A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA, B.F.A.) is the standard undergraduate degree for students in the United States and Canada seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts (BCA). In Great Britain, the equivalent degree is the Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts, while in Australia the Bachelor of Fine Arts is awarded to students completing a degree in visual arts, but not performing arts. Specific degrees such as the Bachelor of Dance or Bachelor of Drama are used in the performing arts in Australia and much of Europe. In India, a Fine Arts undergraduate degree is known as a BFA or BVA (Bachelor of Visual Arts). It is a four-year degree. The eligibility for this course is 10+2 pass in any stream from a recognised educational board.
In the United States, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree differs from a Bachelor of Arts degree in that the majority of the program consists of a practical studio component, as contrasted with lecture and discussion classes. A typical BFA program in the United States consists of two-thirds study in the arts, with one-third in more general liberal arts studies; for a BA in Art, the ratio might be reversed.
The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), which accredits Bachelor of Fine Arts programs in visual art and design in the United States, states that "the professional degree (BFA) focuses on intensive work in the visual arts supported by a program of general studies," whereas "the liberal arts degree (BA) focuses on art and design in the context of a broad program of general studies."
A Bachelor of Fine Arts degree will often require an area of specialty such as acting, musical theatre, ceramics, computer animation, creative writing, dance, dramatic writing, drawing, fiber, film production, visual effects, animation, graphic design, illustration, industrial design, visual arts, interior design, metalworking, music, new media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, stage management, or television production. Some schools instead give their students a broad education in many disciplines of the arts.
Although a Bachelor of Fine Arts is traditionally considered a four-year degree, a BFA program may take longer to complete because of the amount of studio course work required.
Famous quotes containing the words bachelor of, bachelor, fine and/or arts:
“A Bachelor of Arts is one who makes love to a lot of women, and yet has the art to remain a bachelor.”
—Helen Rowland (1875–1950)
“When a bachelor of philosophy from the Antilles refuses to apply for certification as a teacher on the grounds of his color I say that philosophy has never saved anyone. When someone else strives and strains to prove to me that black men are as intelligent as white men I say that intelligence has never saved anyone: and that is true, for, if philosophy and intelligence are invoked to proclaim the equality of men, they have also been employed to justify the extermination of men.”
—Frantz Fanon (1925–1961)
“The division between the useful arts and the fine arts must not be understood in too absolute a manner. In the humblest work of the craftsmen, if art is there, there is a concern for beauty, through a kind of indirect repercussion that the requirements of the creativity of the spirit exercise upon the production of an object to serve human needs.”
—Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)
“Each of the Arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a Muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them.”
—Eliza Farnham (1815–1864)