THE SAN FRANCISCO
INSTITUTE FOR CREATIVE RESEARCH
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Transdisciplinary. Tranformative. THRILLING
YES YOU CAN.
Curators, architects, creative technologists, linguists, theorists, philosophers, visual and sound artists, composers, psychologists, playwrights, designers, critical fabulators, directors, anthropologists, activists, coders, animators,mathematicians, choreographers, neuroscientists, sociologists, journalists, in short, all creative researchers can deepen their research and acquire a doctoral degree on their own terms.
A Creative Research PhD is for everyone who desires to bring their praxis to a significantly new level in terms of creation and articulation, dig deeper, contribute beyond their particular field to a broader context, exchange and contribute to knowledge, disseminate work in an international, transdisciplinary community, and/or teach at all levels.
Led by your question/s —the scope of which will hold your attention for 3 years—your dissertation will be an entwining of reflection, investigation, praxis, field, studio or lab work, in short, your research.
The Creative Research PhD is self-directed, praxis-informed creative research. Writing and optional entwining research documentation are contributors to your dissertation, culminating in a public presentation in any relevant form in the annual Anthologies Assembly, a review of your dissertation by two peers in your field/s and submission of your publication.
Your creative research project will culminate in a dissertation of generally 25,000 to 50,000 words — a public presentation or viva voce and related dissemination elements integral to your research at your final residency.
HOW
cross-pollination. Mobile platforms.
We offer a unique, transdisciplinary atmosphere uniting all fields under one nomadic roof. Where standard programs divide creative disciplines, our approach generates cross-pollination of ideas, creating fresh work and expanding the definitions of creative research with unique methods, processes, and outcomes.
Participate in international and hybrid intensives, retreats and residencies, monthly online weekend sessions, work independently with dedicated advisors and peer groups and earn a PhD with diverse international creative researchers.
Our program is built around your research, praxis, and life commitments. You study wherever you live and work, conducting independent research with the support of a dedicated advisory team and peer discourse, critique, and collaboration.
Our platforms of exchange provide extensive opportunities for cross-pollination between creative researchers and collaborations with international institutions.
For over twenty years, the Institute has been developing a global network of institutions in multiple countries. Students, faculty, guests, alums, and advisors have successfully launched sustainable global relationships and projects through shared research and long-term research groups.
Transart is perfectly positioned to foster a new level of international exchange, intimately and from afar, for individual and collaborative, global creative research exchange.
residencies
Intimate. Stimulating. Celebratory.
Residencies are the heart of the Institute—critical hubs for events and opportunities to meet other established international researchers.
Annual enrichment residencies in changing cities will inform and contextualize your work, widen your networks, offer fresh, diverse and long-term input, and offer opportunities to strengthen the ways in which you present your work through a plethora of topical workshops, seminars, lectures, talks, fora, colloquia, peer presentations, anthologies assemblies, panels, screenings, symposia, performances, debates, field, studio and lab visits, writing retreats, independent curated excursions and group led field trips to cultural institutions, performance venues, biennales and other place and events.
Past residencies have occurred in Berlin, Liverpool, New York, Toronto, Mexico City, Nairobi, and Queensland. The Institute is committed to being fluid, responsive, nomadic, inclusive, and having a wide perspective to be a relevant, vital, vibrant, and global community.
Residency dates and lengths will vary between 3 and 10 days. A one-week hybrid residency is required each year. Additional micro-residencies are offered optionally and may reflect the location, a particular topic, opportunity, group project, or other purpose, e.g., a symposium or retreat. Some are researcher-led and supported by the Institute as a means of developing sustainable communities beyond your tenure in the program. Each is unique. See them here.
INTENSIVES
REJOIN. REVITALIZE. Fortify.
