At Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, the School for the Contemporary Arts embraces a distinct cross-disciplinary approach to arts education. It offers a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Interdisciplinary Arts, a Master of Arts (MA) in Contemporary Arts, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Contemporary Arts. The faculty, composed of globally recognized artists and scholars, operates at the innovative intersections of Dance, Film, Music & Sound, Theatre & Performance, Performance Production & Design, and Visual Art, emphasizing both interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary practices.
The school’s cutting-edge facilities, located in downtown Vancouver, support studio practices across various disciplines, alongside spaces dedicated to seminars, exhibitions, performances, and public events. The MFA is a two-year program that unites artists from all these fields, fostering dialogue, theory, and creative experimentation. Meanwhile, the MA program adopts an intermedial view, merging theoretical and historical methodologies from art history, cinema studies, performance studies, and digital arts with practical applications.
Focusing on interdisciplinary methodologies within the fine and performing arts, the research-driven PhD program supports both scholarly inquiry and practice-based research. Applications for the MFA and MA are due on February 15, 2026, while PhD applications reopen on October 1, 2026, for a Fall 2027 start. In a unique offering, international students pay domestic tuition rates. For more information or to apply, visit sfu.ca/sca. Direct inquiries to the Graduate Program Coordinator at sca_gpa@sfu.ca.
