Art Instruction School Shutting Down after 103 Years

I'm sad to say that AIS is shuttering its school. I was literally about to sign up! I had always wanted to take their program and when I decide to do it, they shut down. I figured they must have been have accreditation problems but they were just renewed for five years.

https://artinstructionschools.edu/The_Program

http://www.deac.org/UploadedDocuments/Public-Notices/Accreditation-Actions/022717_AC_meeting_report.pdf

 

Maybe the same is being given away in online videos.

 

Steve Levicoff's favorite school.....

 

I always felt that the price for what was classified as a "Certificate of completion" rather than at least a College Diploma couldn't have helped their situation.

 

Well, they're ceasing enrolment and have no new courses to offer at this time, but they say the school is not closing. Odd.

From the site:

Is Art Instruction Schools closing?
Art Instruction Schools will remain open. We are no longer offering the Fundamentals of Art program for new enrollment.

Do you have any other programs or courses available?
At this time we do not. "

Very cryptic. "Yes, we have no bananas (or new courses) but the school will remain open."
Also mentioned, the school will still be having the Annual Art Competition and the Charles M. Schultz Cartooning Scholarship competition.

Oddest teaser I've seen....

J.

 

That's Charles M. Schulz, of course. Apologies for my inept misspelling of the late "Peanuts" creator's name.

J.

 

To their credit (see what I did there?) their program was ACE recommended. At certain points in their history (including up until 2015) their program resulted in something like 14 or 15 credits.

If you were hoping to flip some credits to TESU or Excelsior and wanted those credits to be in Art then it was a completely reasonable path.

 

Can it be a coincidence that the demise of their main program parallels the demise of matchbooks, for years their main source of new students. I cannot recall the last time I saw an actual matchbook.

 

I keep mine with the Zig-Zag rolling papers, John. Now there's a company which could have carried their ads for an eternity .... :smile:

J.

 

In the 1980s, I tried advertising Bear's Guide on matchbooks. At that time, I bought space on every single matchbook in the state of Maryland for one month. Something like $2,000 for tens of thousands of the little devils. We sold about a dozen books, and had a very large number of illegible replies, written with stubby pencil in the tiny available space.

 

I always wondered if Rhoda Morganstern was an Art Instruction School graduate. We know that her art school entrance exam was on a book of matches but we don't know if it was for a physical school.

 

Maybe they have an especially good football team this year.