Resources for Current Art Majors
- General: Students on financial aid whose aid is greater than their tuition and fees may have funds available at the beginning of the year with which to purchase materials and supplies. Students should log into YalePay to determine if this is the case. A negative Account Balance and zero balance Due indicates available funds. To access these funds students should follow these instructions. For questions, please contact Undergraduate Financial Aid.
- Art Course Fees: Effective Fall 2022, courses in the Art major no longer carry fees.
- Art Course Materials: For many courses, there are materials costs, which the university considers comparable to textbook costs. Students who are interested in exhibiting their course work at the end of the semester in a college gallery may apply for Creative and Performing Arts Awards (CPA) to cover materials costs associated with an art course, up to $500. CPA awards are only available to support work to be exhibited. Eligibility for CPA grants depends on the student consulting with their Head of College in advance of submitting the request and submitting a clear scope of work statement along with a detailed budget. Applicants should review CPA guidelines. CPA grants are awarded at the discretion of the residential colleges and are not awarded to every applicant.
The Art major maintains digital and analog camera packages to be checked out on semester-long loan for students on financial aid enrolled in photography courses who are not able to secure a camera through other channels.
Students should contact their instructor to request a camera loan. Creative and Performing Arts Awards and Safety Net funds are NOT available to support camera purchases.
Yale’s residential colleges provide art making spaces where students can hone existing skills or develop new ones, even if they are not actively enrolled in an SoA class. Students can find spaces to paint and draw; throw ceramics; weave, sew, and knit; and use a printing press. Scheduling and access to these spaces should be coordinated through the appropriate college office. Please note that these spaces are prioritized for use by students in that college.
Branford College Pottery Studio
Located in the Branford College basement between the Buttery and Entryway M, the Art Studio is equipped with easels and limited art supplies for those who are looking for a place to paint or draw.
Next door to the Art Studio, the Pottery Studio consists of three wheels, a wedging table, a full selection of glazes, and a kiln.
Visit the Branford College website for more information.
Davenport College
The Davenport Printing Press, Bookbinding Studio, Pottery Studio, and Digital Media and Arts Center are all located in the Davenport Underground. These facilities are available to the students of Davenport and Pierson Colleges.
The Bookbinding Studio provides students with the space, tools, and materials to create handbound books. The Pottery Studio contains pottery wheels, high fire clay, glazes, an electric kiln, and a variety of pottery tools. Davenport’s Digital Media & Arts Center is home to a movie editing station, a music station, and other digital media software and tools.
Visit the Davenport College website for more information.
Grace Hopper College Lumry-Wengerd Recording Studio
The Art Room is open to all Grace Hopper students interested in discovering or developing their artwork. The studio is equipped with paints, brushes, easels, and other art supplies.
Visit the Grace Hopper College website for more information.
Jonathan Edwards College Printing Press
The JE printing press is located between Entryways C and D in the JE basement. Students can design and print manuscripts after completing a short orientation class.
Visit the Jonathan Edwards College website for more information.
Morse College Studio
Morse College’s Fabric Arts Studio is home to six looms, several sewing machines, a knitting machine, a large art table, and more. The digital media room provides both PCs and Macs for students working on online projects or exploring graphic design and other digital media, including video and sound recordings. These facilities are open to students in Morse and Ezra Stiles.
Visit the Morse College website for more information.
Pauli Murray College Pottery Studio
The Pottery Studio in Pauli Murray College has equipment to produce pottery and Art Studio offers tools for drawing, painting, and other forms of art.
Visit the Pauli Murray College website for more information.
Silliman College Bindery
Silliman College’s Art Room and Bindery are located in the basement of Entryway A and fully equipped with art supplies and tools and materials needed for bookbinding.
Visit the Silliman College website for more information.
Timothy Dwight College Art Studio
Students interested in reserving the TD Art Studio must complete an art studio training with TD art studio aides prior to requesting access to the space and materials.
Visit the Timothy Dwight website for more information.
Trumbull College Art Room
The Trumbull College Art Studio has a wide array of art supplies including a drafting table, easels, a sewing machine, and an adjustable dress form. The Pottery Studio holds a kiln and other ceramics supplies.
Visit the Trumbull College website for more information.
Visit Yale College Arts for Yale Undergraduate Production’s full list of Build and Paint Spaces.
