Program Total Credits: 60
Polly McKenna-Cress
pmckennacress@uarts.edu
Director
215-717-6328
Recognized formally by the American Association of Museums since 1981, the field of exhibition planning and design has become a demanding, fast-growing profession as museums respond to the demand for exhibitions addressed to public needs and interests. With the cooperation of a group of major regional museums, following the guidelines established by N.A.M.E. (National Association for Museum Exhibition), The University of the Arts offers a two-year, 60-credit Master of Fine Arts degree that prepares students for professional careers in the development and design of exhibits for museums and other interpretive centers, focusing on methods of presentation for collections, while exploring the full range of exhibition communication and methodology.
Representatives of cooperating museums and the University faculty offer a curriculum that addresses the conceptualization, research, organization, design, and production of museum exhibits and educational presentations, utilizing a variety of techniques and media. It also explores exhibit programming, evaluation, and management ethods applicable in a wide range of museum situations. Visiting experts teach many aspects of museum presentation, education, and management, and students make formal visits to design departments, production shops, galleries, exhibits, and programs in numerous museums, service providers, and consultancies in Philadelphia, the Mid-Atlantic Region, Washington, D.C., and New York.
Students undertake a thesis project and a supervised museum internship related to their career interests during the second year of the program. To preserve the intimate contact with museum professionals and to guarantee participants studio facilities, the program is limited to nine entrants per year.
Most candidates for this program will have previously completed a baccalaureate degree in industrial, graphic, interior, or architectural design, and demonstrate an acceptable level of professional accomplishment through a portfolio or another appropriate means. Alternatively, they may seek admission with a baccalaureate in a discipline related to a particular career direction, and take courses to develop the necessary background in design. Students from non-design, non-art backgrounds are also encouraged to apply.
The first year provides a basic understanding of the exhibition process, with the first semester focused on conceptual development, planning, systems, and intellectual analysis of problems, and the second on the practical implementation of concepts and on understanding materials and methods of exhibition design and production. The second year is dedicated to practice of skills learned during the first year, and practical exposure to actual exhibition development practice in museums and museum consultancies. Activities during the final semester are focused primarily on thesis development and completion.
Specialized Facilities
The graduate studios in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design have courses in Computer-Aided Design in the Academic Computing laboratories that are equipped computer centers for drafting, rendering, desktop publishing, computer-aided graphic design, multimedia, and illustration. Students receive some installation experience through the University galleries and regional institutions.
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