<p>My son is having a hard time deciding between NYU or RISD for fine arts. here's the dilema. although he loves and is talented in fine arts he has so many other interests. mainly theatre, writing, and music. he feels the art is superior at risd but will he be limiting himself? he loves nyu and being in nyc as he'd have access to everything. does anyone know if after a year in fine arts at nyu how difficult it would be to switch majors say into theatre? also, does anyone know if after the foundation year at risd he would have time to take classes or do a play at brown? thanks for any help.</p>
<p>I can’t compare the quality of the two programs so I won’t comment on that. I can tell you that Providence has a thriving arts community and that many of the local artists moved to Providence from NYC because Providence offers a lot of available studio space at affordable prices, something not easily found in NYC.</p>
<p>I know that RISD students can take courses at Brown, but my understanding is that it takes a lot of perseverance, patience and stamina to do so. The main problem is that the class schedules are so different. Most studio courses at RISD go on for hours at a time, which makes it difficult to schedule in a more typical college class at Brown. Also, liberal arts courses at RISD are notoriously easy (compared to the rigorous studio art courses) and a lot of RISD students are reluctant to take courses at Brown because they are rather more difficult and have a lot more written work. But it is possible to take courses at Brown and some RISD students do. </p>
<p>I don’t know about doing plays at Brown.</p>
<p>You can certainly take classes and take part in a play at Brown. Some people find the work difficult when they cross register, others do everything they can to break the rule and take a few classes beyond the officially allowed 4.</p>
<p>What I can say with a lot of confidence is that pretty much every resource that Brown has, academically and socially, is available to RISD students. The two communities have a lot of fuzziness along the edges (though it’s true that the core of both institutions’ communities are quite distinct).</p>