New MFA program dsigned to help foster artists' growth

12/15/09A semester into the Visual and Media Arts Department's new M.F.A. program, a strong community already has developed.

Evan Leek, a second-year student in the program, says he has found a deeper level of commitment among students. The program, he says, helps students delve more into what they want to do with their art and learn from each other in the process.

"[It's] a community of like-minded people," Leek said. "We put trust in each other and bounce ideas off each other. It helps foster each other's development."

The program had real appeal to Leek. After spending two years in the department's M.A. program, he said he wanted to keep working and to focus more on the work that he wanted to create.

One of Leek's current projects is a 3-D virtual environment that he said people can use as a collaboration tool. He said it enables a higher level of interaction between people who may be a continent apart.

In this transitional year, the new program enrolled second-year M.F.A. students, who had already earned their Master's along with current Emerson students enrolled last year in the M.A. program, according to Jan Roberts-Breslin, the graduate program director.

The M.F.A. is considered a terminal degree comparable to a Ph.D. in more theoretical fields, she said. The program is more intensive, requiring three years to complete and culminating with a master's thesis project in the third year.

The college will accept 16 to 20 new students each year. Next year's class includes Emerson graduates and students coming from other undergraduate programs.

The mission of the program, says Roberts-Breslin, is that every student become an active media maker and create original work. The program encourages and expects students with various backgrounds to work across disciplines, genres and technologies in implementing their ideas.

The program is also heavily based on students' portfolios, which can include work from a broad range of media pursuits, said Roberts-Breslin. Prospective students, she said, are considered based on their creative potential.

In an overview to prospective students last month, current M.F.A. students showed work ranging from Leek's 3-D virtual environments to biographical short films.

Leek says the program allows for a collaboration of students with different talents.

"The curriculum is fluid enough for different specialists to exist in the same program," he said, referring to students' interdisciplinary backgrounds ranging from film to journalism. "[The program] meets all of our needs."

Brooke Knight, an associate professor who teaches in the program, says he has been impressed with the level of commitment the students have to each other and their work. The M.F.A. students, he said, are going to be the backbone of the department.

"Even though this is just starting, I know this is going to be a great program," Knight explained. "People are going to find that the M.F.A. students are going to lead the department. They're making the work that undergrads will aspire to make."

The M.F.A. program, Knight says, attracts a different type of student.

While the M.A. program attracts a broad range of students which include those who have recently graduated, are out of the workforce and want to retool or are artists looking for an academic environment to work. M.F.A. students on the other hand, are a more cohesive group with specific goals and aspirations, according to Knight.

The M.F.A. students are all there to learn the tools to create their work, he said.

One of the best things about the program, Knight said, is that the students respect and challenge each other as they create. Students, he said, are sometimes brutally honest with each other and ask tough questions when critiquing others' work.

"That's the kind of feedback people want to hear because it will make their work better," he said.

One of the best aspects of the program, according to Leek, is that students have helped each other find not only multiple ways, but the best way.

"You're not restricted to one medium," Leek said. "It's good to be aware of what the possibilities are. [Students are] exposed to new technologies and new ways to approach mediums and evolve with it.