College for Creative Studies

The College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a nonprofit, private college authorized by the Michigan Education Department to grant Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. CCS, located in midtown Detroit, strives to provide students with the tools needed for successful careers in the dynamic and growing creative industries. CCS fosters students’ resolve to pursue excellence, act ethically, engage their responsibilities as citizens, and learn throughout their lives. With world-class faculty and unsurpassed facilities, students learn to be visual communicators who actively use art and design toward the betterment of society. The College is a major supplier of talent to numerous industries, such as transportation, film and animation, advertising and communications, consumer electronics, athletic apparel, and many more. Its graduates are exhibiting artists and teachers, design problem solvers and innovators, as well as creative leaders in business.

Founded in 1906 as the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, CCS plays a key role in Detroit’s cultural and educational communities. A private, fully accredited college, CCS enrolls more than 1,400 students, pursuing Master of Fine Arts degrees in Color and Materials Design, Interaction Design, Integrated Design and Transportation Design and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Advertising Design, Art Education, Crafts, Entertainment Arts, Fashion Accessories Design, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Photography, Product Design and Transportation Design. The College also offers free art education for more than 4,000 Detroit youth annually through its Community Arts Partnerships program. In addition, the College’s Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies is a public charter middle and high school enrolling more than 800 students in a high-performance academic curriculum with a special focus on art and design.

The BFA degree requires completion of 126 credit hours: 84 in studio areas and 42 in general studies courses. In addition to coursework in their chosen major, first-year students take courses in the Foundation Department, where they study drawing, color theory and basic design. Students in all majors also take courses in the Liberal Arts Department, designed to provide them with an understanding of the larger social and cultural context in which they live. Typical weekly schedules for full-time students comprise 24 studio hours and six academic hours.

The College's MFA degrees in Color and Materials Design, Interaction Design, Integrated Design and Transportation Design are terminal degrees that prepare students for leadership in industries that rely on design. The MFA degree programs share core curricula, with variations in technology components, and the focus and content of industry sponsored projects.

The MFA degree requires completion of 60 credit hours. Distinctive among MFA programs in the United States, CCS's graduate programs are grounded in the conviction that the most effective designers are those who have a firm grasp of the business world.

CCS is located in Detroit's Midtown, where students will find a variety of activities near campus to enrich their studies and provide entertainment. The Detroit Film Theatre and the Detroit Institute of Arts, one of the largest art museums in the country, are both located next to CCS's Walter and Josephine Ford campus. Admission to the DIA is free for CCS students. The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the largest of its kind in the country, is also located next to campus. University and public libraries, galleries, great restaurants, and live music venues showcasing indie rock, hip hop, techno, folk, jazz and blues also can be found close by.

While Detroit offers all the advantages you would expect from a big city, it is unique in many ways. For one, it‘s affordable. The city is also one of the largest markets in the country for advertising, industrial design and publishing – which means students have access to internships, jobs, and faculty mentors who are active in their fields. Ultimately, Detroit has been known for making things – this combination of craftsmanship and technology makes it a perfect place for an art and design school.

The College for Creative Studies nurtures the creativity that is vital to the enrichment of modern culture. The College educates visual artists and designers, knowledgeable in varied fields, who will be leaders in creative professions that shape society and advance economic growth. The College fosters students’ resolve to pursue excellence, act ethically, embrace their responsibilities as citizens of diverse local and global communities, and learn throughout their lives. The College engages in community service by offering opportunities for artistic enrichment and opening career pathways to talented individuals of all ages.

The College strives to be a creative institution, consistent with its name and mission. To that end, it periodically examines itself through a strategic planning process that clarifies its purposes and articulates its goals for the future. The 2012 Strategic Plan identified, and the 2017 Strategic Plan reaffirmed, a vision and four principles that guide the College's activities.

The mission of the College for Creative Studies asserts that we embrace excellence, ethical action, and social responsibility in all aspects in the practice of art, design, and scholarship. To adequately support this mission, CCS must preserve freedom of expression in all its forms. Freedom of expression is essential to basic human dignity. It ensures that members of the CCS community (students, faculty, staff and guests invited by the College) are at liberty to develop their creative abilities to the fullest extent.

CCS supports the rights of its community members to research and create using all forms of expression. It supports the right to express one’s views publicly as well as privately at venues and in activities both on and off campus.
The CCS community recognizes that creative expression by its very nature may be provocative. To encourage healthy debate, members of the CCS community and guests must demonstrate respect for the right of others to express views which they find disagreeable or offensive. Likewise members of the CCS community must be sensitive to the various audiences who may encounter their work.

That being said, CCS also notes that this freedom is not absolute. In certain circumstances, the institution may restrict expression, for example, that violates the law, is harassing or defamatory, invades substantial privacy or confidentiality interests, or does not meet curatorial standards. Moreover, the institution may reasonably regulate the time, place, and manner of expression to ensure that it does not disrupt the ordinary activities of the College.