All MA students take the year-long foundational course “Objects in Context: A Survey of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture,” along with its companion seminars “Thinking Objects” and “Writing Objects.” In the fall of the first year, entering students also take “Approaches to the Object,” designed to introduce the varied disciplines and perspectives on which the program draws.

All other coursework consists of electives, which students select according to their areas of interest. Self-directed Independent Studies are possible, as are graduate courses at our consortium partners. All MA students complete both a digital project and an internship as part of the program. There is also an optional international study trip at the end of the first year. Finally, all MA students complete a Qualifying Project in their final semester; this capstone research project revises, refines, and expands on a project previously undertaken in a BGC course. It may take the form of a research paper, a mock exhibition, or a digital project.

Students who successfully complete the above requirements are granted an MA in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture.

Credited Requirements:

• 200. Orientation (1 credit)
  

• 500/501. Objects in Context: A Survey of the Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, I & II (two semesters, 6 credits)
  
  
• 510. Writing Objects (two semesters, 1 credit)

• 502. Approaches to the Object (3 credits)
  

• 11 Elective Courses. Two electives must satisfy the chronological requirement and a third must satisfy the geo-cultural requirement. Students may satisfy these requirements with an Independent Study or Consortium class. (33 credits)

• 515. Seminar Series (1 credit)
  

• 860. Qualifying Paper (3 credits)
  

Non-Credited Requirements:

• 505. First-Year Tutorial
  
  
• Digital Project

• Reading Knowledge of French, German, Italian, or Spanish (or another language by petition)
  
  
• Internship

Total: 48 credits for the MA in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture

Bard Graduate Center students may cross register at select graduate programs in New York City for credit toward their degrees. Partnering programs are the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University, CUNY Graduate Center, the Institute of Fine Art-NYU, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World-NYU, the New School-Parsons History of Design and Curatorial Studies program in collaboration with Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, and Jewish Theological Seminary. Bard Graduate Center, in turn, hosts visiting students from these institutions. All consortium registration must be approved both by the host institution and by your academic advisor.

The capstone project for the MA degree is the Qualifying Paper, which may be a research paper, an exhibition proposal, or a digital project that revises, refines, and expands on a project previously undertaken in a BGC course. Projects reflect the wide range of student interests. Our annual Qualifying Paper Symposium is a celebratory event held during commencement weekend showcasing the research that went into these final projects for the wider BGC community, along with students’ families and friends.

The 3+2 program offers Bard undergraduates a streamlined path to a Master of Arts in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. Open to undergraduates majoring in historical studies, art history and visual culture, anthropology, and American and Indigenous Studies, this program provides an integrated course of study and graduate training that allows Bard students to obtain their liberal arts BA and the Bard Graduate Center MA in five years.

Interested Bard students should first talk to their academic advisor about the timeline. Prospective students must have successfully moderated, met the distribution requirements (including foreign language study), and have approval from their advisor. In the third year, Bard students apply to BGC during the normal admissions cycle. Students enroll full-time in Bard Graduate Center’s two-year MA program in Manhattan starting in their fourth year.

For more information and for other application requirements and guidelines, please contact [email protected].

BGC’s Concentration in Museum Practice, Digital Scholarship, and Public Engagement (MDP) builds on our expanded offerings of innovative training in museum practice (from exhibition research, design, and interpretation, to collection stewardship and care), digital scholarship (digital methods and tools for research and presentation) and public engagement (collaborative and accessible research, public presentation and event planning). Together, these three related realms facilitate and encourage the production of multimodal scholarship that is accessible in diverse forms and can supplement academic books, journal articles, and conference papers. BGC students who choose to focus their coursework, research, and (extra)curricular training in this area can opt to pursue this concentration, which will be signaled on their transcripts alongside the MA or PhD degree in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture. Designed for students targeting careers across the museum and cultural sectors, it emphasizes making advanced material culture research – BGC’s calling card – more broadly, dynamically, and publicly accessible. The requirements for the concentration are fulfilled through a combination of elective coursework, participation in skills-based workshops, professional opportunities, and the capstone degree projects.