A Master of Fine Arts (MFA, M.F.A.) is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree (BFA), although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts. Coursework is primarily of an applied or performing nature with the program often culminating in a major work or performance.
Master of Fine Arts programs have generally required a bachelor's degree prior to admission, but many do not require that the undergraduate major be the same as the MFA field of study. The most important admissions requirement has often been a sample portfolio or a performance audition.
The Master of Fine Arts differs from the Master of Arts in that the MFA, while an academic program, centers around practice in the particular field, whereas programs leading to the MA usually center on the scholarly, academic, or critical study of the field.
In the United States, a Master of Fine Arts is seen as a terminal degree, meaning that it is considered to be the highest degree in its field. In the interest of extending the connection between creative production and continued academic research, however, some universities have established competing Ph.D programs in fields such as creative writing, visual arts, and theater.
Famous quotes containing the words master, fine and/or arts:
“There is hardly an American male of my generation who has not at one time or another tried to master the victory cry of the great ape as it issued from the androgynous chest of Johnny Weissmuller, to the accompaniment of thousands of arms and legs snapping during attempts to swing from tree to tree in the backyards of the Republic.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“What we are, that only can we see. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do. Adam called his house, heaven and earth; Caesar called his house, Rome; you perhaps call yours, a cobbler’s trade; a hundred acres of ploughed land; or a scholar’s garret. Yet line for line and point for point, your dominion is as great as theirs, though without fine names. Build, therefore, your own world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... the creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)