Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development

Broadcast Journalism

IAIA's Certificate in Broadcast Journalism is designed to give students a fundamental understanding of storytelling, journalism, and broadcast video production. With a mix of courses from the Cinematic Arts and Technology Department and the Creative Writing Department, this 24-credit program will support the interests of students seeking opportunities in broadcast news and related fields.

Business and Entrepreneurship

The IAIA Business and Entrepreneurship Program is tailored to address the specific needs of art professionals by instilling confidence, fostering personal growth, and enhancing leadership skills in the arts. Business and Entrepreneurship Program graduates gain skills that enable them to make a greater economic contribution, enriching and benefitting not only their own families and Tribes but also the larger art world.

Cinematic Arts and Technology

The Department of Cinematic Arts and Technology is dedicated to providing a safe, supportive environment for future Native screenwriters, directors, producers, actors, documentarians, cinematographers, editors, animators, and visual effects artists to explore their creativity and passion for their art. Our goal is to empower Native filmmakers with the creative and technical abilities necessary to craft cinematic experiences that have the power to connect with the widest audiences possible.

Cinematic Arts and Technology

The Department of Cinematic Arts and Technology is dedicated to providing a safe, supportive environment for future Native screenwriters, directors, producers, actors, documentarians, cinematographers, editors, animators, and visual effects artists to explore their creativity and passion for their art. Our goal is to empower Native filmmakers with the creative and technical abilities necessary to craft cinematic experiences that have the power to connect with the widest audiences possible.

Computer Science

CS empowers students to unlock the innate capabilities of the tools used to create by fostering innovation, problem-solving, and technical expertise. This program bridges computational and artistic disciplines, emphasizing creative and computational thinking, coding, and software engineering. Graduates emerge with the ability to shape, refine, and develop digital tools that push artistic and technological boundaries, preparing them for a wide range of careers in the evolving digital landscape.

Computer Science

CS empowers students to unlock the innate capabilities of the tools used to create by fostering innovation, problem-solving, and technical expertise. This program bridges computational and artistic disciplines, emphasizing creative and computational thinking, coding, and software engineering. Graduates emerge with the ability to shape, refine, and develop digital tools that push artistic and technological boundaries, preparing them for a wide range of careers in the evolving digital landscape.

Computer Science

CS empowers students to unlock the innate capabilities of the tools used to create by fostering innovation, problem-solving, and technical expertise. This program bridges computational and artistic disciplines, emphasizing creative and computational thinking, coding, and software engineering. Graduates emerge with the ability to shape, refine, and develop digital tools that push artistic and technological boundaries, preparing them for a wide range of careers in the evolving digital landscape.

Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Department (CRWR) is guided by the core values of respect, integrity, creativity, and excellence, and holds these values as essential to professional growth and building strong leaders who make a difference. We foster creative risk-taking through a curriculum that allows students to explore creative expression in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, graphic narratives, and journalism. We provide writers with a background in multiethnic and world literatures.

Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Department (CRWR) is guided by the core values of respect, integrity, creativity, and excellence, and holds these values as essential to professional growth and building strong leaders who make a difference. We foster creative risk-taking through a curriculum that allows students to explore creative expression in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, playwriting, graphic narratives, and journalism. We provide writers with a background in multiethnic and world literatures.

Creative Writing

The IAIA low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program (MFACW) is a two-year program per emphasis with two intensive residency periods per year (summer and winter). Our two-year, low residency curriculum is craft- and student-based, placing priority on Indigenous world views in a contemporary context. Our program is unique among low residency MFA programs in Creative Writing, as we emphasize the importance of Native writers offering voice to the Native experience.

Cultural Administration

Focused on social equity and the support of cultural community growth, this two-year master's program integrates administrative tools and techniques with socially engaged leadership through the blending of organization skills with community outreach programming. The MFACA is a low-residency program with courses offered online. Students are required to attend a week-long residency on the IAIA campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the summers.

