The MFA program in interdisciplinary media arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale lets you work in a range of traditional and emerging arts disciplines: sound, video, film, installation, code, performance and more. If you have a BA or BFA in art, film, photography, video art, interactive media, creative writing, music or the humanities, and are interested in using video, film, sound, and
other media to make art, tell stories and investigate the boundaries of your imagination, our program might be for you. The 3-year terminal degree program is housed in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts and is taught by artists and filmmakers with active practices in film and video production (documentary, narrative and experimental), transmedia, radio and sound art, animation, interactivity, performance, socially engaged media art, environmental art and installation. MFA students also work alongside and study with scholars of film criticism and history, media theory, social justice, race and the political economy of media. Being based in a Communication College and within an esteemed research university lends this program more opportunities for the curious artist scholar than a dedicated art school. Given the freedom to investigate the edges of artistic and cultural inquiry, students often embark on radical departures that lead to highly distinctive work. Most MFA students receive full financial support packages that offer them opportunities to teach undergraduate classes in film, video, sound production and animation, assist in faculty research, develop their own courses, and run the Big Muddy Film Festival, now in its 37th year. They are also teaching in institutions of higher education around the United States, or working in the media industry in New York or Los Angeles. We would love to tell you more about our graduates’ work after completing the program. If you have been thinking of going to graduate school to study art or media, our program could provide the kind of galvanizing experience you have been looking for.
