In SIM we try to ready you for the real world as much as possible – while you're here and after you've graduated.
Lots of collaboration, lots of ever-changing plans, and lots of opportunities. And there is always more to know. While you’re here, we recommend you take the Art, Life and Money course and take advantage of the many workshops offered by the Career Services Department.
Here are resources to help you make the most of your SIM experience and prepare for wherever your creative path takes you.
Current Semester Resources
Find the forms, schedules, and communication tools you need for SIM Major Studio.
Current Students
- FA26/SP27 SIM Major Studio Syllabus
- SIM Slack – our main tool for internal communication
- FA26 Semester Planning form
- FA26 Semester Schedule Overview – this is where you can find out who is scheduled to produce a group on a Thursday so that you can contact and plan to help or present your work for critique.
- FA26/SP27 SIM Events & Exhibitions list
- FA26 SIM Major Studio Group Production proposal form
- FA26 SIM Major Studio Google Classroom
- FA26 Semester Assessment Form – check back in December!
- Private SIM site – visit massartsim.fun for Thursday presentations, productions, and names and faces of your fellow SIM students. Sign in with your MassArt credentials.
- MassArt Connect SIM Hub – visit our new SIM department hub on MassArt Connect for additional student resources.
SIM students have access to a range of technical resources and production spaces. These guides can help you plan projects, use equipment, and prepare for events and exhibitions.
Studio Technical Guides & Calendars
- SIM Shop info
- Pozen Tech Guide
- N181 Tech Guide
- North Sound Studio N185 Tech Guide
- DMC Black Box and Sound Studio schedules
Producing & Promoting Events
- How to Produce an Event at MassArt Quick Start Guide for SIM Majors
- MassArt Student Organization Handbook for more in depth event registration details for SGA events
- MassArt Campus Groups for SGA related activities
- MassArt Student Engagement linktree
- South Crack Video Gallery Submission form
- Tower Monitors submission form
- MassArt Events Calendar – login to submit your event
Campus Resources
- MassArt Student Handbook
- MassArt Connect – for MassArt internal resources
Below is a non-exhaustive list of organizations SIM students have participated in Internships in the past. The best time to apply for internships is the fall of your junior year.
You can also view all internship placements, find your own, or register for an internship for credit thought the Career Development Office.
- Wooden Wiki Productions
- Isenberg Projects
- BRM Production Management
- Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- MIT Museum
- Elliot School of the Arts
- ODC Theater in SF
- Z Space in SF
- “Waterfire” in Providence
- Theater Offensive
- New Alliance Studios
- World Music/Crash Arts
- Cyberarts
- Smallbean – Production intern: create documentary videos for their website
- Exploration Summer Program at Wellesley College – Digital Photography and Photoshop teacher for international middle school students
- Studio 125
- ICA Boston
- Museum of Science, Boston
- BCA Cyclorama Building
- Peabody Essex Museum
- Masary Studios
- Northampton Community Music Center
- Collective Futures Fund
- Stephanie Houten Multimedia LLC
View a complete list of SIM Internships as of FA25 for current students.
Ideal Internship application schedule:
SIM’s resource collection includes guides on organizing, community safety, civil disobedience, and navigating difficult conversations.
- 10 Tips for Getting People to Talk Across Political Differences – Greater Good Magazine, Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley
- Action Safety and Community Care in Times of Rapid Response – The Ruckus Society
- Community Safety Toolkit – Vision Change Win
- “Going to a protest? People are watching” Instagram Graphic – Solano Unity Network
- Know your rights for Protesters – National Lawyers Guild
- Protest Safety Tips to guard against surveillance – Digital Defense Fund
- Amnesty International Civil Disobedience Toolkit
Post Grad and Alumni Resources
The SIM community extends well beyond MassArt. Stay connected with fellow artists, share your work and opportunities, and explore resources to support your creative practice after graduation.
Stay connected with the SIM community beyond graduation. Join the SIM Facebook group to connect with fellow alumni and current students, share updates, and stay informed about what’s happening in SIM.
You can also join MassArt Alumni Connect to reconnect with former classmates and faculty, engage with the Alumni Relations team, and explore alumni events, resources, and opportunities.
The MassArt Alumni Relations office encourages you to keep them posted on how you are doing after graduation. They send out a free monthly e-Connection newsletter to all alumni. To sign up, fill out the Alumni Directory. You can also use this form to tell the college about newsworthy professional and personal events in your life.
MassArt has significantly improved its career services department. And be sure to keep in touch with the SIM faculty/staff and let us know of any opportunities we can share with current students. Use the FB page for networking.
Artist Grants and Residencies
Grants can support everything from new artwork and public installations to performances, research, and community-based projects. Explore these Massachusetts and New England organizations, along with national funding opportunities, to find programs that align with your work.
- Awesome Foundation – Gives out $1,000 grants each month
- Now and There – Public Art Accelerator Program
- Mass Cultural Council
- Asset for Artists – Capacity Building Grants are specifically for emerging artists
- City of Boston – There are a number of grants through the City including the Opportunity Fund
- Live Arts Boston – Focused on live performance, social practice, music.
