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Southwest School of Art To Offer Texas’ Only Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Degree from Independent Art Institution

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First class in fall of 2013

San Antonio, Texas. The Southwest School of Art & Craft, San Antonio’s community art school, announced today that it will develop a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program, making it the only independent, degree-granting art school in Texas. The first BFA students are expected on campus in fall, 2013.

As a non-profit, independent art school, the Southwest School of Art will offer one four-year degree – a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) – and will attract students who are focused on becoming working artists. Students will receive an intense grounding in studio practice and art making, as well as art history, critical thinking, general studies, and business skills.

Along with the addition of the BFA program, the art school also announced that, as of October 1, 2010, it is shortening its name to the Southwest School of Art.

President Paula Owen emphasized that this decision “was based on maximizing our many assets, which include an excellent faculty and studio facilities, and on filling the need for an independent art college in our region.”

Janet Flohr, the School’s current Board Chair and President of Hare & Hound Press, added that the School’s “long and proven history of prudent management of resources, as well as its outstanding reputation for quality visual arts education” also supports the School’s decision to build this new program.

Founding Trustee Edith McAllister remarked that “this is a logical next step in the School’s evolution, and is rooted in the School’s commitment to our community to offer a rich environment for the study, and the making, of art.”

Owen noted that, “our current mission and programs will not change in essence, but rather will enlarge in scope. We expect our role in the economic and cultural vitality of San Antonio to enlarge, as well.”

For more information about the BFA program, please visit http://www.swschool.org/bfa

Federal Stimulus Grant to SSAC

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San Antonio’s Southwest School of Art & Craft received good news – it is one of 631 arts groups across the country which received grants as part of the American Economic Recovery & Reinvestment Act, part of a $50 million stimulus package being allocated by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The list of arts organizations of all types receiving these grants in Texas indicates only two San Antonio organizations did – the Southwest School of Art & Craft and The Accordion Festival.

And only forty-one “Visual Arts” organizations nationally received one of these grants.

The Southwest School of Art & Craft plans to use the grant money to offset salary and wages expenses during this time of economic recession.

A release on the Americans for the Arts website provides more background:

Arts Groups Receive Nearly $30M in Recovery Grants
July 07, 2009—Today the National Endowment for the Arts announced 631 local arts groups have received direct grants totaling $29,775,000 as part of the American Economic Recovery & Reinvestment Act. These funds are part of a $50 million federal stimulus package being allocated by the NEA in support of job recovery programs for nonprofit and local and state public arts agencies. A list of direct grants awarded to organizations by the NEA is available here.

“In just five short months since the passage of the economic recovery bill, the NEA enacted a plan that quickly and efficiently distributed $50 million to reach nonprofit arts businesses in every corner of America. Many jobs will be saved and arts programs will continue on as a result of these much-needed funds. The tireless advocacy efforts of our nation’s arts community has truly paid off,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts.

Art School Announces New Metals Dept Chair

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Gary SchottArtist and metalsmith Gary Schott has been appointed as the new Chair of the Metals Department at the Southwest School of Art & Craft in San Antonio, Texas.

He comes to San Antonio from his faculty position as Acting Head of the Art Metal/Jewelry Program, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. His prior teaching position was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was awarded a School of Art and Design Teaching Excellence Award in 2007.

Schott has a strong national exhibition background, having been selected for exhibitions, within the last three years, in Oregon, California, Virginia, Maine, Maryland, Texas, Illinois, Arizona, Idaho, Delaware, Arkansas and Louisiana. In 2006, he received a national endowment scholarship award from the Society of North American Goldsmiths. This coming spring (2009), Schott will be included in the national exhibition Next Iconoclasts, featuring 37 emerging artists from around the U.S. and hosted by the Hoffman Gallery of the Oregon College of Art and Craft.

Schott received his MFA in Metal/Jewelry Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.