Doctorate in Arts
School of Social & Human Studies
Academic Freedom to Discover Your Purpose
Open Curriculum Design at Atlantic International University
In the current context, especially given the rapid structural changes at the levels of culture, ideas and education. The implications of this Doctorate in Arts program is significant. As we’ve seen, the fields are being forced to collapse, and there is a desire for creative, creative, critical, and socially engaged discourse. Doctorate in Arts will encourage and empower individuals to create shift and meaningful change through the arts. This isn’t just technical know-how or some aesthetic being. It’s about engaging the inquiry of a scholarship-documented doctor of arts, cultural phenomenon, and our contributions to knowledge in the field of the arts.
Through their doctoral degree studies in arts, the PhD in Arts students have the opportunity to explore contemporary issues through a global lens of reference, questioning what is normative and creating work in response to audiences that range. The doctoral program in arts works toward developing students’ intellectual independence through engagement, interdisciplinary practices, and experiential research to encourage thinking beyond titles and disciplines. Within their chosen practice, distance learning graduates of a Doctorate in Arts degree are both thought and engagement leaders in their respective professional life whether it is education or arts and cultural production or cultural congestion. In totality, the arts-based online doctorate in arts program experience stimulates ideation and enacts agency; the arts encourage means of communication, reflection, and meaning-making transformation.
Core Courses & Topics in Arts
Important: Below is an example of the topics or areas you may develop and work on during your studies. By no means is it a complete or required list, as AIU programs do not follow a standardized curriculum. It is meant solely as a reference point and example. Want to learn more about the curriculum design at AIU?
Check here: Course and Curriculum
The Doctorate in Fine Arts will provide core studies and special topics that engage with advanced artistic inquiry, critical theorizing and interdisciplinary Doctorate in Performing Arts research. They will tackle core themes that include Advanced Art Theory, Critical Cultural Studies, Philosophies of Aesthetics and Methodologies of Research in the Arts.
Looking into the future core advanced arts themes are Contemporary Art Practices, Social Change through Art, History of Art Movements, and Ethical Responsibilities of Arts Researchers. Depending on whether students study Visual and Performing Arts; Digital Media Arts; Interdisciplinary Art; and Global Arts, the program will include related topics focused on those studies. All of the core studies in the Doctor of Arts degree complement each other to ensure academic rigour whilst allowing students in the Doctorate in Visual Arts to shape their own practice and research around their areas of creative and scholarly interests.
Orientation Courses
The orientation aspect of the Doctorate in Arts program serves an important purpose that will help orient the academic journey ahead for students. The orientation component in arts education generally consists of courses that allow the student to articulate the alignment of their personal, professional, and scholarly goals, as well as orient the student to the tools and philosophy of the learning platform.
In the advanced arts orientation, the core courses of study are typically Philosophy of Education, Models of Graduate Study, Academic Assessment, and the essential nature of Self-Assessment and Curriculum Development. These courses serve to assist the student in narrowing his/her project to facilitate research, structuring their study, and revealing the disciplinary nature of the arts practice, juxtaposed with reflection on the act of establishing personal goal setting. The conclusion of the orientation courses as related to their creative research is meant to give each student an opportunity to reflect and experience an even clearer self-directed academic experience that is his/her own before taking doctoral approaches.
- Communication & Investigation (Comprehensive Resume)
- Organization Theory (Portfolio)
- Experiential Learning (Autobiography)
- Academic Evaluation (Questionnaire)
- Fundament of Knowledge (Integration Chart)
- Fundamental Principles I (Philosophy of Education)
- Professional Evaluation (Self Evaluation Matrix)
- Development of Graduate Study (Guarantee of an Academic Degree)
Research Projects in Arts
For students in a Doctorate in Arts program, the research component will provide the intellectual anchoring of their degree, and allow them to contribute original ideas through creative inquiry and applied research. Research projects will be unique to each student’s inquiry, based on the student’s chosen art form, theoretical interest, and application for the real world. Typical projects might include Doctoral Dissertations, Applied Arts Projects, Practice Based Research, and Critical Theoretical Analyses.
Students will also be able to pursue intellectually rigorous case studies, multimedia installations, and cross-cultural research that thoroughly dislocate conventional meanings of immersion within the arts. Students will not be working on these scholarly projects alone, and will have the assistance of their faculty, as well as customized advising and mentoring, to allow a student to conceptualize, develop and complete scholarly outputs that contribute to academic knowledge while questioning or challenging the arts community and/or society at large, through art and arts-based means.
