About

The Visual Arts Summer Institute at Boston University's College of Fine Arts is a four-week intensive program for high school students ages 15–18, running June 29–July 24, 2026, on BU's Charles River Campus. The curriculum is modeled directly on the foundation year courses taken by all BU School of Visual Arts undergraduates — students are not visiting a simplified version of the program, but working through the same foundational sequence in the same professional studios. Each student is assigned their own painting studio in the undergraduate facilities for the full four weeks.
The 2026 program is commuter-only. Housing was available in prior years but has been discontinued for 2026; students must be able to commute to campus Monday through Friday independently. The program runs 9am to 5pm daily with three hours of additional optional open studio time each evening.

The curriculum covers four core disciplines simultaneously across the four weeks. Drawing is the central component, with a minimum of 12 hours per week dedicated to observation-based drawing including drawing from live models — the primary source notes explicitly that the model will be nude for most sessions, and students must be comfortable with this to participate. Painting works through oil paint technique across still lifes, landscapes, portraits, and the figure. Sculpture works in three dimensions with materials that vary by year and have included clay, cardboard, wire, and found objects. Printmaking introduces relief prints and monotypes using the School of Visual Arts' professional printmaking facility. Art Conversations sessions gather the full VASI community to discuss contemporary art issues, portfolio development, and the college admissions process. Special Workshops each year introduce additional media — past workshops have included photography, graphic design, and community-based arts projects. The program concludes with a professionally installed exhibition of student work in BU's Gallery 5, open to the public, with a reception for friends and family, and individual studio critiques from VASI faculty, staff, and guest critics.

Tuition for 2026 is $3,900, with students responsible for approximately $300 in personal art supplies (a supply list is provided before the start of the program). Students also pay an $80 non-refundable application fee and a $300 deposit upon acceptance. Upon successful completion, students earn 3 transferable college credits — BU notes that a single BU credit costs approximately $2,083 at the undergraduate rate, making the program a significant value relative to what those credits would cost through regular enrollment. A limited number of need-based scholarships exist through the Naomi Rabb Winston Scholarship in Two-Dimensional Art (up to $10,000 for students ages 16–22 for supplementary art education programs like VASI), and past participants have also sourced scholarships through school districts, local arts councils, and chambers of commerce.

The application requires a portfolio submission, an essay, and a teacher recommendation. Admissions are rolling.
For a student seriously pursuing visual arts — particularly painting, drawing, or printmaking — VASI offers something genuinely difficult to replicate: four weeks in undergraduate studio facilities, with an undergraduate-equivalent curriculum, earning real college credits, working alongside BU faculty who teach this material to degree-seeking students year-round. The commuter-only structure in 2026 limits the practical audience to the Greater Boston area, but for a student who can get there, the program's depth and institutional access are exceptional.