Registration & Academic Advising
Academic Programs
Courses
Explore course offerings for the current academic year on Course Search.
For details about courses from previous academic years, contact the Office of Registration & Academic Advising at registrar@meca.edu.
Master of Fine Arts Degree
The Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art (MFA) is a two-year, full-time, 60-credit interdisciplinary studio arts program. The program asks students to think across traditional academic boundaries, challenge and reinvent their art practice, and increase their intellectual and aesthetic curiosity. The program curriculum is delivered through lectures, small group discussions, individual and group critiques, one-on-one studio advising, and intensive online activity.
Among the first low residency MFA Programs in the country, MECA&D now has two options to choose from. Our full residency MFA gives you the option of moving to the Arts District in Portland, Maine, with 24/7 access to 200,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities in Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Metals, Wood, Ceramics, Photography, Digital Media, and Expanded Practices. Both options include the hallmarks that make our program distinct— two eight-week summer intensives in Maine, a rigorous curriculum and exceptional commitment to one-on-one student mentoring by core faculty, studio advisors and distinguished visiting artists, critics and curators. Online and in-person course work emphasizes research, experimentation, reflection, collaboration, and engaged problem-solving.
Master of Arts in Teaching
Maine College of Art & Design’s 10-month Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program prepares you, as an artist, to develop into an effective art educator who is fully prepared for life at the front of the classroom. Come learn how to translate your unique qualities and visions into creative teaching practices!
The program is divided into three phases:
1. One-month Summer Intensive – Theory-based courses are taught in an institute setting with field experiences beginning on the very first day.
2. 15-week Fall Semester – Take courses on studio art, teaching methods, and curriculum building. As an MAT candidate, you work in alternative settings to learn how to manage different types of classrooms for all students.
3. 15-week Spring Semester – The program culminates with a student teaching experience that can take place almost anywhere and is enhanced by an Action Research Seminar.
The MAT schedule is designed to let you graduate just in time to apply for the following academic year’s teaching positions when they open.
Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies
Learn the art of creating documentaries with our Graduate Certificate Program in either Radio & Podcasting or Short Film.
Since 1973, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies has taught students from all over the United States and around the world to become skilled documentarians and storytellers. Our faculty members are working documentarians and teaching professionals who help provide a strong foundation for students to develop new skills, build expertise, and make their best work.
For a densely-packed semester, Salt students bring their passions, ideas, challenges, and projects to concentrate on Radio & Podcasting or Short Film. Graduates leave the program with a portfolio of professional work prepared to advance their careers in storytelling.
Radio & Podcasting
SA 615 Radio & Podcasting (12 credits)
Salt’s Radio+Podcasting track focuses on skills, tools and techniques for telling a compelling story with sound. Student cohorts engage in fieldwork, assignments, class discussion, instructor feedback, and peer critique, to learn how to:
Identify, pre-report, and evaluate a possible story;
Carry out successful interviews;
Collect field recordings
Manage all digital assets
Use interview tape and other elements to build and shape a story; and,
Write and edit, and produce polished work in ProTools, the industry standard for audio editing.
Students also gain critical experience pitching work and marketing themselves as radio producers. Over the course of the semester, students will produce a variety of short audio assignments as well as an in-depth final project.
Graduates of the Radio+Podcasting track leave with a portfolio of work ready to start or build upon their audio careers. Armed with a deeper understanding of how to tell stories with sound, our alumni have gone on to hold positions at leading global news outlets and podcast companies.
Short Film
SA 618 Short Film (12 credits)
In the Short Film track, students use a combination of documentary film, journalism, ethics, anthropology, art, and design fundamentals to tell compelling visual and audio stories.
Student cohorts engage in fieldwork, tailored assignments, class discussion, instructor feedback, and peer critique to:
Identify, pre-report, and evaluate a possible story;
Carry out successful film shoots;
Use video to build and shape a story;
Write and edit;
Manage all digital assets
Produce polished work in Premiere Pro, an industry standard for editing film;
Pitch their concepts; and,
Market themselves as filmmakers.
Over the course of the semester, students shoot and produce two projects: the first short film, and the second a final in-depth piece.
Graduates from Short Film have a portfolio of short film work suitable for submission to international film festivals and a new level of understanding around the importance of ethical storytelling through short film.
Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree
At Maine College of Art & Design, we are committed to providing you with unparalleled access to a wealth of tools and resources, ensuring that you can fully maximize the investment you’ve made in yourself.
Our Bachelor of Fine Arts program is a four-year course of study based on the following sequence: Foundation, Majoring, and Core Seminars. To graduate with a BFA degree, you need to earn 120 credits, with requirements across Art and Design Studio courses and Academic Studies courses in Art History and Liberal Arts. Each of the 8 majors offered at the college has its own studio, and students have 24/7 access to facilities. With fewer than 400 students, the program offers intimate class sizes and access to our faculty of artist educators.
Majors
Minors
Art History
Art & Entrepreneurship
Drawing
Music
Public Engagement
Sustainable Ecosystems: Art & Design (SEAD)
Writing
Study Abroad
Would you like to experience the world from an entirely different perspective? Immerse yourself in an entirely different culture? Increase employment prospects and networking reach? Enrich your personal development? Study abroad can change your life. Unlike many other colleges, we don't give you a choice of several international programs to consider— instead, we work with you to identify the right international experience for you, based on your professional and personal goals.
MECA&D has pre-existing agreements with several international schools including:
- Cortona, Italy through the University of Georgia
- Burren College of Art in Ireland
- Paris College of Art in France
- API – Lorenzo de'Medici, Florence, Italy
- Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
Additional Exchange Opportunities
Student Exchanges
MECA&D has a competitive process for MECA&D students to study outside of the college. Details of these exchange opportunities are outlined below. Limited spots available.
AICAD Mobility Program
MECA&D students benefit from the cooperative programs and built-in access to leading art schools that are members of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD). By sharing resources and facilities, AICAD colleges offer educational opportunities that, taken together, are without parallel in professional arts education. Through the Student Mobility Program, qualified students at one AICAD school can spend a semester at another participating AICAD school without additional cost or loss of credit. It is very important to discuss your interest in participating in the Mobility/ Exchange program with your Faculty Mentor and/or Major Program Chair.
Bowdoin College Exchange
MECA&D has an exchange program with Bowdoin College in Brunswick, 35 minutes from Portland. This program provides free cross-registration between the two schools, on a space available basis. See the Registrar if you are interested in this program.
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
Academic credit for workshops is available through an arrangement between MECA&D and Haystack. If you are interested in earning college credit through a workshop, be sure to notify the Registrar's Office at MECA&D of your plans. It is the student's responsibility to notify Haystack staff that their enrollment is intended to be credit-bearing on the first Monday of the workshop session.
Learn more about Haystack's Programming
Student Experience
View a student-made documentary based on BFA's study in China.
Study Abroad Coordinator:
Nikki Rayburn, Associate Registrar & Academic Advisor
nrayburn@meca.edu / 207.699.5058