Paint Spaces:
- Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (CITY)
Space/Location: The Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale’s main office and their paint space can be found on the third floor of 254 Elm Street. Tsai CITY is focused on creating an interdisciplinary learning environment that cultivates innovators, leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs in all fields and for all sectors of society.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: Tsai CITY is open to the entire Yale community. For more information regarding the center or to contact the staff, visit city.yale.edu. - Timothy Dwight Art Room
Space/Location: The Timothy Dwight Art Room is located in Timothy Dwight College.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: Timothy Dwight Art Room is a resource for students in Timothy Dwight. Please contact the Timothy Dwight Head of College’s Office for more information. - Silliman Art Studio
Space/Location: The Silliman Art Studio is located in the basement of Silliman College.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: The Silliman Art Studio is a resource for students in Silliman College. Please contact the Silliman Head of College’s Office for more information. - Hopper Art Room
Space/Location: The Hopper Art Room is located in Hopper College.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: The Hopper Art Room is a resource for students in Hopper College. Please contact the Hopper Head of College’s Office for more information. - Morse Art Room
Space/Location: The Morse Art Room is located in Morse College.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: The Morse Art Room is a resource for students in Morse College. Please contact the Morse Head of College’s Office for more information.
Build & Assembly Spaces:
- Dramat Shop
Space/Location: This moderate sized woodworking shop in the basement of the University Theater is equpped with both hand tools and bench power tools for working with wood. The shop may also be used as a paint area.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: This shop is prioritized for use by the Dramat. Use of the shop by other groups, possible only when the Dramat is not in production, must be pre-approved by the Dramat and by Undergraduate Production. The shop may be used as a paint space or as a build and assembly space. Specific training and supervision is required for operating power tools in the shop. Please discuss this option with your UP advisor first. - Center for Engineering Innovation and Design (CEID)
Space/Location: The Center, located on the first floor of the Becton Engineering Center, features multiple spaces in one: a lecture area and meeting rooms for the exploration of new ideas, machine shops, a wet lab, and a studio for the creation of physical prototypes.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: CEID membership is a prerequisite for use of the spaces and shop. Specific training and supervision is required for operating some of the tools in the shop. Visit the CEID website for more information about CEID membership and the CEID Code of Conduct. CEID staff may exclude any activities that do not support the Center’s mission and values. - Whitney Theater
Space/Location: Located at the Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St.), the Whitney Theater is primarily a black box theater reserved for Theater Studies programming. However, it is also equipped for supervised construction and paint work.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: Any use of this space must be requested and confirmed through the Theater Studies Department technical director and production manager. - Berkeley Wood Shop
Space/Location: This woodworking shop is located in the basement of Berkeley College.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: The Berkeley Wood Shop is available to Berkeley students for small scale projects. The shop is usually staffed from 9a-4p on Saturdays during the school year. Please contact the Berkeley Head of College’s Office for more information. - School of Art
Space/Location: Located at 36 Edgewood Ave. and offers full woodworking and metalworking capabilities.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: Students must sign up for and complete a training session before granted access. The shops are open to School of Art Graduate students, Undergraduates currently enrolled in a Sculpture course, and Undergraduate Art majors. - School of Architecture
Space/Location: The School of Architecture owns some large fabrication and prototyping equipment located in Rudolph Hall.
Availability/Reservations/Policies: All School of Architecture equipment is reserved for students taking courses through the School of Architecture.
Visit "Art Spaces at Yale College" and Yale College Art's list of n-campus locations where undergraduate art makers can access equipment for more information.
Gallery Spaces for undergraduate visual art projects is available within many of the residential colleges and cultural centers. Most of the residential college spaces are prioritized for use by students in that college. Students should plan to display their project in the gallery in their own college if possible. In these cases, the galleries are allocated through the Creative and Performing Arts award process.
Be sure to review the details below and contact the appropriate office for more information or to reserve a space. When a student is applying for a gallery space in a college other than in the funding college, the student should contact the gallery’s Head of College’s office directly.
Undergraduate art majors present work in Green Hall Gallery every year as part of the regular gallery schedule at the School of Art. The first exhibition is hosted during the fall semester, typically between the 2nd- and 1st-Year MFA Shows, and the second is hosted in the spring as an undergraduate thesis exhibition.
Undergraduate art majors can also submit proposals to use 32 Edgewood Gallery by reaching out to Gallery & Exhibitions Manager, Ben Weathers.
Students interested in exhibiting work in the Undergraduate building at 53 Broadway should reach out to Sade Torres Pacheco, Senior Administrative Assistant for Undergraduate Studies.
There is a diverse network of advisors and informal peer mentors available to support student art-makers at Yale College:
- Yale faculty and staff across the university who provide mentorship or collaboration opportunities are listed here by Yale College Arts.
- Yale Cross Campus is a networking and mentoring website that connects Yale students with alumni who share their interests and with each other.
