The School of Art and Design at SUNY Purchase focuses on the visual arts, offering Bachelor of Science (BS), Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees. Students can earn an interdisciplinary BFA in the visual arts or focus a BFA on one of five subjects: Graphic Design, Painting/Drawing, Photography, Printmaking or Sculpture. The campus is in Purchase, a small town that lies in West Chester County, about an hour drive northeast of New York City.
Students who wish to earn a degree in the performing arts can study at one of SUNY Purchase's three conservatories, which offer a BFA or MFA in Dance, a BFA in Theatre or MFA in Theatre Design and Technology and a Bachelor of Music or Master of Music in Music Performance.
SUNY New Paltz hosts a School of Fine and Performing Arts that splits its focus between the plastic arts and the visual arts. Here, students can work toward a Bachelor of Fine arts in Ceramics, Metal or Sculpture, or earn a BFA in Photography, Graphic Design, Printmaking or Painting & Drawing. Students can also pursue degrees in Art Education and Art History at SUNY New Paltz. Prospective candidates do not apply directly to the School of Fine and Performing Arts, but must first gain general admission and then transfer into the program of their choice upon approval. The New Paltz campus sits in the northern part of the state, about twenty minutes' drive from Poughkeepsie and nearly two hours' drive from New York City.
Students who enroll in SUNY Fredonia's School of Visual Arts and New Media can work toward a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a BFA. The BA program confers degrees in Art History or Visual Arts and New Media, which focuses on video, filmmaking and multimedia production. Fredonia offers a BFA in Animation & Illustration, Drawing & Painting, Media Arts, Graphic Design, Photography, Ceramics and Sculpture. Prospective students must submit a portfolio of past work with their admissions application. The Fredonia campus sits on the shore of Lake Erie, about an hour's drive south of Buffalo, and eight hours' drive west of New York City.
The SUNY Oswego campus provides arts education through its School of Communication, Media and the Arts. Here, undergraduate students can study visual arts, theater, music and communications and graduate students can pursue degrees in Art or Integrated Media; the latter discipline intertwines communications, web design, multimedia and film and video. Undergraduate degree programs include a BA in Communication, Journalism, Music and Public Relations and BFAs in Graphic Design, Studio Art and Theatre. The Oswego campus sits on the shores of Lake Ontario, a 50-minute drive north of Syracuse and five hours from New York City.
Students at the SUNY Genesco School of the Arts can focus upon the performing arts. This school's degree programs offer BAs in Dance, Music, Musical Theatre, Theatre and Theatre English. SUNY Genesco also offers a BA in Art History, and while the Genesco School of the Arts had previously provided a BA in Studio Arts, the university decided to decommission that program in 2010. The Genesco campus is in the western portion of the state, a 90 minute drive east of Buffalo and nearly six hours' drive northwest of New York City.