Cover the Arts, Define the Culture

At a time when digital technology is changing how artists make art, how dealers and distributors sell it, and how journalists respond to it, critics have never been more important in helping readers understand culture.

The Arts and Culture concentration at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism grounds students in the history of criticism and cultural analysis and equips them to critique new forms.

Taught and mentored by journalists writing for some of the most respected media outlets in the country, A&C students explore the aesthetic and economic foundations of the arts as well as the technological and political forces that affect them.

You’ll read classic and contemporary writers from George Orwell and Mary McCarthy to William Langewiesche and Anthony Lane, write historically informed, critically acute pieces for print, online and broadcast media, and answer questions such as “Should taxpayers finance the arts?” “What critical criteria should be applied to new forms like film and music mashups?” and “Does Paris Hilton matter?”