The MFA in Intermedia is an interdisciplinary creative studio-centered program committed to hybrid creative research, experimental technological production, as well as development and production in hybrid forms of art such as time-based media, digital and video art, installation, performance art, artists’ books and multiples, community-based social art practices, conceptual art, net art, and other new forms that the students may generate from their own Intermedial explorations.  These new forms are however, not without grounding in, or connections to, traditional art forms in music, writing, performance studies, media studies, and the visual arts.

The MFA focuses on the intersection of new technologies and creative production.  The name of the program Intermedia reflects our aim and intent - that is to work with, and study creative processes which fall conceptually and physically between known/used media, as well as between traditional disciplines such as photography and computer science, biology and sculpture, or music and sociology.  Students will develop diverse skills grounded in methodologies from many disciplines that foster innovative, analytic, and speculative thinking necessary for innovative production and creative thinking in Intermedia.

Program Requirements

The three-year MFA degree in Intermedia at the University of Maine provides graduate students with the opportunity to engage in innovative, creative and theoretical work in a flexible program that encourages individual development within an interdisciplinary context.  The 60 credit curriculum is designed for 18 credits per year with 6 credits in summer of the third year for Thesis Exhibition preparation and presentation, but it may also be completed on a part time basis over a longer time period.

Financial Aid

In addition to University fellowships and scholarships listed elsewhere in this catalog, the Intermedia Program and the New Media Department offer graduate assistantships to qualified students, Graduate assistants can take the form of either an RA or a TA position.  RA’s will be involved in a variety of research and program support roles in working with the faculty in the multiple affiliated departments dependent on the student’s background and skills.  TA positions are offered in conjunction with undergraduate New Media classes and thus require specific media and/or programming knowledge.  Teaching assistants are carefully supervised and develop instructional skills that prove useful in later professional careers.  Assistantships are nine-month appointments that include tuition waiver and monthly stipends.  Applicants interested in an assistantship should so indicate in their initial application for admission and contact the Intermedia Program for specific available assistantships.

Course of Study

Given the nature of Intermedia as a non-disciplinary bound, research-based activity it is central that the program be simultaneously structured but flexible to allow for varieties of student choices and areas of study.  The standard conceptual and structural elements of the program consist of the following areas or categories.

• Basic creative approaches, history and theory
• Ongoing individualized research and creative production
• Praxis production and research studio work
• Individualized technical and theoretical areas
• Field experience/study abroad experience