National Portfolio Days

 

Bring your portfolio of artwork and have it reviewed by more than 25 colleges and universities from around the United States and Canada. The events are free and open to the public.

What is National Portfolio Day?

National Portfolio Days are educational events for young artists, held at host colleges throughout the U.S. and Canada. Portfolio Days bring together students and experienced college representatives who review artwork, offer critiques, discuss college plans, and share information about their schools. These events are not an examination or a competition. The art college representatives are interested in the student's development, look forward to reviewing the work and will provide helpful information for this next important step in the student's development as an artist. We suggest that students work with as many representatives as possible.

Who should attend?

Any high school student considering studying art or design at a college level should participate in National Portfolio Day. At Portfolio Day, you'll get a small taste of what it could be like to attend a professional art program. You'll see a variety of artwork created at different levels by young artists with varying skills and experiences. You may hear many different opinions about your work. Do not hesitate to explain to the college representatives how you develop your ideas, and where you want to go with them.

What should you bring?

Your portfolio can include finished pieces, work in progress, and sketchbooks. We ask you to bring your original artwork whenever possible. If your work is large, 3-dimensional or otherwise hard to carry, you can bring photographs of the work instead. We suggest that you do not spend time and money matting or framing your work. Keep your presentation simple; the work itself is what is of interest to us. We can not guarantee that schools reviewing work will have laptops available to look at digital portfolios. We recommend that you bring your own laptop to present your portfolio if it is in a digital format.

No Admissions decisions or scholarship awards will be offered to you at a National Portfolio Day. Some of the colleges represented may accept the portfolio you present as the visual portion of your application, while others have policies that prohibit making a definitive admission decision at the time of your review. All will expect that your artwork will progress in the coming months.

Do you need to make a reservation?

No, you do not have to register for any National Portfolio Day Event. All Portfolio Days are free and open to the public, with a first come, first served format.

 

National Portfolio Day at MCAD

Sunday, September 30th, 2012
12:00 Noon – 4:00 PM
Minneapolis, MN

National Portfolio Day at MCAD Sunday, September 30th, 2012 12 Noon – 4 PM MCAD's Main Building Minneapolis, MN

The only National Portfolio Day event in Minnesota.

Directions

Directions to MCAD may be found here http://www.mcad.edu/visit free parking for National Portfolio Day is available in MCAD’s Parking Lot C located off of 26th Street. Other campus information may be found at www.mcad.edu/visit.

Fall 2011 - Previously Attending Colleges

  • California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
  • CalArts, Valencia, CA
  • Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
  • Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH
  • Corcoran College of Art + Design, Washington DC
  • Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA
  • Delaware College of Art and Design, Wilmington, DE
  • Ecole Parsons à Paris (Parsons Paris School of Art & Design), Paris, France
  • Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, BC, CANADA
  • FIDM/The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles, CA
  • Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
  • Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, Grand Rapids, MI
  • Lawrence Tech, College of Architecture and Design, Southfield, MI
  • Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
  • Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee, WI
  • Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
  • Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead, MN
  • Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA
  • Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
  • Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR
  • Parsons The New School For Design, New York, NY
  • San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
  • School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
  • School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
  • Syracuse University College of Visual + Performing Arts, Syracuse, NY
  • The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY
  • Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, Nashville, TN

 

 

Iowa National Portfolio Day

Saturday, November 3, 2012
10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Des Moines, Iowa

The only National Portfolio Day event in Iowa.

Fall 2011 - Previously Participating Schools

  • Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
  • Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, Grand Rapids, MI
  • Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN
  • Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee, WI
  • Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
  • Parsons The New School For Design, New York, NY
  • School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
  • University of Kansas Design Dept. and Dept. of Visual Art, Lawrence, KS

 

Directions

Location to be determined. Please check back!

 

Can’t make it to one of MCAD’s National Portfolio Days? Look for us at these other scheduled NPDA events.

Graduate Programs

If you are interested in graduate programs, we encourage you to contact individual institutions, as all colleges will not be prepared to review graduate portfolios at National Portfolio Days. You may also attend the NPDA Graduate National Portfolio Days hosted around the country.

Questions

For more information, please visit the National Portfolio Day website. If you have any questions about the events hosted by MCAD, please contact the Admissions Office at 612-874-3760 or 1-800-874-MCAD ext. 1 or by emailing admissions@mcad.edu

Admissions events hosted by MCAD are always free and open to the public.