The Columbia University School of the Arts is the graduate school for fine arts at Columbia University, located in Morningside Heights, New York, United States.

The school offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, Visual Arts, Theatre and Writing, as well as the Master of Arts (MA) degree in Film Studies. It also works closely with the Arts Initiative at Columbia University (CUArts) and organizes the Columbia University Film Festival (CUFF), a week-long program of screenings, screenplay, and teleplay readings.

Founded in 1965, the school is one of the leading institutions for the study of visual, performing, and literary arts in the United States. Among the school's distinguished graduates are sculptors David Altmejd and Banks Violette, visual artist Lisi Raskin, painters Marc Handelman and Dana Schutz, poets Mary Jo Bang, Tracy K. Smith and Emily Fragos, screenwriter Jennifer Lee and James Mangold, screenwriter and actress Gülse Birsel, and directors Kathryn Bigelow and James Gunn.

History

The history of the School of the Arts can be traced back to the first courses in drawing offered at Columbia in 1881. In 1900, drama critic Brander Matthews was appointed professor of Dramatic Literature, first chair of drama at any university in the country. Courses in creative writing, film, and painting followed. In 1921, the Department of Fine Arts was established for the study of architecture, painting, sculpture and scholarly works in those fields. The university's first sculpture classes were offered in 1936, followed two years later by graphic art classes. In 1947, the School of Painting and Sculpture, and the School of Dramatic Arts were established.

In December 1965, the Trustees of Columbia established the School of the Arts to train both graduate and undergraduate students. In 1970, the school began offering only graduate courses. A year later, it moved into Dodge Hall at Broadway and 116th Street and Prentis Hall on 125th Street, where the school’s classrooms, rehearsal spaces and administrative offices are located. In 1988, the Miller Theatre, constructed in 1924, was established as Columbia's performing arts producer following renovations to the previous space known as the McMillin Academic Theatre. In 2017, construction was completed on Renzo Piano's 60,000-square-foot Lenfest Center for the Arts, a multidisciplinary academic and performance space on Columbia's Manhattanville campus. The Lenfest also houses the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery.

In 2021, the School of Arts was the subject of a Wall Street Journal investigative report into prestigious universities that run programs that have lopsided costs for students relative to their expected earnings in the field. According to the Journal, "Columbia has more high-debt master's degree programs in low-paying fields than any other Ivy League university." The article further stated alumni carry a median debt of US$181,000, "the highest debt compared with earnings among graduates of any major university master’s program in the U.S."

Programs

Film The School of the Arts' Film Program is well-regarded in the field and offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees with concentrations in Screenwriting/Directing, Writing for Film & Television and Creative Producing. The program also offers a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Film Studies.

In 2016, the MFA film program accepted 72 students out of approximately 600 applicants. The Hollywood Reporter ranked it number four in the top 25 American film schools of 2020.

Theater The School of Arts's Theatre Program offers Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degrees in theater with concentrations in acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, stage management, and theater management and producing. The playwriting concentration has been heralded by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage and Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang.

In 2018, applications to the acting concentration doubled with the appointment of former Yale School of Drama acting professor Ron Van Lieu. The acting concentration has emerged as one of the highest ranking graduate acting programs in the world and is helmed by casting director James Calleri.

The Theatre Program also offers a Ph.D. and joint J.D./M.F.A. degree in association with Columbia Law School.

Visual Arts In the Visual Arts Program at the School of Arts, students work in the fields of painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, digital media, drawing, performance, and video art.

Writing The School of Arts's writing program offers degrees in creative writing, with concentrations in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. One of its more notable features are "master classes", four-week courses for writers (as opposed to critical scholars) "designed to stimulate provocative discussions about literary craft and artistic choices." Master class faculty have included Helen Vendler, Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, James Wood, Richard Ford, Han Ong, Susan Choi and Jonathan Ames. The writing division also employs prestigious writers as seminar and workshop instructors; in recent years these have included Zadie Smith, Gary Shteyngart, Nathan Englander, Myla Goldberg, Adam Haslett, Jessica Hagedorn, Phillip Lopate, Marie Howe, Eamon Grennan, Paul LaFarge, David Gates, Francisco Goldman, Darcy Frey and David Ebershoff.

Deans of Columbia School of the Arts

Davidson Taylor (1966–1971) Frank MacShane (interim dean, 1971–1972) Bernard Beckerman (1972–1976) Schuyler G. Chapin (1976–1987) Peter Smith (1987–1995) Robert Fitzpatrick (1995–1998) Dan Kleinman (acting, 1998–1999) Bruce W. Ferguson (1999–2005) Dan Kleinman (acting, 2005–2007) Carol Becker (2007–2023) Sarah Cole (2023–present)

