Institute of American Indian Arts

Quick Facts

Address: 83 Avan Nu Po Road, Santa Fe, NM 87508
Website: https://www.iaia.edu/
Founded: 1962
Students: 665 (Fall 2017)

About

The Institute of American Indian Arts seeks to "fulfill the physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs" of students by emphasizing Native American and Alaska Native values, cultures, and histories in all layers of the curriculum and offerings. The campus was originally founded in 1962 as a high school operated by the Bureau of Iindian Affairs. In 1975, the school leadership advanced a vision for the school to transform into a two-year institution of higher education. In 1986, IAIA became one of only three colleges charted by Congress, with a mission to pursue " the study, preservation and dissemination of traditional and contemporary expressions of Native American language, literature, history, oral traditions, and the visual and performing arts."

The Institute of American Indian Arts is a 1994 Land Grant Institution, and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The school operates on a 140-acre campus. One of the IAIA's premier offerings is its Museum of Contemporary Native Arts--home of the National Collection of Contemporary Native American Art--in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. Today, it is the only school in the United States dedicated to contemporary Native arts which offers a four-year fine arts degree.

While at IAIA, students can earn undergraduate and graduate degrees. Students can earn their Bachelors degree in Cinematic Arts and Technology, Creative Writing, Indigenous Liberal Studies, Museum Studies, and Studio Arts; Associates degree in Cinematic Arts and Technology, Creative Writing, Museum Studies, Native American Studies, and Studio Arts; and Certificates in Business and Entrepreneurship, Museum Studies, and Native American Art History. Graduate students can earn their Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.