CIA expands academic offerings by launching six new minors

Image: CIA students show off their work in 11:59, a student-led magazine published in 2025 as a collaboration between writing, publishing and graphic design courses. Starting with Fall 2026 semester, Publishing will be one of six new majors available to CIA students.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2025

CLEVELAND—The Cleveland Institute of Art announces six new minors designed to increase opportunities for students to gain interdisciplinary contexts, foster innovation, pursue new areas of professional experience and expand pathways for career development.

Minors in Arts Management, Media Studies, Photography, Printmaking, Publishing, and Social Issues, Identity + Culture will be available to all CIA students starting Fall 2026 semester.

"CIA's new minors demonstrate the College's strong and deepening commitment to prepare students for creative-economy careers and an evolving job market," says Greg Watts, Vice President of Academic Affairs + Provost. "These programs will enrich student learning, foster meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration, and create new pathways for students to pursue ambitious ideas and emerging opportunities."

The addition of these minors reflects forward-thinking faculty insight and strategic restructuring of existing curricular offerings to respond to student interests and employer needs.

"Pursuing a minor contributes to a student’s development as they prepare to enter the workforce. From an employer’s perspective, a minor demonstrates diligence, intellectual curiosity and motivation," says Beth Halasz, chair of CIA's Curriculum Committee and associate professor in the College's Life Sciences Illustration program. "Encouraging students to explore opportunities beyond their primary area of study fosters personal and professional growth, and a minor driven by student curiosity effectively supports that development."

These six new minors join the College's existing minors in Craft + Design, Creative Writing, Virtual + Augmented Reality, and Visual Culture as well as CIA's 13 majors in the fine arts, craft, design and entertainment arts.

Arts Management

Arts Management prepares students to contribute to work in arts administration, business, nonprofit management and creative leadership. Students will gain professional knowledge and career skills that complement work in their majors. The minor’s emphases include data literacy, financial management, funding, marketing, strategic planning and policy for the arts. It also includes opportunities to understand professional practices and organizational approaches in museum studies, arts education, professional communication and community settings while supporting students’ development as creative leaders across areas.

Media Studies

Media Studies focuses on the production, interpretation and analysis of media and culture. It includes options in photography, film, video, installation, performance art and emerging media, along with courses on the history and critical study of media, technology and communication. The minor combines theory and practice, helping students explore how work across media interacts with society and culture.

Photography

The Photography minor offers students a comprehensive foundation in the technical, conceptual and critical aspects of photographic practice. Through a combination of studio courses and visual theory, students learn to create compelling images while exploring photography’s role in contemporary culture and visual communication.

Printmaking

The Printmaking minor offers students a comprehensive foundation to the technical, conceptual and critical aspects of a printmaking practice to complement their major area of study. Through a combination of studio courses, students learn to create compelling artworks using historical and contemporary print processes. This minor supports students in the development of a personal vision and studio practice informed by the rich tradition and ever-expanding approaches to image-making in print. Students will enhance career prospects in the arts through the cultivation of specialized printmaking knowledge, skills and collaborative experience within a shared shop environment.

Publishing

Publishing supports cross-disciplinary practices in editing and publishing. It includes course options with emphases on graphic design, printmaking, copyediting, writing, distribution, promotion, and the history and art of the book. It focuses on how publishing can build community and “make things public” by increasing access to ideas. The minor offers practical skills and critical understandings that are relevant across creative practices and career paths.

Social Issues, Identity + Culture

Social Issues, Identity + Culture focuses on critical and reflective engagement with intercultural knowledge, civic understanding, ethical reasoning, and students’ informed involvement with local and global topics. It also supports students’ development as members of diverse communities and as creative leaders whose work is invested in understanding themselves and others. Its courses include emphases on gender and race, environmental justice, media and culture, and community issues.

Contact

Cleveland Institute of Art
Michael C. Butz, Director of College Communications + External Relations
mcbutz@cia.edu / 216.421.7404

Cleveland Institute of Art

The Cleveland Institute of Art is a private, nonprofit college of art and design that has been the training ground for countless students who have gone on to make important contributions to the fields of creativity and innovation since it opened in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women. Its students have designed internationally recognized products, their artwork has been exhibited in major museums and private collections around the world, and their entertainment media has been enjoyed by audiences and game players for generations. It enrolls about 600 students nationally and internationally and has a faculty of about 100 full-time and adjunct members, all of whom are practicing artists, designers and scholars.