Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design

The Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) is a non-profit consortium of 43 leading art and design colleges in the United States and Canada. All AICAD member institutions have a curriculum with full liberal arts and sciences requirements complementing studio work, and all are accredited to grant the BFA and/or MFA degrees. To qualify for AICAD membership, an art school must satisfy four criteria: be a free-standing college (not a division of a larger college or university) specializing in art or design; be a non-profit institution; grant the BFA and/or MFA degree; and have accreditation from both the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and the relevant academic accrediting organization in their region.

AICAD was founded in 1991 by a group of art college presidents for the purpose of sharing information among similar institutions and acting collectively. Its mission is to strengthen and connect the member colleges, and to inform the public about these colleges and the value of studying art and design. More information about AICAD and its member colleges is available on the organization's website.

AICAD distributes information about the organization and its members, and about art and design education and careers, to potential students, parents, teachers, and others. It conducts regular conferences and symposia on contemporary academic and administrative subjects, operates an independent studio and internship program in New York City (The New York Studio Residency Program), oversees student exchanges and mobility among the member schools, gathers and analyzes institutional data to assist in future planning efforts. It also provides members with information about current art and design education issues as well as information on relevant legislation and government policies.

Read more about Association Of Independent Colleges Of Art And Design:  Members, Regional Accrediting Agencies, New York Studio Residency Program

Famous quotes containing the words association of, association, independent, colleges, art and/or design:

    With all their faults, trade-unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in man, than any other association of men.
    Clarence Darrow (1857–1938)

    The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.
    —French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (drafted and discussed August 1789, published September 1791)

    Where beauty is worshipped for beauty’s sake as a goddess, independent of and superior to morality and philosophy, the most horrible putrefaction is apt to set in. The lives of the aesthetes are the far from edifying commentary on the religion of beauty.
    Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)

    But here comes Generosity; giving—not to a decayed artist—but to the arts and sciences themselves.—See,—he builds ... whole schools and colleges for those who come after. Lord! how they will magnify his name!
    —One honest tear shed in private over the unfortunate, is worth them all.
    Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)

    Art thou officer,
    Or art thou base, common, and popular?
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.
    Marilyn French (20th century)