- Doctoral Dissertation Project
- MBM900 Doctoral Proposal
- MBM902 Doctoral Dissertation (15000 words)
Publication – Student publications are an essential element of the Doctorate in Arts, as it gives scholars the opportunity to communicate their research, creative works and critical contributions to the global academic and artistic communities. Students are encouraged (a) to publish in peer-reviewed journals, (b) art and culture magazines, (c) to attend and present at International conferences and (d) to publish their works digitally, exhibit their works, or produce multimedia work. The publications will serve as part of the documentation of scholarly and creative accomplishments from each candidate, as well as the document of professional development, academic service, and public scholarship. In support of this work, they consult with candidates for their publications and/or help to frame the work for different audiences to establish themselves as a voice and thought leader in their spectrum of the artistic domain.
Dissertation Defense for Doctorate in Public Administration
The Dissertation Defense is a significant milestone for students in the Doctorate in Arts program and wraps up their scholarly and creative experience. This vigorous process requires students to present and defend their original research against an academic committee and engage in collegial dialogue to critically reflect on the research. This is a moment for students to showcase and demonstrate their knowledge and subject area mastery, the originality and significance of chosen interventions in the arts, and the methodological rigor of their practice.
In this presentation, students should include the written dissertation, and based on the students chosen methodological practice, the creative component of the dissertation could include an exhibition, performance or hybrid creative/multimedia representation among other possibilities. The structure of the Dissertation Defense aims to facilitate professional scholarly conversations, receive constructive feedback that will shape, modify or improve the ultimate dissertation product and confirm, evaluate and identify whether candidates meet all academic qualifications and criteria to make original contributions to the academy and arts.
Doctorate in Arts Student Experience
Accessible and empowered appropriately emphasize the unmatched student experience in a Doctorate in Arts degree. The student’s journey is flexible, personalized, and intellectually stimulating; ultimately students create their own curriculum to follow their passions, career aspirations, and to give life to their own artistic imagination, knowing their academic advisors will offer guidance and lifelong learning peer networks will provide global-relatedness to all their study and their world. Students experience articulation rich conversations with other students globally, inquiring exchange across disciplines, and animating inquisitive and creative change through their research.
The learning experience the online Doctorate in Arts offers for self-directed students is delivered through rich resource libraries & visual expression, virtual labs, interaction tools, & artificial intelligence learning devices, enabling students to learn at their own pace and wherever they live. The self-directed style of the student experience develops independence and creativity experiences and an authentic sense of purpose, which transforms the learning experience in personally and professionally meaningful ways.
Community & Social
The Doctorate in Arts approach also promotes an active, shared social learning engagement beyond the typical reach. Today, students have complete access to the internet and the ability to engage with a highly visible global community of students from diverse disciplines, alumni, faculty, and practitioners, through AIU’s innovative and ever-expanding Virtual Campus, Mobile App, and multiple collaboration platforms. MYAIU, AIULink and AIUTV all provide students with opportunities to create, learn, share, and participate with their fellow students, alumni faculty and professionals from all around the world through the use of community and collaboration tools only available for students of AIU.
Students are able to engage with virtual symposiums, international events, live webinars, creative competitions, and other academic critique, creative collaboration, and community engagements with other people and students from around the world for educational and leisure purposes utilizing tools like the Curriculum Builder, Merlin Media Center, Language Center – and all the other virtual laboratories to learn creatively, and they can access live chats and community forums for continuity of peer support and intellectual engagement.
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Academic Resources
As Doctorate in Arts (DA) students, you will have access to an astounding number of academic resources that you will be able to use through your studies that extend and develop your intellectual and creative abilities. You have access to resources and tools like the AIU Online Library, with over 260,000 books, journals and scholarly articles; Merlin Media Center providing multimedia resources for students to use in learning; many Artifacts you can use as students in the Curriculum Builder Tool that support students follow their own study pathways; AIUTV; Virtual Labs; the Archive and live Webinar repositories; Interactive Assignments; Case Studies; the Language Center with a varied array of studies in 20 or more languages; AI tools for research, writing and projects; and more. Resources like this will allow students the opportunity to explore, create and actively engage in the global arts community.
Virtual Campus
Complete assignments online or offline at your convenience with 24/7 access to distance learning through AIU’s Virtual Campus. Step by Step guides including videos, tutorials, live webinars and examples for each course. All materials can be access on all web browsers as well as via AIU's Mobile App which brings all the features of the Virtual Camus to your Mobile Device.
My AIU Elements
MyAIU’s primary goal is to go beyond Academics, it looks to guide students through 11 elements that are key to living life optimally in all aspects. By identifying and reflecting on these key areas, an opportunity arises to holistically address them, through positive change, habits, reinforcement and tools to keep students on their chosen path.
