Shape the Future of Visual and Material Culture at Cranbrook Academy of Art


Two people sitting and conversing in front of bright, abstracted figurative paintings.
Melissa Floyd (MFA Painting 2025) and Joey Quiñones (Artist-in-Residence, Fiber). Photo by Sarah C. Blanchette, MFA Photography (2017)

Shape the Future of Visual and Material Culture at Cranbrook Academy of Art

Cranbrook Academy of Art is a dynamic community of architects, artists, and designers working together to shape the future of visual and material culture. Ranked as one of the top graduate-only programs in architecture, design, and fine art in the United States, Cranbrook is a place for students looking to leave their MFA program prepared to enter the industry or open their own studio practice immediately.

At Cranbrook, we strive to make graduate school accessible to all. For the current academic year, approximately 97 percent of academy students received gift funding.

We offer up to 10 full-tuition Gilbert Fellowships each year to students from diverse backgrounds and more than 50 merit scholarships based on submitted application materials. We also assist students in securing opportunities such as residency programs and fellowships at design studios. 

Our approach is modeled on the belief that extraordinary things can happen when people are given time and space to explore their work in a supportive and inclusive community. At Cranbrook, each of our 11 departments is led by an Artist-in-Residence, whose studio practice helps shape the direction of the program. The academy is free from conventional classes, and instead of a fixed curriculum, we focus on the questions of those who choose to study here.

The academy’s community comprises up to 150 graduate students working in 11 disciplines: Architecture, Ceramics, Fiber, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Print Media, and Sculpture. 

Learn more about our programs at our Open House on November 9. If you can’t make it, join us for an upcoming webinar or schedule a portfolio review. There simply is no other school—no other place—like this.

To learn more and apply, visit cranbrookart.edu.

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