Online or hybrid intensive sessions are held mid-month except during the three independent research periods. Research essentials are followed by topical electives on a plethora of topics to enrich your research and world. These sessions are optional in your third year (or part-time, 5-6 years). Sessions are offered in diverse time zones to accommodate the range of our global participants. These sessions generally include workshops, seminars and talks, occasionally listening sessions, interviews, somatic sessions, etc.
WORKSHOPS
inventive. invigorating. ExPANDing.
We offer unique, one-time workshops in person and online so that you can contribute and respond to exercises, assignments and projects in whatever way, media, genre, or field you wish to work in. Workshop topics are selected based on the research interests of your class. Bonds are formed especially in person, in workshops and cafes, in collaborations and mutually shared experiences.
We are away from our jobs, families, and everything familiar, navigating the unknown and the unexpected. We are given a precious opportunity to focus solely on our research, gaining new perspectives, fresh inputs, and insights into our processes.
The Institute's curated workshops draw upon our signature hybrid praxis/theory model. Led by a global constellation of faculty and guests, participants explore relevant philosophical, aesthetic and theoretical concepts and frameworks and test new ideas and working methods through a series of creative exercises and assignments, completed individually or collaboratively.
These workshops equip participants with a toolkit of expanded conceptual and innovative strategies, leaving them feeling invigorated, inventive and eager to re-engage with their individual research projects. In addition, seminars are chosen from current cultural topics viewed through the lens of media studies, literature, philosophy, theory, physics and other fields.
Research training workshops at intensives deal with four main strands that are critical to the development of creative research projects: 1) Contextualization - mapping the field and evaluating sources; 2) Epistemology - systems of knowledge, reflexivity, and critical thinking – how do we know what we know?; 3) Methods and methodologies - the system of methods and principles we use to conduct our research; and 4) Articulation - documenting, presenting, and disseminating our research.
Workshops will focus on each of these areas and be delivered by rotating members of our international faculty or visiting academics.
MEETINGS
FLEXIBLE. supportive. versatile.
Offsite, we sustain relations and practices in complementary and supportive ways.
Accompanying your independent and/or collaborative research is an international community of researchers, including two dedicated advisors and one or more topic-based research groups. Monthly meetings in weekend monthly online intensive sessions, advisor and peer meetings are intended to support, inform, and sustain your focussed endeavor.
The Institute provides a unique entwinement of interim mutual support in any form you and your advisors agree upon. There are no requirements as to how these communications take place in terms of presence, media, time and space—there are guidelines. As a global community, discussions, advisements, critiques, and meetings often occur via video conference. Interim exchanges are determined by your locations, schedules, and, ultimately, what serves your project best.
CLUSTER RESEARCH
Bonding. Sustaining. Collaborative.
Researchers self-organize around discussion, process, critique, community, research and project interests. You will hold initial meetings at residencies, then continue offsite at a fixed time every month. whenever the group decides to present and critique each other's research, for self-accountability support, discuss readings, share publications, and plan and hold events.
Given the Institute's floating platform model, these groups are instrumental in sustaining your research communities beyond your tenure in the program—to continue enriching your praxes, making vital international connections, and organizing projects and events around the globe and online.
See ongoing groups here.
ADVISORS
indepth. discipline-specific expertise. CARE.
Students work with two advisors for the duration of their projects. You can make suggestions when you submit your proposal on the Expression of Interest and proposal form. You will find a list of potential advisors under People here.
Once your advisory team, consisting of an advisory director of studies, a co-advisor, and yourself, is assembled, you will meet to discuss how you will work together, refine the proposal if need be, and mutually commit to working together.
The advisory director of study's role is best understood as the person who takes primary responsibility for guiding you through the milestones of the PhD. As such, they have a good general understanding of the PhD process and in-depth knowledge of the Institute's processes and procedures. They may also have some expertise in relation to your specific project. The co-advisor brings additional theoretical and discipline-specific knowledge and their understanding of and perspective on creative research.
CURRICULUM
paced. staggered. Free time
This three-year full-time or six-year part-time hybrid program requires an average work commitment of 30 or 15 hours per week, respectively.