AIU TV & Radio
The students have the opportunity to produce, edit and host their own show reaching a worldwide audience, the AIU community and giving notice of their expertise/passion in the subject. AIUTV & AIU Radio allow students to explore new ways to communicate, develop a platform and form potential collaboration with likeminded individuals.
AIU Campus Mundi
AIU Campus Mundi is a monthly magazine that gathers the most notable news and information about the university and its members in one convenient place. The magazine allows our community to be well informed, involved and keep in tough regardless of their geographic location. AIU Campus Mundi publishes, news, research, events, awards, academic achievements.
Graduation Ceremony
Each year AIU organizes graduation ceremonies where the students can assist and share their experiences with fellow students and academic members Participation in the ceremony is optional, the day’s events include conferences, research presentations, group meetings, networking, lunch and formal dinner.
Symposiums & Webinars
International symposiums form a major component of the Doctorate in Arts program. Students can showcase their research; creative works; and academic exchanges, and a worldwide audience can witness and benefit from them. These virtual “venues” of engagement link artists; academics; researchers; and thought leaders from various cultures and disciplines in a collaborative and creative environment around exploring authentic projects on the edge of current works in the arts.
Live Classes
As a part of the Doctorate in Arts program, students participate in two live classes every day with live engagement with expert faculty, learners and guest speakers from around the world! Live classes encompass every content area- examples include high-level art theory, interdisciplinary research, contemporary practices and art emergence and evolution and participation!
The live classes support connecting students and building dynamic learning experiences where they can enjoy critical dialogue, creative learning and collaborative processes in action; from lectures to informal open dialogue to discussion about research projects- learners can enjoy everything professionals will experience in the field; learning is dynamic! For this reason, learners will have the experience of their field of study in real-time as it is developing. There are many flexible scheduled options and classes are recorded for participants convenience so learners can chart their own academic pathway!
Special Projects, Research Publications, & Co-Authoring
The Doctorate in Arts program creates an opportunity for students to move beyond the bounded institution of academia through Special Projects, Research Publications, and Co-Authorship. Students are supported in creating practice-based Special Projects based on their own artistic concepts, creative processes, and research agendas. Special Projects may be in numerous forms including, but not limited to, multimedia installation and performance, digital storytelling, community-engaged art projects, and public performance.
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Career Center for Doctorate in Arts
The Career Center helps Doctorate in Arts students shift from inquiry into impact by working directly with each student to identify where their artistic intention and academic work might lead them. The Career Center will execute individual career coaching, portfolio support, interview preparation, and job search. The Doctorate in Arts education experiences and those related to emerging into professions that relate to academia, arts administration, creative industries, cultural organizations or practice as a sole practitioner will prepare students to bring confidence and imagination to the way they generate their personalised careers. The Career Center for doctoral studies will provide additional networking opportunities via the alumni network, internship search and placement and contacts with industry partners to support students developing into leaders and innovators and shapers of the future global arts ecosystem.
Job Description
Individuals who have earned their Doctorate in Arts degree, in various disciplines, either in universities or in the arts, culture or health sectors, have opportunities to gain advanced professional roles. Examples of full-time and part-time roles can be found for almost every possible combinations from the context to the location across sectors, with some being more prominent such as University Professor, Art Historian, Creative Director, Curator of a Museum or Gallery, Director of an Arts Program, Cultural Policy Analyst, and Research Fellow.
Examples of the roles that some graduates hold include Independent Artist, Art Critic, Arts Educator, Public Art Consultant, or Interdisciplinary research. Because of their critical thinking agility, nurturing creative innovations, and the propensity to conduct scholarly investigation, doctorate holders also have possibilities to matrix into executive roles with leading not-for-profit organizations, government cultural agencies and international arts sectors and organizations and to have significant influence on shaping the arts with dynamic and diverse practice and practice that is informed by legacy, generational wisdom, and visionary knowing.
Tools for Doctorate in Arts
In the arts, graduate students use various digital, creative, and research tools to enhance scholarly output and artistic practice. These systems facilitate the processes undertaken by doctoral students, ranging from data collection of research literature, coding and organization of qualitative data, the development of digital artwork, project organization, and distance collaboration, supporting products of research that result in a finished dissertation, digital installation, or cross-cultural research. Each of the digital academic and creative systems allow doctoral students to fulfill their creative and academic vision as well as realize a final outcome that is structured, professional, and innovative.
Associations for Doctorate in Arts Professionals
Students accepted into a Doctorate in Arts program are encouraged to explore and become connected to professional organizations in the arts that foster education, interdisciplinary connection, and artistic innovation on an international scale. Many of these organizations hold relevant journals, conferences, grants, networks, and opportunities to publish, professionalize, and present your creative and academic work as part of festivals, exhibitions, and performances.
