We believe in learning by doing. We believe you can understand a tool only after you’ve used it.. We believe that students learn best when they are challenged to work out a problem, one that usually involves making mistakes and failing on the way to success. We believe that making technology fit human lives requires both theoretical grounding and iterated creative practice.

This approach has been very effective for the past 40 years at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), one of the first and most prominent programs in the world for creative technology.  ITP is a two-year graduate program located in the Tisch School of the Arts, whose mission is to explore the imaginative use of communications technologies — we describe ourselves as The Center for Exploration of the Recently Possible. Students use technology to augment, improve, and bring delight and art into people’s lives. This is the inspiration for the BFA program, and IMA BFA students will share facilities and faculty with ITP.

ITP has already fostered 2 other undergraduate programs in NYU’s Global Network: the Interactive Media Arts (IMA) Program at NYU Shanghai (BS degree) and the Interactive Media (IM) Program at NYU Abu Dhabi (BA degree). The IMA BFA in New York is both a new program and the beneficiary of our experience building other programs, and of our reputation and goodwill in the tech community.