often say that they are facilitating your artistic transformation after which you will be an elite and enlightened change agent. Still, you feel like you’re heading for financial ruin.

7. Only People Who Are In It Get It

When your friends and family ask, you can’t explain what you’ve learned. You also can’t figure it out for yourself and so you tell others that they’d just have to experience it for themselves.

8. There Are Little or No Graduate Services

After you finish at the school, you find that there is no alumni network, no job placement, and nobody bothers to answer your emails or phone calls. If there is a graduate services department, it’s made up of one part-timer who shares a closet office with the janitor. You’re okay with that because you’re an artist.

9. You Question but Ignore the Answers

You’ve learned not to say anything out loud, but inside you constantly think about how the program is ripping you off. You only have two choices: f*ck it up and drop out or suck it up stick it out.

10. You Are Scared

Even after you have graduated and have your diploma, certificate, or degree in hand, you are afraid to say anything about the program for fear of some form of long reaching retribution.

My MFA: Would I Do It Again?

Why did I do it in the first place?

I was a college drop out. I got the bug to go back to school because I hit the glass ceiling without a degree. Skills open doors but it’s the degree that gets you passed the gate. If you’re like me, you want or wanted an MFA because:

1. It means something for you to keep learning.
2. You want to experience graduate education.
3. You want to dedicate yourself to a life in the arts.
4. You want to be able to teach on the college level.
5. You want a terminal degree in the arts.

You can do 3.5 of the 5 things listed above (for the rest of your life) without an MFA.

1. You can always keep learning. Nothing is stopping you.
2. You can sort of experience graduate level education by attending continuing education courses or certificate programs. You can also sometimes audit classes, which means you take the class but don’t get college credit for it. (Instructors love that because they don’t have to worry about grading you!) You can also intern, join a guild, or find a mentor.
3. You can dedicate yourself to a life in the arts at any time in your life. You can always dedicate your life to anything.
4. You can teach on the college level if you’re good at what you do. You most likely won’t be able to teach ongoing classes but you can be invited to give workshops or talks about your artwork.
5. You can’t have a terminal degree in the arts without going to graduate school.

I like teaching. It happened more than once that a student in one of my commercial classes turned out to be a dean who invited me to teach at their college. I’d follow up only to be rejected from the teaching gig because I didn’t have a degree at the time. Getting an MFA would ensure that I’d be able to have the choice to work anywhere that wanted to hire me.

Would I do it again?

Yes, I would certainly get my MFA again, but not at Goddard College. Graduate school was, for me, more amazing in my expectations than it was in reality. That’s not to say I didn’t meet some nice people or have any positive experiences, but the adventure you want is rarely the one you’ll have. I might not be saying that if my graduate school experience cost a fraction of the price. College is expensive. If I had it to do over, I’d go to a place that offers proper financial assistance, more training, and graduate support.

If you pay for a name.

An alumni from NYU told me that she got so little from their art program because she felt it was disorganized and didn’t deliver what it promised. Her education wasn’t at all what she expected. Still, people’s eyes widen when they see “NYU” on her resume.

If you pay for services.

If you must pay for school, go to one that has a record of outstanding service to its students, both while they are matriculated and after they have graduated. Job leads and an actively supportive alumni network really are worth their weight in gold.

Would I really do it again?

Maybe I’d invest the money spent on tuition in owning property instead. Real estate has a better chance of growing in value than an MFA, it gives you a place to live/work, and you can always sell it!

And you?

Do you have an MFA degree? Would you do it over again?

Goddard College MFAIA: It’s Time to Focus on the Positive

It’s been just over a year since I graduated from the Goddard College MFA-IA program in Port Townsend and I am letting go of my grudge. Although I had a bad experience in the program, there were good things that came out of going to graduate school for my MFA.

The biggest benefit thus far was gaining a greater understanding of my work. My graduate advisors forced me to really explain my process which meant that I had to defend every part of my practice. This gave me confidence because the stuff they wanted me to remove from my portfolio was actually what I considered my strongest work. By the time I was ready to graduate, it didn’t matter what they thought anymore. My art was my art, as it should be for a student who is ready to move on from the institution.

Another positive thing is that I feel complete about my education. As a college dropout, for years my unearned degree was an unfinished story that weighed on me subconsciously. It feels good to be done. Also, I didn’t just sail through under the radar.

Finally, I am thankful for connections with classmates and faculty.

Goddard College MFA-IA Program in Port Townsend

This post is an answer to the question, “What is it like to attend the Goddard College MFA-IA program in Interdisciplinary Arts at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend, Washington?”

What to Expect

“Goddard west,” as they call it, is based out of a small office on the Fort Worden campus. During residency, Goddard rents several buildings and that’s where residency meetings happen. Fort Worden used to be a military base and the buildings are old but well kept. The housing buildings are a short walk from the meeting buildings.

Housing Choices

You can choose to have a single room or share with another person. Sharing is cheaper. A gender preference form lets the staff know with whom you’re willing to share. You can also request substance free housing to avoid smokers and drinkers but you might have to pay single rate to get it. If you don’t want to be kept awake because people are talking and drinking, request substance free housing.

Haunted Housing

There are rumors that some of the housing is haunted. Some folks were completely freaked out. The large, brick officer homes look like something out of a horror movie inside. Housing is plenty nice for a week long stay. A housekeeping service will update your towels and toiletries each day. You can cook in the houses if you want. 

Fun Fact

The movie An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed at Fort Worden.

Showing Your Art

The on campus support for showing art was all DIY. Students got together and worked out how to display their artwork. Usually there is a designated building to hang paintings or display work.

Food

The food is nice for the first day or so. After that it becomes heavy and can cause upset in weak stomachs. There is a salad bar. You can pick and choose what you want to eat and there’s plenty of stuff for vegetarians. Goddard provides you with three square meals per day. Sometimes there are other groups staying on the campus and at meal times you find yourself surrounded by middle school children.

Media Support

Goddard sets up a temporary computer lab. Internet access is pretty steady and there are enough computers to serve those without laptops. You can stay in the lab all night if you want but you can’t get into the lab from outside after hours. There are projectors, screens, and speakers for presentations but bring your own dongle if you have a Mac. Expect to locate and set up the equipment yourself.

Getting Off Campus

Post Townsend is a historic town located in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a picturesque place with just the right amount of night life and activities for a week long residency. The main street is lined with cool shops, decent restaurants, and bars that host live music. You won’t have a lot of time to see the town during your first semester residency but in subsequent semesters you can spend a good amount of time off campus. Except for Safeway, there are no box stores.

The Difference Between Online and Low Residency Education

Online Education

An online course is a single class that is taught over the Intenet while online education is an umbrella term for a series of courses taught over the Internet and culminating in a diploma, certificate, or degree.

Online courses tend to be topics that are standardized and do not need to be taught in person. For example, history can be learned by reading a text, listening to an audio presentation, or watching a video. As a result, history classes can be taken and completed online.

A student taking an online course carries out the requirements for that class without having to show up to lectures at a specific time. The student can often watch the videos or do the reading on their own time, however, they do have to follow an assignment schedule.

Low Residency Education

Low residency education means that the student can carry out their school work far from the university campus and often far from their teacher, professor, or advisor. Low residency education often utilizes online education to facilitate learning. Students of low res education programs often design their own curriculum. Therefore, the learning experience is not standardized at all.

Stigma

Both online and low residency education have a bit of a stigma attached to them. Because the student is operating autonomously, many people feel that they will cut corners or cheat in order to accomplish their learning goals. It is arguable that due to its self-driven nature, low residency and online learners do equally as much—if not more—work as their traditional school counterparts.