MISSION

The New York Academy of Art is a graduate school that combines intensive technical training in the fine arts with active critical discourse. We believe that rigorously trained artists are best able to realize their artistic vision. Academy students are taught traditional methods and techniques and encouraged to use these skills to make vital contemporary art. The Academy serves as a creative and intellectual center for all artists dedicated to highly skilled, conceptually aware figurative and representational art.

VISION STATEMENT

The New York Academy of Art aspires to be a center of creativity, learning, and expertise in the field of figurative art. Through an enduring commitment to traditional skills and a strong engagement with contemporary discourse, the Academy will empower a new generation of artists.

STRATEGIC PLAN

The Academy’s mission has remained remarkably consistent since the institution was founded in 1982. Its specificity provides clear purpose, and its standards chart the path forward. The mission establishes a benchmark that guides strategic planning, curricula, programming, and decision making.

HISTORY

The New York Academy of Art was founded in 1982 by artists, scholars and patrons of the arts, including Andy Warhol, to foster a resurgence in the training of figurative and representational art. The Academy has since developed into a 501 (c)(3) non-profit cultural institution housing the nation’s first graduate school of figurative art, a continuing education program, the region’s most in-depth figurative art library, an extensive exhibition and lecture series, and iconic New York City events such as Take Home a Nude and Tribeca Ball.

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