Welcome to MICA - Maryland Institute College of Art
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Welcome to MICA! My name is Hillary, and I’ll be your guide on our virtual tour, where you'll discover many of the things that make MICA unique. In case this is your first visit, here are some tips to help you out: To jump to the next destination, select the "Next" button on the right side of your screen. Or, if you already know where you want to go, simply select that location from the list on the sidebar OR directly on the map below. And remember to explore each destination in more detail by clicking the interactive icons included throughout each location. Let's get started!
Residence Life at MICA
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MICA has long recognized the importance of a robust student life program, and that includes a holistic residential experience. Right now, we’re in the bedroom of an apartment in Leake Hall, which is part of Founders Green, MICA’s main freshman residential complex. Founders Green includes five residence halls and a central, grassy courtyard used by students for everything from cookouts to soccer games. Other undergraduate residential facilities are the Gateway and Meyerhoff House, while Mount Royal Apartments offers graduate student housing. Almost all residential facilities feature apartment-style living, galleries, dining options, studio spaces, and communal gathering areas, providing a balance of independence and community.
MICA Dining
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Dining at MICA is tailored to the tastes and schedules of student artists and designers, with diverse choices that include hot entrées, sandwiches, vegetarian and vegan offerings, fresh fruit and salads, and homemade desserts. Right now, we’re in Meyerhoff House Dining Room, which offers buffet-style dining and weekend brunch. Other on-campus options are Café Doris and Nancy—two spots where you can find lunch, grab-and-go items, and coffee and tea—and Glace Grill, a late-night dining room famous on campus for its fries. You’ll also find several places to eat close to campus. For a look at local, student-recommended restaurants, visit mica.edu/micaeats.
Student Life and Resources
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Whether you want to develop fresh ideas or connect with new people, MICA's campus offers the resources to fit those needs. Here in the MICA Store, for example, students can find a full range of art supplies as well as fun MICA merch and community-made items. Other resources include Decker Library, which has an incredible selection of research materials; the Center for Student Engagement, home to over 40 student-run clubs dedicated to everything from experimental art to social activism; the Office of Identify and Inclusion, where students from all backgrounds and cultures find a welcoming space; and the Community Art & Services office, offering a range of community-based engagement opportunities.
Exhibitions & Galleries
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With more than 80 exhibitions annually and over 12 campus gallery spaces, you can say that exhibitions are a big part of student life at MICA. Here in the Fred Lazarus IV Center, you'll find the Sheila & Richard Riggs and Leidy galleries, which host major exhibitions and graduate student shows. Meyerhoff and Decker galleries in Fox building are home to juried student and faculty shows, and exhibitions by local, national, and internationally known artists. Dedicated student space galleries throughout campus provide additional venues for you to show your work. Performance spaces include BBOX, a black box theater, and Brown Center's Falvey Hall, home to fashion shows and film screenings.
Studios
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MICA provides a number of studio options for students to create work. Depending on their discipline, full-time graduate students and undergraduate upperclassmen are provided with independent studios or collaborative workspaces with individual stations. Right now, we're in a studio located in the Fred Lazarus IV Center. Undergraduate students in any major are also able to use short-term residential studio spaces when they need a temporary place to create and show work.
Maker Spaces
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With multiple maker spaces across campus, MICA provides students with the materials, room, and tools to turn their ideas into reality. We’re currently in the Dolphin Fabrication Lab, which supports the diverse, often multidisciplinary ways in which creative makers work. Other spaces at MICA include multiple wood shops, a digital fabrication studio known as dFab, a BioLab, metal shop, 2D prototyping studio, and sound stage—giving students access to everything from power and hand tools to 3D printers and scanners, and from computer-controlled milling machines to video editing suites. And the Art Tech Center, just around the corner from this shop, has an open computer lab and print lab.
Career Development
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We're in the Joseph *Meyerhoff* Center for Career Development, which empowers and educates MICA students and alumni to create purposeful, sustainable careers. With multiple tools and programs, Career Center counselors are dedicated to helping students identify their strengths and interests, explore internship opportunities and job search strategies, and much more. The center also hosts events such as industry panels that feature alumni in an array of fields, plus the annual Internship + Career Fair. The resource library offers information including resources for grants and residencies to graduate school applications, while the MICA network connects students and alumni to employers seeking their talent.
