Hi. I’m looking for a list of small liberal arts colleges that have joint programs or affiliations with art schools. I know of Tufts/SMFA, Reed/PNCA and Brown/RISD. Any others out there? Thanks.
Are you looking for small colleges that are affiliated with art schools? Tufts & Brown aren’t usually considered liberal arts colleges. Also, what is it you’re trying to find out about the art school relationships? Are you looking for colleges with an extensive art program? BFA? Or…? Depending on what you’re looking for, there may be more options than just colleges with an official affiliation with an art school.
Also, is there a budget in mind? A particular field/form of art?
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New School and Parsons School of Design
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In very beginning of process with daughter who is a hs junior. Yes, was wondering if there are any small liberal arts colleges that have programs with art schools, whether it be something as strong as a joint program BA/BFA, or maybe as simple just allowing you to take classes. She is a strong artist (main interests: digital, character design) and is interested in both art schools and liberal arts schools with strong arts departments – so I was thinking a combo of the two might be ideal if such a thing exists. Obviously in the very beginning of the process so just gathering ideas.
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Thanks for the additional information. What is her GPA (weighted & unweighted)? Any test scores? Regions of the country? Urban, suburban, or rural? Any other interests beyond art that she’d like to continue/pursue in college? And budget?
Thx for this question. I have same one. Following.
@TheElves2, if you are looking for specific recommendations for your situation (including budget, location, other interests, etc.) it would be best to start your own thread to get customized advice, while you can continue to follow this thread to see what turns up here.
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So far this thread is really what I’m looking for, just getting started with my junior artist too. 
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This thread might be helpful: Liberal arts schools with good art programs?
Here are a few links from College Transitions (which is pretty popular around here):
Other links from elsewhere that might prove helpful:
- Top colleges for Digital Arts
- Best Schools for Fine & Studio Arts for Bachelor’s
- Best Fine Arts Programs in the US
As Brown has 6600 undergrads, that’s what I’m assuming you’re considering small. Some of the smaller universities (that are not art schools) mentioned on these lists include, in no particular order:
- Emerson
- Loyola Marymount
- Rensselaer Polytechnic
- Alfred
- Bard
- Brown
- Bryn Mawr
- Carnegie Mellon
- Cooper Union
- Princeton
- Skidmore
- Southwestern U.
- SUNY Purchase
- Tufts
- Vassar
- Washington U.
- Williams
- Yale
- UNC-Asheville (this is NC’s public liberal arts college)
- SUNY Oneonta
- Lesley
- Southern Oregon
- Champlain
- Stetson
- Hamline
- Stanford
- Duke
- Colgate
- Vanderbilt
- Lafayette
- Dartmouth
- College of the Holy Cross
- Columbia
- Wake Forest
- College of New Jersey
- Hamilton
There’s a range of colleges here in terms of location, selectivity, and cost.
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@kbrad9 There are quite a few small liberal arts colleges with strong studio art departments. Many have strong history of art programs and lively on campus museums as well.
I would however note that the art departments of most LACs (and many medium sized universities) focus mainly on traditional fine art media — painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, print making.
Although all art departments recognize the importance of “new” media — digital, video, conceptual etc— smaller organizations may not have the resources to address them at a meaningful level. Check the individual schools’ course offerings, faculty and major requirements to get an idea of how they compare.
With that caveat, the LACs I’d recommend would be Williams, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Skidmore, Haverford, Vassar, Kenyon, Smith.
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Macalester in Minnesota has its own art department and in addition lets you cross enroll 1 course per term at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design.)
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Clark University in Worcester already had a decent (traditional) studio arts program and recently acquired the internationally ranked game design programs from the now defunct Becker College. They are constructing a new state of the art interactive design building on the main campus to house this program and are niching themselves as one of the few liberal art colleges with this type of offering.
In addition to some of the others mentioned above, I believe MICA has an arrangement with Johns Hopkins. Northeastern also has an arrangement with SMFA. I’m not sure the SMFA classes (whether through Tufts or Northeastern) are quite in line with the type of art your daughter may be interested in. As a museum school, it’s more about the art world, experimental art, pushing boundaries.
We researched all types of liberal arts schools, but ultimately, my daughter wanted to go for a full BFA program connected to a university. She hasn’t committed, but I think her choice will be Tyler School of art at Temple.
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The University of San Francisco, which is a medium-sized school rather than a LAC, is merging with the San Francisco Art Institute. Back in the '80s and '90s, the SFAI was very highly respected, although I’ve lost touch with what’s going on there in the last 20 or so years other than knowing it started having financial issues.
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I believe Willamette has acquired the PNW college of art. I don’t know much about how it works since the Willamette campus is in Salem and PNC is in Portland about an hour from each other.
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