Academy of Art University

Academy of Art University is a private art and design school in San Francisco, founded in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens as a school for advertising art. It grew from one studio into a multi-building urban campus around Union Square and the Financial District, remaining a specialist institution rather than a comprehensive university. Instruction is organized by studio discipline, with both on-site classes and a large online program.

Academic units cover fine art, graphic and industrial design, architecture, fashion, animation and visual effects, game development, photography, and motion pictures and television. Graduate study is built around the Master of Fine Arts, the Master of Arts, and the professional Master of Architecture. Production studios, fashion workrooms, and architecture labs are spread across downtown buildings rather than a single enclosed campus.

Enrollment is on the order of several thousand students, with a large share in graduate studio programs and a substantial international population drawn to San Francisco’s design and entertainment industries. Faculty are largely practicing artists and designers. Alumni work mainly in commercial art, entertainment, fashion, and digital production.

Graduate degrees are studio- and project-based, with critique, portfolio, and a thesis or culminating project rather than a doctoral research model. The calendar follows a conventional semester pattern, including summer sessions used by working students. Students live and work in central San Francisco, using city galleries, agencies, and production houses as an extension of the classroom.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, Academy of Art University lists 5 graduate programs across 3 subjects, all of them master's programs, with the widest choice in communication, media & journalism and environmental design.