Social innovation is one of the most dynamic, expansive and exciting fields of endeavor today. It is the application of new strategies and models to solving the challenges facing the world, and to strengthening society. In Blessed Unrest, Paul Hawkins describes its remarkable force in the world as “the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Like nature itself, it is organizing from the bottom up, in every city, town and culture, and is emerging to be an extraordinary and creative expression of people’s needs worldwide.”

SVA’s two-year graduate program is the first MFA program to help prepare designers to participate fully in social innovation in all its forms. It will provide students with the design tools, skills and experience they need to become creative leaders in social innovation—unlocking new worlds of potential through mastery of design thinking, innovation, social technologies, data visualization and communication design—at the intersection of business, society and the natural world.

Under the guidance of leaders in social technology, conservation, healthcare, living systems, movement and game design, cognitive science and emergent business models, students in the MFA Design for Social Innovation will work with real clients throughout the program, gaining hands-on experience with multinational corporations, non-profits and social entrepreneurs around the globe.

The MFA in Design for Social Innovation at the School of Visual Arts is geared toward designers looking for meaningful and engaging work through which they can make a significant contribution to society, as well as for graduates in other disciplines who want to learn to harness the power of design to create positive change and transformation.

The MFA in Design for Social Innovation curriculum encompasses a broad range of issues including conservation, health, food and agriculture, poverty, women’s rights, social justice, fair trade, education and community revitalization.

Graduates of the program will be prepared to work in design firms and advertising agencies, in corporations both large and small, in non-profit organizations or as social entrepreneurs. They will be skilled in the design of concepts, communities, organizational models, communication, information design, mapping and implementation.