Our
Community
Naudline Pierre
MFA 2017
Ashley Jacobs
SURP 2015
Our Community
Alumni are an essential and valued part of the New York Academy of Art. Graduates build on their Academy training to enrich not only their own experience after graduation, but add creatively to the world — exhibiting at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Venice Biennale, and the Museum of Art and Design, and teaching at institutions including the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, RISD, and Parsons.
Faculty
Working artists teaching in Tribeca. Our faculty maintain active practices — their work is in major museums, their shows open in major galleries — and they bring that practice directly into the studio with students.
Nina Levy
Adjunct Faculty
Wade Schuman
Director · Painting
Michael Grimaldi
Director · Drawing
Perla Michaels
Provost
Alumni Work
Alumni
Graduates who’ve gone on to exhibit at the Met, the Venice Biennale, and the galleries that set the terms of contemporary figurative practice.
Nina Levy
Adjunct Faculty
Wade Schuman
Director · Painting
Michael Grimaldi
Director · Drawing
Perla Michaels
Provost
Where Our Alumni Show
“Today, figurative art has come back into fashion in the art world.”
“As an alumnus, it feels victorious to realize that I am part of a community who knew what we wanted, stuck to our guns, and now we’re being rewarded for it.”
Tabitha Whitley
MFA 2011
Chubb Fellows & Friends
MFA Thesis Exhibition 2026
2026 Staff Exhibition
Summer Exhibition 2026
Certificate of Fine Arts 2026 Exhibition
Career Outcomes
Currently enrolled graduate students in the MFA program may apply to be teaching assistants for continuing studies classes.
Provides Academy alumni with the opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience at the graduate level in the CFA and MFA Programs. In turn, Academy instructors are provided with a teaching assistant to support the tutorial component of the curriculum and the operations of the classroom.
Content waiting definition by NYAA team
Currently enrolled graduate students in the MFA program may apply to be teaching assistants at local area colleges.
The SURP Postgraduate Teaching Program provides rising second years with valuable teaching assistantships and recently graduated students with adjunct faculty positions in the Summer Undergraduate Residency Program (SURP). Additionally, the program provides successful applicants with a significant CV credential, knowledge of syllabus and lesson plan development, and the opportunity to document a body of student work for future pedagogical applications.