Tufts to Take Control of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts

Photo courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Pending final approval in the coming months, Tufts University will take over the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, assuming operational responsibilities from the Museum of Fine Arts as of June 30, 2016.

The MFA announced this morning that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tufts, which outlines the upcoming transition that has already been approved by boards of trustees from both institutions.

The SMFA has been affiliated with Tufts since 1944, as well as with Northeastern University since 2007. Lacking its own full accreditation, the school has been offering bachelor and master of fine arts degrees through the two universities. Additionally, the SMFA and Tufts have been offering a joint, five-year undergraduate degree.

The new transition would establish SMFA@Tufts as a division of Tufts’ School of Arts and Sciences, marking the university in Medford one of only a few in the country to have an arts program affiliated with a major museum.

“This powerful three-way partnership is a bold proposition about not only educating artists, but also the central place of the arts in education and, in fact, the world itself,” said SMFA president Christopher Bratton in a press release. “It’s an exciting moment for us all.”