Three-month terms of monthly weekend intensives are punctuated with month-long independent study periods, enabling students to pace themselves, gain perspective, acquire concentrated periods for reflection, investigation, field/lab/studio work, and balance work, family, and other obligations.
1
YEAR ONE (or part-time year 1-2)
TERM 1:
September - November > Research Skills + Epistemologies
December > Independent Research
TERM 2:
January - March > Methods + Ethics
April > Independent Research
TERM 3:
May - June - July > Articulation + Dissemination
Outcome: Confirmation of Route + Ethics approval
July > Residency
August > Independent Research
2
YEAR TWO (or part-time year 3-4)
TERM 1:
September - November > Electives
December: Independent Research
TERM 2:
January - March > Electives
April > Independent Research
TERM 3:
May - June - July > Electives
Outcome: Dissertation draft
July > Residency
August > Independent Research
3
YEAR THREE (or part-time year 5-6)
TERM 1:
September - November > Electives (optional)
December > Independent Research
TERM 2:
January - March > Electives (optional)
April > Independent Research
TERM 3:
May - June - July > Electives (optional)
Outcome: Dissertation + viva voce + publication
July > Residency + graduation
ALUMNI EXPERIENCES
“I think transart provides an environment that is only comparable to Black Mountain College. There's a freedom to excel in multiple media and a support system that goes beyond the traditional teacher-student relationship. With dedication and self-motivation, you can develop lasting connections with your work, faculty and peers in a way that isn't possible in traditional academic settings. I like the optimism and trust that travels through the entire community as we work together.”
— Allison Geremia, PhD
At a certain point in my career, I realised my questions were PhD questions, and that although I was teaching part-time at a university, a PhD might help me become more desirable in the market for a full-time post. I graduated in 2017, and the next year was moving across the ocean to take on my first full-time academic position. That was wonderful, but there is much more to Transart's doctoral program than the potential in the academy. They offer a connection to larger communities, and a more global perspective. Transart has put me in touch with a wider network of artists and academics than I'd ever imagined. Unlike some other programs I've been part of, I'm still in touch with former students and instructors, and we continue to collaborate. There isn't a box for people who think outside the box, but what Transart offers is as close as I'd ever want to get to that.
— Kit Danowski
“Transart presented the ideal configuration of structure and independence to successfully complete my PhD. It provided the fertile soil and parameters inside of which I had all the room I needed to freely engage with ideas--and my work-- in my own studio in my own time, as well as all the support necessary for me to grow as a thinker. My studio work has been enhanced by the ability to engage philosophy as a tool to better articulate my practice and to understand the structure of research and the progress it allows.
My fellow students were impressive. I gained interesting as well as just plain cool friends. The classes were provocative and intense, and the residency locations offered access to art and culture that further enhanced my project. My supervisors were extraordinary. Their engagement with my project was active and inspiring. They appeared well informed and interested in my project and ably assisted me through the PhD process.”
I found Transart to offer a rigorous and informed doctoral program for practicing artists.
— Lisa Osborn, PhD
“My time with Transart was a great blessing in my life. The majority of my career up until enrolling in the PhD program was spent both working and then teaching in the design disciplines. That aspect of my creative life has and continues to be rewarding due in no small part to exposure to the unique structure and curricula of Transart residencies and mentorship. The diversity of thought and artistic practice manifest in Transart faculty and fellow students has afforded me a clarity of purpose I consider uncommon in academia. As a result, I am not only a better educator, but as a Transart trained artist researcher my practice has been renewed and wonderfully enriched. In a time of remote learning, Transart is not only ahead of the curve in the delivery of curricula, but in the humanizing of arts education. Consequently, I now consider myself a designer and a writer, storyteller, painter, photographer, and even more significantly if not succinctly stated: a practicing artist.”
— Steven Evans, PhD