Indigenous Liberal Studies

The Indigenous Liberal Studies Department is guided by the term “Indigenous Ways of Knowing.” This means that our focus, as much as possible, is on the exploration and development of Indigenous knowledge for leadership and scholarship. Our classes use Native writers, theorists, and commentators as we study a variety of disciplines including history, education, anthropology, philosophy, and political science.

Museum Studies

The Museum Studies Program is dedicated to providing a well-rounded education in the field of museology. As part of a proud and storied Indigenous institution, Museum Studies Department courses focus on best practices of Indigenous cultural object care and Indigenous cultural presentation. Students learn the techniques, methods, practices, and the critical thinking necessary to assist Indigenous communities in maintaining their cultures and heritages through museums and cultural centers.

Museum Studies

The Museum Studies Program is dedicated to providing a well-rounded education in the field of museology. As part of a proud and storied Indigenous institution, Museum Studies Department courses focus on best practices of Indigenous cultural object care and Indigenous cultural presentation. Students learn the techniques, methods, practices, and the critical thinking necessary to assist Indigenous communities in maintaining their cultures and heritages through museums and cultural centers.

Museum Studies

The Museum Studies Program is dedicated to providing a well-rounded education in the field of museology. As part of a proud and storied Indigenous institution, Museum Studies Department courses focus on best practices of Indigenous cultural object care and Indigenous cultural presentation. Students learn the techniques, methods, practices, and the critical thinking necessary to assist Indigenous communities in maintaining their cultures and heritages through museums and cultural centers.

Native American Art History

Native American Art History (ARTH) takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining Indigenous artistic practice as a form of discourse and a locus for cultural exchange. Survey courses provide a broad historical overview of the history of Native American, First Nations, and international Indigenous art forms. Curriculum critically examines the disciplinary lenses applied to Indigenous art, including archaeological, anthropological, ethnographic, and art historical methods.

Native American Art History

Native American Art History (ARTH) takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining Indigenous artistic practice as a form of discourse and a locus for cultural exchange. Survey courses provide a broad historical overview of the history of Native American, First Nations, and international Indigenous art forms. Curriculum critically examines the disciplinary lenses applied to Indigenous art, including archaeological, anthropological, ethnographic, and art historical methods.

Native American Studies

The Indigenous Liberal Studies Department is guided by the term “Indigenous Ways of Knowing.” This means that our focus, as much as possible, is on the exploration and development of Indigenous knowledge for leadership and scholarship. Our classes use Native writers, theorists, and commentators as we study a variety of disciplines including history, education, anthropology, philosophy, and political science.

Performing Arts

The Performing Arts Department is dedicated to fostering an environment that inspires research and experimentation in performance, thereby pioneering groundbreaking systems of drama, dance, and music that enable culturally conscious artists to express in their own distinctive languages and voices. The three pillars of the Performing Arts program—performing cultural knowledge, invention, and art education—guide a community of artists and scholars through art forms that story the human condition.

Performing Arts

The Performing Arts Department is dedicated to fostering an environment that inspires research and experimentation in performance, thereby pioneering groundbreaking systems of drama, dance, and music that enable culturally conscious artists to express in their own distinctive languages and voices. The three pillars of the Performing Arts program—performing cultural knowledge, invention, and art education—guide a community of artists and scholars through art forms that story the human condition.

Studio Arts

The Studio Arts Department is guided by the principle that cultural, historical, conceptual, and critical awareness are fundamental in the lives of professional artists. While building these skills and techniques, we center Indigenous values and philosophies. We share knowledge with our students while also providing them with an artistic community to foster their individual creative voice.

Studio Arts

The Studio Arts Department is guided by the principle that cultural, historical, conceptual, and critical awareness are fundamental in the lives of professional artists. While building these skills and techniques, we center Indigenous values and philosophies. We share knowledge with our students while also providing them with an artistic community to foster their individual creative voice.

Studio Arts

The Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts (MFASA) requires the completion of 60 credit hours and is designed as a two-year, low-residency program with two intensive residency periods per year (summer and winter) on the IAIA campus in Santa Fe, NM. At the end of each residency, students are paired with a Master Artist Mentor with whom they will work one-on-one online during the following 16-week semester.