- Undergraduate Production (UP) Peer Mentors serve as a resource for student mentorship on all live performance and production topics including developing and producing a project; designing, building, and installing scenery and equipment; and planning and executing load-in and the tech process.
- The Peer Networking Lists allow you to contact recent Yale College graduates and current Yale College students to discuss their post-graduate roles and summer employment experiences. These lists are open to all students in Yale College, Yale Graduate School of Arts & Science and the Yale Postdocs.
Student Grants and Fellowships
Please see your Head of College office to ask about funding within your residential college to support summer research and opportunities. Deadline: Varies, inquire in early Winter. These include:
- Paul K. and Evelyn Elizabeth Cook Richter Scholarship Funds
Access forms from the Council of the Heads of College website. - The Creative and Performing Arts Award (CPA) is designed to support free on-campus performances by undergraduates. Administered by the Council of Heads of College, this award supports on-campus dramatic, musical, dance, video or film productions, literary publications, and exhibitions in each residential college. Students apply for funding by submitting performance proposals through their residential college head’s office, which may provide up to $1000 to cover accepted performance costs of a dance recital (CPA funding will not pay for wages, food, travel, guest artists, or equipment). CPA funded shows may not charge for tickets. Please review the complete award guidelines prior to submitting a funding request.
- A Richter Summer Fellowship is awarded for independent study and research, not for only travel, work or enrollment in a school. An internship is a valid use only if the primary component is study or research, being part of a research team is a valid use. The maximum Richter award is $1,000. Awards are reported to the IRS as taxable income. Awardees must disclose the amount of any other funding supporting the proposed project. Richter Fellowships are ordinarily awarded to juniors, but freshmen and sophomores are eligible. (Seniors are not eligible.)
- The Summer Research Fellowships, funded in part from the endowments of Jonathan Edwards College, are open to all Yale College first years, sophomores and juniors to support summer research and other academic work abroad that is related to academic papers, senior essays and senior projects in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.
- Mellon Forum Undergraduate Research Grants: For educational programs in the residential colleges, including teaching in the colleges, Mellon Senior Forums and Undergraduate Research Grants. The Mellon research grants are intended for seniors to support their senior essays/projects or analogous forms of research and independent study. Each qualifying student may apply for up to $500 in research support.
Research must take place during the academic year, and awardees must present the results of their research either to the Senior Forum or to another educational forum in the college. It is also important that each application for the research award include the approval of a faculty advisor who will supervise the research project. Each college has its own formal application process to select undergraduates for research awards. More information on the Council of the Heads of College website.
The Yale College Safety Net is designed for currently enrolled undergraduate students who experience emergency and unexpected financial hardship. It can help with, among other things, paying for books and materials for art and other classes. Visit the link below, and select “Academic Supplies” if making a request for help with your materials for an art course.
Deadline: ongoing. More information is available here.
Undergraduate art students may apply for funding to help pay for an art exhibition in the residential colleges. Deadline: early each semester
- The Yale College Fellowships office provides counseling for, and access to, grants that can be used to support visual arts creation, otherwise known in grant descriptions as “research.”
Full information here. - The Center for International and Professional Experience (CIPE) offers a wide variety of resources for students seeking international experience by providing information, advice, and guidance to potential travelers, as well as contact information for returned students.
Full information here. - SEA/Summer Experience Award can support either an arts apprenticeship or an art project of your own design for those on financial aid by listing Yale and the Art DUS as the host institution.
Full information here.
The Yale Arts Apprenticeship Program is an initiative that connects Yale undergraduates, particularly those on financial aid, with professional arts practitioners of any discipline.
As an option within Yale’s Summer Experience Award (SEA) funding model, the Arts Apprenticeship must fulfill the same basic requirements. Additional details, as well as those specific to the Arts Apprenticeship are included below.
The prize seeks to encourage an individual whose whole person demonstrates a developing consciousness, a personal vision, and a spirit of search, regardless of whether they have evolved a concrete realization of that vision; a person who shows promise of fulfilling Blair Dickinson’s (Yale College Class of 1974) concept of an artist as suggested by this passage from her journal:
“Ability to find spiritually rich occurrences in the world. Observer. Critic. Isolator. One who points to a moment and reveals its importance. Ability to cross over between areas of thought and to ascend and descend.”
Established as a memorial prize by Blair Dickinson’s family, this fund has promoted recognition of Yale undergraduate and graduate pursuing art studies at the School of Art.
The Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize shall be awarded at Commencement by the Yale University School of Art to an undergraduate or graduate who has pursued studio art courses in the School including: graphic design, drawing, painting, photography, filmmaking, printmaking, sculpture, and video. The prize of $10,000 is open to enrolled art MFA and art major BA students in their final year of study.