- New England Foundation for the Arts
- Collective Futures Fund
Artist residencies offer opportunities to focus on your work, experiment with new ideas, and connect with other artists. Programs vary widely in location, duration, resources, and financial support.
There is no shortage of search engines and lists for artists residencies. Start by looking into artists you admire or people in your network. See which residencies they may have been a part of and start there.
Find Residencies & Open Calls
- Artist Communities Alliance – Search residency programs and upcoming application opportunities.
- Artist Communities Alliance: Open Calls – Browse current and ongoing residency application opportunities.
- Res Artis – Explore an international network of artist residencies.
- TransCultural Exchange – Discover international opportunities and resources for artists.
Application Guides & Community Resources
- Tips for Applying to Residencies and Grants – Advice from Artsy on preparing applications for creative opportunities.
- Applying for Things: Opportunities Listings – A spreadsheet of platforms and directories for artist opportunities.
- Artist Residency Resource List (PDF) – An additional collection of residency opportunities.
- Transcultural Exchange
- SIM Community Grants, Residencies & Fellowships List – A collection of U.S. and international opportunities shared by SIM Major Timbo!
Building Your Career
Explore Handshake – Career Development lists paid art & design jobs (full time, part time, contract) and internships for students and alumni on Handshake. Try these specific keywords by Major to find the right opportunity for you.
If you are interested in being an on call stage hand in Boston – consider getting on the “D List” of the local IATSE Local #11 Union – registration portal link.
Sign up for the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture’s newsletter if you’re staying around Boston. They list job opportunities in the arts every month.
Find your favorite “call for entries” website to keep track of exhibition opportunities that fit your practice. Here is one – https://www.callforentry.org
Grad Schools
This is a crowdsourced list of BFA / MFA/ PhD and Free/Paid MFA programs with a visual arts focus (last updated in 2018). Below are some additional informal notes we’ve been collecting about Grad MFA programs in the US that provide some funding. (Or do you have EU citizenship? Go to grad school there, for free!)
- UCSD (full ride + teaching stipend)
- UC Irvine
- UCLA (both DMA and the regular arts program give up to 100+% funding with teaching, Full ride possible only with in-state status, DMA is a great experimental art/design/technology program)
- USC (This program was affordable but the school has changed its economic model and is in transition)
- UCSB (full funding + excellent stipend and teaching, Especially good for art and tech)
- Stanford (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching. Also, check out the CRMA phd in experimental music)
- UC Berkeley (full ride tuition for instate peeps, out of staters pay difference)
- Mills (possibly up to 50+% funding, great sound MFA)
- UC Davis (50-70% funding)
- UOregon (full ride + teaching stipend)
- UW (full ride)
- ASU (Arizona State) (full ride or 50% tuition + Merit Scholarships: for International Students)
- UIowa (possibly full funding avail here)
- Indiana (possibly full ride)
- UChicago (75% tuition funding + teaching stipend, this program is growing and has fabulous Logan Arts Center)
- UI-C (full funding, Program is small but good, but may be lacking in institutional support.)
- Northwestern (full ride + excellent stipend and teaching)
- SAIC (possibly full ride but really competitive)
- SIUC (Southern Illinois) (full ride + stipend)
- UMichigan (full ride, first year travel funding, free computer, + stipend)
- Ohio (both state and university) (full rides + stipend to both universities)
- UGA (Georgia) (excellent funding)
- LSU (Louisiana) (excellent funding)
- UF (Florida) (full funding)
- UTex-Austin (50% or more funding)
- Georgia Tech (MS in Digital Media is a full ride)
- Alfred (full ride + stipend)
- RPI/iEAR (half the admits get full finding)
- Carnegie-Mellon (70+% funding)
- RISD (Pres. Scholarships range 40K, 20K and 10K, but most pay)
- Rutgers (possibly full funding)
- SUNY Buffalo (good-to-full funding here)
- Tyler/Temple (sometimes they do offer full funding + stipend to some first year MFAs, but 2nd yr seems to get best funding)
- SFMA (has been known to dish out some decent money, but not all the time)
- Yale (if you are low income, along with your parents (regardless of your age, they ask for your parent’s financials), you can qualify for excellent funding. If not, you will pay)
- MIT/ACT (possibly up to 50% funding)
- Univ of Maryland (full ride + teaching stipend)
- VCU (70+% funding)
- Cornell (full ride + teaching stipend)
- MICA (25-50% tuition for some)
- Bard (possibly up to 50% funding)
- Montclair State (possibly excellent funding here)
- CUNY Hunter College, NYC (good price if you’re in state)
- Columbia University
- Yale
- UCLA (good deal)
- USC (good deal)
- SAIC
- RISD
- Cal Arts
- Bard College (it’s a summer program, so you could technically work off the money during the year?)
- CCA
- Art Center Los Angeles
- SFAI
- Mountain School of the Arts – LA: Totally free seminar style program with a highly interdisciplinary curriculum (you might go to an artists studio one day then hear a presentation from the District Attorney of LA the next, European style). Meets 3 nights a week in a bar in Chinatown, great “in” to Los Angeles, but quite competitive.
- DIY art school in Oakland, CA
