Exploring The School of Visual Arts

Illustrations in the lobby of SVA's 24th Street Residence Hall photo: Suzie Castello

In June, I visited the School of Visual Arts in New York. I had the great fortune to visit facilities dedicated to Film, 3D Animation and Visual Effects, Interior Design: Built Environments majors, gallery and exhibition spaces, the library and student housing. 

SVA was co-founded in 1947 as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School by Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth, known for his Tarzan illustrations. The mission of SVA was to build a learning environment with New York-based professional artists as faculty. SVA has been a part of New York’s rich tradition of creative and visual communications in publishing, advertising, media, design and fine arts. The practice continues today, as SVA calls on over 1000 working artists to share their practice and experience in its programs. SVA’s connections with the creative economy have run deep since its founding.

SVA’s many programs are housed in a network of buildings mostly along 23rd St running East-West across Manhattan. Students quickly learn to ride the cross-town buses (comfortable, clean and air-conditioned) to get to their classes. SVA offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as professional certificates. SVA dedicates learning and creative resources and spaces to their specific undergraduate degree programs, including 2D Animation, 3D Animation and Visual Effects, Advertising, Comics, Design, Film, Fine Arts, Illustration, Interior Design: Built Environments, Photography and Video, and Visual and Critical Studies. This is unique as it means that there are specific spaces and resources for each department, including for 2D Animation, 3D Animation, Film, and Photography and Video. Students from each of these respective programs have their own industry-standard spaces and resources for their projects and assignments. Posters of projects alumni have gone on to as professionals on line many of the walls.

A team of student tour guides were so generous in sharing insights about their majors and were enthusiastic to explain the many resources available to students, including large scale printers, recording studios, editing rooms, the motion-capture studio, screening rooms, color-correction facilities, furniture-making studio, and so many other maker spaces. SVA students can even screen their films in the campus IMAX theater. 

Admissions to SVA is selective. Apply through SVA's own application portal. The undergraduate Early Action deadline is December 1, and February 1 is the final deadline for scholarship consideration. Application requirements include a statement of intent and portfolio, along with their high school transcript. Portfolio requirements vary for each degree program. International students should verify any requirements for demonstrating English language proficiency, and letters of recommendation are optional.

SVA offers Pre-College programs for high school students during the school year, and during the summer. They also offer an online portfolio workshop.

Thank you to SVA's generous and enthusiastic student tour guides.

If you are interested in SVA, and would like to know more about my visit, including what I learned about the dorms, please reach out.