Undergraduate art majors can access the link to apply via the Student Opportunities Spreadsheet.
The Mary Hotchkiss Williams Travel Fellowship for the Visual Arts, awarded by the Yale University Art Gallery, supports travel abroad for qualified Yale undergraduates engaged in making visual art. This year, up to four fellowships will be awarded to students who demonstrate superior performance in their respective fields of artistic practice and present a proposal for travel that will provide enriching experiences to the developing artist.
The fellowship carries a grant of up to $8,100. Preference is given to studio-art majors but students majoring in other fields at Yale College are invited to apply.
Full information is available on the Yale University Art Gallery website.
The Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Traveling Fellowship Program awards fellowships to students in the visual and fine arts, including art history, conservation, studio art, and photography. The Fellowships are supported by income from the Mortimer and Sara Hays Endowment Fund at Brandeis University and provide support for living expenses and travel outside the United States.
Find more information on the official Hays-Brandeis website and access the application each year via the Yale Student Grants and Fellowships portal.
The John Boit Morse Memorial Fellowship, from the endowments of Jonathan Edwards College, supports summer independent research in the fine arts, with preference given to an art student. This fellowship is intended for first year, sophomore and junior students conducting research outside of the U.S. in the summer. Applications for this fellowship will be accepted via the Office of Fellowships Summer Research Common Application.
The Summer Research Fellowships are open to all Yale College first years, sophomores and juniors who give evidence that their educational experience would be significantly enhanced by an independent academic project and/or research outside of the United States. These fellowships do not support structured programs of any kind, including, but not limited to, internships and coursework.
These fellowships only support research projects in the humanities and social sciences. Students conducting research in the natural or applied sciences should apply for the Alan S. Tetelman 1958 Fellowships for International Research in the Science.
These fellowships are most often awarded to students who are proposing work related to their senior projects or senior essays. Supervision of the research by a Yale faculty member, or other expert in the field, must be mentioned in the proposal. Many students who have successfully received these fellowships to complete archival research have consulted in advance with a Yale librarian or curator of a library collection.
Minimum project duration: 4 weeks, though preference is given to projects of longer duration. Projects of shorter duration will not be considered. The proposed project must be a full-time commitment and be the primary activity for the duration of the fellowship.
Find the application each year via the Yale Student Grants and Fellowships portal, also accessible via the Yale Fellowships and Funding website.
The Swensen Scholarship, given in honor of David Swensen PH.D. ’80, is awarded to Yale undergraduates who excel both in the classroom and in athletics or the arts. Recipients, known as the Swensen Scholars, are awarded funding to practice the highest caliber training in their selected field. Swensen Scholars will become a cohort of achievers recognized as the epitome of Yale and the importance of curricular and extra-curricular excellence as integral parts of a liberal arts education.
Application Information:
This application is for nominated undergraduate art majors only. If nominated by your department, students will be able to find the form by searching for “Swensen” on the Yale Student Grants and and Fellowships portal.
The Lohmann & Van Sinderen Prizes for Excellence in Undergraduate Printing and Design celebrate the broad range of interests in planning, craft, and invention, highlighting the singularity of undergraduate graphic design and printing at Yale. The judges welcome printed work of all kinds, seeking to recognize the unique skill, discipline, and creativity of those who submit their work for consideration.
Established in 1967, these prizes honor Carl C. Lohmann, Class of 1910, founding member of the honorable company of college printers, lifelong typophile, and secretary of the university from 1927 to 1953.
Since 2015, the Adrian Van Sinderen Book Collecting Prize Fund has supported these awards.
For full information, including submission instructions and past entries, visit the Lohmann Prize website.
External Residencies and Awards
Post-Grad Fellowships
Trinity’s Studio Arts Program offers a rich and diverse studio art curriculum within a liberal arts environment. Courses are well defined and rigorous, with emphasis on personal growth and introspection, as well as the development of technical mastery through experimentation and innovation. The Program equips majors with substantial expertise in the primary media, the ability to identify and define content, and a solid grounding in the history of art. Trinity’s Studio Arts majors receive the training and inspiration necessary to enhance their future educational and professional endeavors.
Recent college graduates, including Trinity Studio Arts majors, may apply for the Fifth Year Fellowship. Fifth Year Fellows receive a stipend and remain at Trinity during the academic year following graduation. During that period, they manage the CCAN Art Gallery, serve as mentors to other Studio Arts students, and assist the Fine Arts technician. They are provided with a studio space on campus and are encouraged to build up a consistent body of work beyond their senior thesis and to apply to graduate school.