After a 14-year run, the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan will be closing its master of arts degree in curatorial practice. This decision coincides with the upcoming retirement of the program’s founder and chair, Steven Henry Madoff, set for May 2027.
The two-year program, which last fall enrolled a cohort of 14 first-year students, has ceased accepting new applications, as noted on the department’s website. Artnews reported that Madoff, in an internal email, revealed that upon disclosing his retirement plans to SVA President David Rhodes, the decision was made to end the degree program. Madoff also highlighted the institution’s ongoing “financial challenges,” which previously resulted in the layoff of 30 faculty members in August.
It remains uncertain how the program’s faculty, particularly those teaching first-year courses, will be impacted. Most of SVA’s instructors are adjunct faculty who joined a union in May, though a contract has yet to be finalized. Joan Hilty, a bargaining committee member and Comics department professor, shared with Hyperallergic that a proposed ‘lookaround clause’ aims to secure teaching opportunities in other departments for affected faculty.
Steven Henry Madoff initiated the program in 2013, establishing a founding faculty that included renowned independent curators and those from prestigious institutions like the New Museum and Guggenheim Museum. Notably, David A. Ross, former director of several major art museums, was part of the founding team but recently stepped down from his role at SVA due to controversial ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
This closure is part of a larger trend of arts programs being cut nationwide due to financial difficulties. In parallel, SVA discontinued its art writing MFA in 2020. Other institutions, like the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and California Institute of the Arts, have also undergone layoffs and program closures in response to budgetary constraints.
