Foundation Students working in studio

Mission Statement

Otis College of Art and Design educates a diverse community of students to become highly skilled, well-informed and responsible professionals -- empowering them to shape the world.

Educational Vision Statement

Through its commitment to a fully inclusive and career-oriented education, Otis College of Art and Design prepares a diverse community of emerging artists and designers to become change-makers within creative fields, finding novel solutions to the challenges of the 21st century.

Principles

  • We believe that diversity is a critical engine for creativity and collective achievement.
  • We affirm our responsibility to foster accessible learning environments for all our students, meeting each student’s unique needs while imparting universal critical and practical tools.
  • We focus on both the practical and the philosophical.
  • We deliver the most current skills training while emphasizing critical perspectives and experiences, allowing our students to lead in the creative industries and communities of both today and tomorrow.
  • We emphasize learning through making, both in hands-on and fully digital forms. Our students graduate with a technical facility and technological fluency coupled with deep conceptual and critical abilities, making them uniquely valuable within their chosen fields.
  • We foster the transformation of our students into socio-conscious individuals, imparting in them a strong sense of self and others while preparing them for professional success and positive change.
  • We embrace collaboration and instill collaborative skills in our students, recognizing that these are crucially important to the art and design fields of the present and future. Our students are community builders, understanding the value of strong bonds and collective effort.
  • We maximize the advantages offered by our proximity to leading art and design industries, while insisting that we also support local communities through our practices.
  • We acknowledge that no set of principles is or should be considered as absolute, and pledge to allow our own to evolve regularly so as to remain vital and aimed towards meeting the future needs of art, design, and society.