Notable alumni and attendees

Film

Ayad Akhtar - screenwriter and actor, The War Within; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Disgraced Alice Arlen - screenwriter of Silkwood, The Weight of Water, Then She Found Me Bogdan Apetri (2006) - screenwriter, film director, Miracle, Unidentified Sophie Barthes - screenwriter, film director, Cold Souls, Madame Bovary Albert Berger - Producer Little Children, Little Miss Sunshine, Cold Mountain Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini - Academy Award nominated screenwriter-directors, American Splendor, The Nanny Diaries Kathryn Bigelow (1979) - screenwriter, film director, producer and two-time Academy Award winner for The Hurt Locker (2009). Anna Boden - co-screenwriter and director, Half Nelson, Captain Marvel Richard Brick (1971) - producer Hangin' with the Homeboys, Caught; Co-Producer Deconstructing Harry, Celebrity, Sweet and Lowdown, Arizona Dream Liz Chae - screenwriter, film director, documentary director, The Last Mermaids (documentary) Lisa Cholodenko (1998) - screenwriter and film director, The Kids Are All Right, Laurel Canyon, The L Word Deborah Chow (2003) - screenwriter, television and film director, The High Cost of Living; director, The Mandalorian Richard Corliss - Time magazine film critic Cherien Dabis (2004) - filmmaker, screenwriter - The L Word, Amreeka Adam Davidson (1994) - television and film director, actor Sabrina Dhawan - screenwriter, Monsoon Wedding Peter Farrelly (1986) - director and screenwriter Scott Ferguson (1990) - executive producer, Succession Michael France - screenwriter, GoldenEye, Cliffhanger James Franco (2010) - filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, producer Anne Goursaud - director Poison Ivy II: Lily, editor One From the Heart, The Outsiders, Ironweed, Idlewild Will Graham (2006) - screenwriter, producer Daisy Jones & the Six, Mozart in the Jungle, A League of Their Own Anna Gutto (2016) - writer-director, Paradise Highway Nicole Holofcener - film and television director, screenwriter Please Give, Enough Said, Friends with Money, Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under Courtney Hunt - Academy Award nominated screenwriter and film director, Frozen River, The Whole Truth Annemarie Jacir (2002) - film director, screenwriter, Salt of this Sea, When I Saw You, Wajib Phil Johnston - screenwriter, Wreck-It Ralph, Zootopia; co-director, Ralph Breaks the Internet Khary Jones - Award-winning screenwriter and film director, Hug Simon Kinberg - screenwriter, producer, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past Yves Lavandier (1983–85) - screenwriter, director and script doctor Jennifer Lee (2005) - Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director, Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph Ashley Lyle - co-creator, Yellowjackets John Magary - film director, screenwriter The Mend (film) S. J. Main Muñoz (2004) - screenwriter and film director, Requiescat;director, American Horror Stories, Manifest, The Cleaning Lady James Mangold - film director, screenwriter 3:10 to Yuma, Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line, Cop Land Nathalie Álvarez Mesén (2019) - Guldbagge Award-winning director, Clara Sola Marc Moss (1983–1985) - screenwriter Kiss the Girls, Along Came a Spider, Alex Cross, Homefront Greg Mottola (1991) - film director, screenwriter Adventureland, Superbad, Paul Mauro Mueller (2008) - film director, producer, screenwriter Copenhagen, A World for Raúl, Dear Chickens Ron Nyswaner (1981) - screenwriter, The Painted Veil, Philadelphia; showrunner, Fellow Travelers David Pastor (2004) - screenwriter, film director, Carriers, The Occupant, Bird Box Barcelona Kimberly Peirce (1996) - director, Boys Don't Cry, Stop-Loss James Ponsoldt - writer and director of The End of the Tour, The Spectacular Now and Smashed Mark Raso (2008) - screenwriter, film director, Copenhagen, Kodachrome, Awake Patricia Riggen (2003) - screenwriter, film director, The 33, Girl in Progress, Miracles from Heaven Jay Russell (1985) - screenwriter, director, producer My Dog Skip, Ladder 49, Tuck Everlasting Saim Sadiq (1999) - director, Joyland Beth Schacter (2004) - screenwriter, film director, showrunner, Normal Adolescent Behavior, Super Pumped Florin Serban (2008) - screenwriter, film director, If I Want to Whistle I Whistle (winner of the Jury Grand Prix & Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin Film Festival) Jeffrey Sharp - producer, You Can Count on Me, Boys Don't Cry, Proof Patrick Stettner (1995) - screenwriter, film director, The Business of Strangers Malia Scotch Marmo - screenwriter, Once Around, Hook, Madeline Joan Stein (1999) - screenwriter, film director, One Day Crossing (winner of the Student Academy Award) Nader Talebzadeh - film director Chris Teague (2006) - cinematographer, Only Murders in the Building Eric Tuchman (1987) - executive producer, The Handmaid's Tale Sergio Umansky (2004) - screenwriter, film director, Eight Out of Ten, It's Better if Gabriela Doesn't Die Jonathan Van Tulleken (2010) - director, executive producer, Shōgun, Blade Runner 2099 Tanya Wexler - film director, Jolt, Hysteria, Finding North Armond White - film critic Aaron Woolfolk (1998) - film director, screenwriter The Harimaya Bridge Lauren Wolkstein (2009) - film director, screenwriter, The Strange Ones, Dead Ringers Suzi Yoonessi - American filmmaker, screenwriter, film director, Dear Lemon Lima, Daphne & Velma Alex Zamm (1989) - film director, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, Inspector Gadget 2 Sameh Zoabi (2005) - screenwriter, film director, Man without a Cell Phone

Theatre Saheem Ali (2007) - theater director, The Public Theater Rachel Chavkin (2008) - theatre director, 2019 Tony Award Winner for Best Direction of a Musical Bathsheba Doran (2003) - playwright Albert Hall (1971) - actor Kathryn Hamilton - British theatre director Claire Labine - head writer of Ryan's Hope, One Life to Live, General Hospital, Where the Heart Is, Guiding Light Nick Mangano - stage actor and director Anson Mount (1998) - actor Diane Paulus (1997) - theater director James Rebhorn (1972) - actor Jay Scheib (1997) - theatre director Kathryn Shaw - director, actor, writer Celine Song (2014) - director, screenwriter, Past Lives