First Year Experience (FYE)
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MICA’s First Year Experience program, or FYE, is a commonly shared experience for all freshmen. Its curriculum is centered around the core course, Forum—a year-long, trans-disciplinary studio experience—as well as electives based in 2D, 3D, and 4D media. FYE students also work here in the Make Cool Stuff Lab, where they are introduced to an array of fabrication tech. The fundamental goal of the FYE program is to allow students to explore a wide variety of media and disciplinary options, so when the time comes to declare a major during their first spring semester, they can make an informed decision.
Fine Arts Programs
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Students in fine arts programs work and learn across campus—including this expansive drawing studio in Main Building, home to a number of similar spaces for students in drawing, general fine arts, and painting. Other facilities include a 7,000-square-foot ceramics space in Fox Building and the Fiber Arts Center in Mount Royal Station. Interdisciplinary Sculpture, also housed in the Station Building, is close to the Digital Fabrication lab and a metalworking foundry. Students studying Printmaking work in the 15/15 Building, which offers easy access to Dolphin Press & Print, a professional printmaking and letterpress shop, and the Globe Collection and Press, a historic collection of wood type, images, and illustrations.
Media Arts Programs
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Students in media arts work in state-of-the-art facilities and have access to cutting-edge digital and print resources. Brown Center—built specifically for design and time-based media programs—includes this Animation space and is also home to both undergraduate and graduate Graphic Design programs. The JHU-MICA Film Centre provides Film & Video students with a state-of-the-art production facility, while the Illustration Department’s dedicated space in Fox Building includes an open-format studio environment and software that supports a wide range of approaches to the medium. Photography students work in Main Building, with professional workspaces that include fully equipped black-and-white darkrooms as well as digital print and photo labs.
Design Programs
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Architectural Design, Game Design, Interactive Arts, and Product Design programs are housed in the Dolphin Design Center. Created explicitly to form a 21st Century learning and making space for designers, the center is home to state-of-the-art fabrication labs, classrooms, and collaborative areas. We’re in the Architectural Design space, which includes individual student workspaces, a seminar area, and modular meeting area. Product Design's flexible use space includes individual student workspaces, a meeting area, and multiple display options, including touch sensitive smart boards. Game Design and Interactive Arts students work in an expansive, flexible area that includes the Game Lab and two seminar spaces that can be combined into a larger one.
Liberal Arts Programs
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Students in MICA's liberal arts programs—including the BFA in Ecosystems, Sustainability, and Justice; the BFA in the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture; and the Studio + Humanistic Studies BFA—have access to an array of spaces across campus. A prime example is the art-oriented Decker Library, seen here, which holds more than 100,000 monographs, 140,000 E-books, 40,000 digital images, and streaming video collections. Decker is located in Bunting Center, which is also home to a fourth-floor liberal arts center with classroom and study spaces. And because Liberal Arts students at MICA take studio courses, they also benefit from the College's array of artmaking facilities and fabrication labs.
Graduate Studies Programs (MFA, MA)
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The Fred Lazarus IV Center, the hub of graduate student life at MICA, houses 12 full-time and low-residency MFA and MA programs. Its resources include the Lazarus Fabrication Workshop, seen here, as well as individual studios, program-specific classroom studios and gallery spaces, and the Graduate Research Lab, or Grad Lab, which is equipped with computer stations, an electronics project room, print lab, and sound studio. Filmmaking MFA students work in the state-of-the-art JHU-MICA Film Center, near the Lazarus Center, while graduate students in Graphic Design have dedicated space in Brown Center, and graduate Illustration students have dedicated space in Fox Building.
Baltimore
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When you come to MICA, you come to Baltimore, a city that’s part North, part South, part Rust Belt, and all heart. Baltimore’s booming DIY arts scene includes three world famous art museums alongside pop-up galleries and music clubs. Its resources include awards and grants supporting artistic endeavors of all kinds along with maker spaces providing affordable access to tools and training. Its distinct neighborhoods—such as Federal Hill, which we’re standing on now—offer history, architecture, great restaurants, green spaces, and affordable places to live and work. And Baltimore’s mix of nonprofits, startups, big businesses, and medical and research centers make it a great place to launch your career.
Next Steps
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Thank you for taking the time to explore MICA’s campus. Our admission office is located here, inside the historic Main Building, and our counselors and student guides would love to meet you in person and show you around campus. To register for an in-person tour, go to mica.edu/visit. You can also go there to schedule a virtual meeting and portfolio review.
