The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.

History

This school was started by Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth in 1947 as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School; it had three teachers and 35 students,"New Logo for SVA done In-house"
Under Consideration. August 28, 2013. most of whom were World War II veterans who had a large part of their tuition underwritten by the U.S. government's

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. It was renamed the School of Visual Arts in 1956 and offered its first degrees in 1972. In 1983, it introduced a Master of Fine Arts in

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, drawing and

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

. The school has a faculty of more than 1,100"SVA Faculty"
School of Visual Arts. Retrieved May 31, 2016. and a student body of over 3,000. It offers 11 undergraduate and 22 graduate degree programs, and is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the

National Association of Schools of Art and Design The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), founded in 1944, is an accrediting organization of colleges, schools and universities in the United States. The organization establishes standards for graduate and undergraduate degrees ...

. The

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordi ...

BFA is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, the art therapy MPS is approved by the

American Art Therapy Association The American Art Therapy Association (AATA) is a U.S. not-for-profit 501(c)(3), non-partisan national professional association of approximately 5,000 practicing art therapy professionals, including students, educators, and related practitioners ...

, and the art education MA is accredited by the

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is a professional accreditor focused on accrediting teacher education programs in U.S. colleges and universities. It was founded in 2013 as a result of the merger of two predecesso ...

. The current school logo was created in 1997 by

George Tscherny George Tscherny (born July 12, 1924) is a Hungarian-born American graphic designer and educator. Tscherny has received the highest honors among graphic designers. He was awarded the AIGA Medal in 1988, celebrated in the annual Masters Series in ...

for its 50th anniversary, and redesigned in 2013. In 2019 the school began the process of converting to nonprofit, with the SVA alumni organization (which is already an IRS tax-exempt entity) planning to purchase the school from its owners, who are retiring. Commencement speakers have included Susan Sontag,

Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project ''Th ...

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a c ...

Roxane Gay Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection '' Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayit ...

, and

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

Continuing education

The continuing education division offers noncredit courses from most departments; a selection of

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...

ing,

cartooning A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

copywriting Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

, illustration and

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

courses taught in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

; professional development and

corporate training Training and development involve improving the effectiveness of organizations and the individuals and teams within them. Training may be viewed as related to immediate changes in organizational effectiveness via organized instruction, while deve ...

courses; and summer

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...

programs. The school offers short-term study abroad programs in various creative fields.

Location and campus

The school has several buildings in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, on Manhattan's east side, and in the

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

neighborhood, on the west side. There is a residence hall on Ludlow Street, in the Lower East Side. From 1994 to 1997, it had a branch campus in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

; this was closed following a lawsuit from the

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private nonprofit art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. Founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the Uni ...

Library

The library holds books, periodicals, audio recordings, films and other media; the

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 195 ...

Design Study Center and Archives, which comprises the collections of Chermayeff & Geismar,

Seymour Chwast Seymour Chwast (born August 18, 1931) is an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer. Biography Chwast was born in the Bronx, New York City and in 1949 graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn where he was int ...

Heinz Edelmann Heinz Edelmann (20 June 1934 – 21 July 2009) was a Czech-German illustrator and designer. His art direction and character designs for the Beatles' 1968 animated film '' Yellow Submarine'' brought him additional recognition around the world. ...

, Steven Heller, Ed McCabe,

James McMullan James McMullan (born June 1934) is an Irish-Canadian illustrator and designer of theatrical posters. Born in Tsingtao, Republic of China, where his grandparents had emigrated from Ireland as missionaries for the Anglican Church, he and his moth ...

, Tony Palladino,

and Henry Wolf; and the SVA Archives, a repository for materials pertaining to the college's history.

West 21st Street buildings

The building at 133 to 141 West 21st Street, between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue in

, has studios for drawing and painting classes. The buildings at 132 and 136 West 21st Street have offices, classrooms and studios for

art criticism Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is que ...

art education Visual arts education is the area of learning that is based upon the kind of art that one can see, visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, de ...

, art therapy,

computer art Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery installation. Many tradit ...