Being included as a student member in one of these professional organizations can help raise awareness through your engagement in current practice, help to connect you as a professional, and connect you as a global citizen to arts communities.
- College Art Association (CAA)
- International Association of Art (IAA/AIAP)
- National Art Education Association (NAEA)
- International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA)
- Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI)
- Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA)
- International Association for Aesthetics (IAA)
- International Council of Museums (ICOM)
- Americans for the Arts
- Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA)
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Doctorate in Arts Admission Requirements
To be accepted into the Doctorate in Arts program at Atlantic International University (AIU) prospective students must achieve an acceptable level of academic achievement and commitment to knowledge
advancement and knowledge generation in an area of study. Proponents are required to have a recognized Master’s degree from an accredited educational institution and must show proficiency and critical familiarity with their area of
study. Prospective students will also be required to submit a research proposal stating their proposed doctoral research. Why is this so critical? The research proposal needs
to have discrete goals, fit the methodological purpose and method, and be related to the research priorities of AIU; therefore, making a distinct reference to established AIU research. Consideration for admission may also involve previous work experience, publication, and commitment to multi-disciplinary research and idea exploration
to ensure that prospective candidates make a substantive and meaningful contribution to advancing knowledge and research attention to the global issues we face.
How Can You Apply?
- Simply go to www.aiu.edu and find the “Apply Online” feature on the front page.
- Complete the application with all your personal academic and professional information:
- Please upload your CV, outlining your educational history, work history, creative work, research history, and awards.
- You will need to write a statement of purpose that describes how and why you want to pursue the Doctorate in Arts Program, the possible professional aspirations, and how the Doctorate in Arts will serve to increase your professional journey.
- You will need to upload a digital copy of your Master’s Degree, all your transcripts, either a copy of your ID, or Passport, letters of recommendation, and copies of your published works, or an artistic portfolio.
- AIU may want to meet you for an interview or have either in an academic or prospective academic advisor speak to you by telephone to discuss your aspirations and how they may relate to the program.
- Admitted/Not Accepted
- The AIU admissions committee will assess all the documents that you have submitted and will send you an email suggesting and confirming your admission status.
- Acceptance and Acceptance Deposit
- When you are offered admission and will be confirming your enrollment by paying an enrollment fee and/or payment of the platform access fee.
- Starting Your Personal Doctoral Program
- Once you have enrolled you will have access to the AIU virtual campus, and will begin your customized and self-paced academic program.
Financial Support & Scholarships
In alignment with AIU’s values of creating educational access for all people, regardless of financial burdens, AIU has both Financial Aid and Scholarships associated with the Bachelor in Arts program. AIU believes education is a basic human right and will endeavor to lessen the financial load to students through flexible payment arrangements, partial tuition scholarships, and financial aid or grants to eligible students based on need. Eligible students can apply for selective tuition reductions based on the factors and those related to their personal, academic, and professional facets of the specified case.
AIU wants learners to receive information that will guide and empower them to navigate the cost of education, while having flexibility as they control navigating their education, at their own speed of self-learning. AIU truly believes in affordability, so that all learners can reach their academic learning goals and personal hopes as a field of study, while having the thoroughness, integrity and quality delivered, by associated Graduate or Post-Graduate level education.
What is the Total Cost Per Year for a Doctorate of Public Administration?
Atlantic International University also gives students pursuing a Doctorate of Public Administration the opportunity to pay tuition in flexible, low-cost ways like monthly payments instead of a very large upfront fee (although it is very reasonable) only small monthly payments are needed, of which students can manage their own personal and professional obligations at their desired pace. The aspect of monthly fees not only allows for monthly means of payment, but it allows students from many personal and financial backgrounds to engage in an educational experience that truly empowers and intentionally engages in their educational experience, permitting them to remove the financial burden.
FAQs
What are the admission requirements for a doctorate in arts program?
The admission requirements for a doctorate in arts program may require students to complete a minimum of a master’s degree from an accredited institution or meet prerequisites determined by the academic program, although some may accept a bachelor’s degree for admission. Generally speaking, it will take students 3 to 5 years of full-time study to complete a PhD in Arts, though the duration depends on the student, the research dimensions, and the format of the program. At AIU, for example, the PhD in Arts program allows students to learn at their own speed, enabling students to progress according to their personal and professional calendar.
How long does it take to complete a PhD in arts?
3-4 years
Can I pursue a doctorate in arts online?
Yes, AIU offers a doctorate in arts online.
What are the career opportunities after earning a doctorate in arts?
Once you have completed a PhD in Arts, career options include: university professor, researcher, curator, art director, cultural advisor, writer, and consultant in creative/theatrical industries, education, media, and public policy.
