ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
At MIAD, you’ll develop your skills, broaden your horizons, and pursue work in your field of choice. We’ll give you the tools you need to follow your creative path, and redefine the role of artist or designer in contemporary society.
MIAD offers undergraduate degree programs and non-credit programs. Find your fit.
Animation Track
Communication Design
Illustration
Fashion and Apparel Design
Fine Art + New Studio Practice
Interior Architecture and Design
Product Design
First-Year Experience
Undergraduate Programs
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE: All freshman and many transfer students take First-Year Experience courses in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree program. First-Year courses teach students to try everything, and assume nothing.
CRITICAL STUDIES: In addition to studio coursework, all MIAD undergraduate students take critical studies (academic) courses. Critical Studies at MIAD serves as the bridge between the studio and the world, between the classroom and the community.
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS:
- Animation Track
- Communication Design
- Fashion and Apparel Design
- Fine Art + New Studio Practice
- Illustration
- Interior Architecture and Design
- Product Design
MINORS: All MIAD studio majors except Fashion and Apparel Design can be taken as a minor. In addition, students may receive a minor in areas such as Arts Management, Book Arts, Digital Media Production, Furniture Design, Sustainability, Advertising, Art History, Business, Copywriting, Humanities, Natural Science, Psychology and Writing.
- Learn more about MIAD’s minors
SPECIAL PROGRAMS: MIAD offers many mobility, study abroad, and cross-registration opportunities.
Non-Credit Programs
Explore MIAD’s Youth and Community Programs, such as Pre-College, Continuing Education and Design Internship, at ycp.miad.edu.
News
Students celebrate professional growth at 2024 First-Year Exhibition
An annual tradition at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design from late March through September, the juried First-Year Experience Exhibition celebrates students’ yearlong personal and professional growth.
Ice cream social meets fine art networking at Cone-ections
Through the Intro to Arts Management course at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), five students collaborated to plan a successful artist networking event via ice cream social. Milwaukee-area artists and MIAD alumni visited campus to connect with students and enjoy a cone!
La Mère Brazier: Phoebe Nelson Senior Exhibition 2025
Phoebe Nelson ’25 (Illustration) came to the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) to study children’s book illustration. Now at the end of her senior year, she is writing and illustrating a children’s book about Eugénie Brazier, the first person to get six Michelin stars, for her Senior Exhibition project.
MIAD Independent Inquiry Program launches with three student grants
Galilea Cerda ’26, Tina Voith ’26 and Madi Weglarz ’25 are the first three Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design students selected to receive Independent Inquiry Program stipends to investigate new technologies and their applicability to art and design education. As first-time applicants, each receives a stipend of $1,200 for a six-week Mini Inquiry this summer.
Grilled Cheese grants propel MIAD seniors
Funds from the annual Grilled Cheese Grant helped Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) awardees Siren Harris, Yo Yo collective and Madi Weglarz complete their 2025 Senior Exhibition projects and future work. All the MIAD awardees are Fine Art + New Studio Practice seniors.