OPEN CALL: Fully funded scholarship available for D-Crit MA at the School of Visual Arts

The MA Design Research, Writing and Criticism (D-Crit) program at SVA empowers the next generation of writers, editors, curators, and strategists to explore how design shapes—and is shaped by—contemporary culture. With an emphasis on the pipeline from research to publication, graduates hone the critical thinking and writing skills essential to charting new conversations around design.

This year, D-Crit will award a fully funded scholarship to one incoming full-time MA student beginning Fall 2026. All applicants are automatically considered; additional scholarship funding is available for both full- and part-time students.

D-Crit students learn from a core faculty of active professionals, including Karrie Jacobs, Jon Key, Alex de Looz, Steven Heller, Leital Molad, Jennifer Kabat, Jennifer Krasinski, Nicolas Kemper, Eric Schwartau, Adam Harrison Levy, and program chair Molly Heintz. The department recently received a Google Artists + Machine Intelligence grant to launch a workshop with Outland editor Brian Droitcour on critical frameworks for art, design, and AI.

This semester, D-Crit’s seminars are buzzing with guest visits from acclaimed critics, editors, and writers: Pulitzer Prize–winner Alexandra Lange, COMMON EDGE founder Martin Pedersen, New York Review of Architecture editor Samuel Medina, design journalist Diana Budds, Design Observer editor in chief Ellen McGirt, writers P.E. Moskowitz and Steven Phillips-Horst, author and designer Cliff Kuang, and poet and prompt engineer Maryam Monalisa Gharavi to name a few.

Graduates have gone on to senior positions at The New York Times, Domus, Metropolis, Architectural Record, MoMA, Cooper Hewitt, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Vitra Design Museum, IDEO, SYPartners, Pentagram, Microsoft, and Google—and have founded their own consultancies and publications, such as Superscript, Original Copy, CLOG, Fazer, and Wrong House.

Virtual info session: Tuesday, December 3, 12–1pm ET (RSVP). All attendees receive an $80 USD application fee waiver. Application deadline: January 15, 2026.

Change the way you see the world. Change the way the world sees you.