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

, illustration and

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

. The building at 132 West 21st Street houses the Visible Futures Lab, a workshop featuring traditional and emerging fabrication technology, which regularly hosts artists in residence.

Theatre

The Theatre, also known as the SVA Theatre, is at 333 West 23rd Street, between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue, in Chelsea. The site was formerly called the 23rd Street Theatre, and served as the home of the

Roundabout Theatre Company The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. History The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabet ...

, from 1972 until 1984; when their lease expired, the venue was converted into a movie theatre, the Clearview Chelsea West Cinema. It was purchased in 2008, renovated, and reopened in January 2009.

designed the theatre's renovated interior and exterior, including the sculpture situated atop its marquee. The facility houses two separate auditoriums, one with 265 seats and one with 480, and hosts class meetings, lectures, screenings and other public events. It has also hosted the red-carpet New York première of Ethan Hawke's ''The Daybreakers'' and a diverse list of world premières, ranging from

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has sta ...

's 2010 feature documentary '' Redlight'', to the 2011 Fox animated comedy ''

Allen Gregory ''Allen Gregory'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jonah Hill, Jarrad Paul, and Andrew Mogul for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows pretentious seven-year-old Allen Gregory De Longpre, who is raised by his two rich h ...

;'' and the 2012 film ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 6 ...

''. In 2013, Beyoncé held a release party and screening for her record-setting, self-titled visual album at the theatre. Community partners that have used the theatre include the

Tribeca Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stree ...

and

GenArt Gen Art is an arts and entertainment organization that showcases emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. It has produced over 100 events annually, which included fashion shows, film premieres and screenings, live musi ...

film festivals, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's

PlaNYC PlaNYC was a strategic plan released by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007 to prepare the city for one million more residents, strengthen the economy, combat climate change, and enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers. The plan ...

environmental initiative, and the

Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting The Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting (MOFTB) is the oldest film commission in the United States. There are several residence halls available for students at SVA, including: *23rd Street Residence (formerly New Residence), at 215 East 23rd Street, is an apartment-style dormitory reserved for new students. * 24th Street Residence, is a 146,000-square-foot, 14-story residence hall that opened in August 2016. The site was purchased by Magnum Real Estate Group and 40 North in April 2015 for $32.25 million from the nonprofit International Center for the Disabled. It houses 505 residents in 242 suites, including office space, and serves as the flagship residence hall for the school. *Ludlow Residence, at 101

Ludlow Street Ludlow Street runs between Houston and Division Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Vehicular traffic runs south on this one-way street. Name Ludlow Street was named after Lieutenant Augustus Ludlow, the naval of ...

(abutting

Delancey Street __NOTOC__ Delancey Street is one of the main thoroughfares of New York City's Lower East Side in Manhattan, running from the street's western terminus at the Bowery to its eastern end at FDR Drive, connecting to the Williamsburg Bridge and Broo ...

), on the Lower East Side, opened in 2009. This tower has 259 single and 47 double rooms.

Former residence halls

* George Washington Residence, at 23 Lexington Avenue (between 23rd Street and 24th Street).

SVA Galleries

SVA maintains three permanent gallery locations across its campus—SVA Gramercy Gallery, SVA Flatiron Gallery, and SVA Chelsea Gallery—which exhibit work from both students and established creative professionals. Every year, the SVA Chelsea Gallery stages an exhibition for its Masters Series recipient, who are honored with both an award and retrospective exhibition. The 2022 Masters Series Recipient was photographer, MacArthur Genius Grant-, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynsey Addario for her documentation of civilian life in conflict zones; the retrospective was covered by publications such as the ''New York Times'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', and ''Vanity Fair''.

Notable alumni and instructors

References

External links

* {{Authority control Art schools in New York City Culture of New York City Animation schools in the United States Design schools in the United States Educational institutions established in 1947 For-profit universities and colleges in the United States Graphic design schools in the United States Universities and colleges in New York City Universities and colleges in Manhattan 1947 establishments in New York City Gramercy Park Chelsea, Manhattan For profit schools in Manhattan