Benefit from peer knowledge and experience as members share ideas and strategies to navigate the changes and opportunities in the arts and higher education.

Adjusting leadership strategies collaboratively
Providing a platform for discussion of challenges and opportunities
Sustaining engagement with trusted colleagues
Embracing new knowledge and innovative solutions
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Our 61st Annual Conference
October 14 (evening) – 16, 2025 in Santa Fe, New Mexico with additional opportunities on October 13, 14, 17 and 18
Online Registration / Printable Registration / Agenda / Printable Agenda / Hotel Reservations
Advancement Workshop Online Registration or Printable Registration
Taos Itinerary

Who We Are

Founded in 1964, the ICfAD membership is a diverse and inclusive organization comprised of deans, associate and assistant deans, directors and chairs, and other fine arts executives in higher education throughout North America and around the world. It is an organization whose members focus on issues and opportunities that impact leadership, administration, and the fine arts and design disciplines. ICfAD’s mission of members helping members throughout their careers is supported by providing annual conferences and international symposia where members can meet with colleagues to expand their networks and learn from one another. Click here to join or renew your membership now.
 

Deans and executive fine arts administrators with a shared commitment to leadership and advocacy excellence in arts higher education

ICfAD: for the creative leader in you

MEMBER BENEFITS

Upcoming Opportunities

61st Annual Conference
Tuesday, October 14 - Thursday, October 16, 2025
Santa Fe, New Mexico
A printable conference agenda and registration links can be found on this page, above, and here.

62nd Annual Conference
Tuesday, October 6 - Thursday, October 8, 2026
Detroit, Michigan
A printable Save the Date flyer can be found here.

 

About Us

The International Council for Arts Deans (ICfAD), a global alliance of deans, directors, chairs, and other arts executives, provides leadership opportunities for its members and advocates for the essential role of the arts in higher education. Since its founding in 1964, ICfAD has remained dedicated to mentoring emerging leaders and expanding its international community of arts administrators.

The ICfAD Board of Directors, guided by this mission, affirms that the arts and creative industries have a responsibility to cultivate learning and creative environments that welcome the full breadth of human experience. Through practice, performance, exhibition, and scholarship, we strive to model a professional culture where access, respect, and belonging are fundamental and where every individual is empowered to contribute authentically and meaningfully.

We believe that arts education should reflect a spectrum of perspectives and experiences, fostering open exchange and shared growth among students, faculty, staff, and leaders across our institutions. As a community, we commit to advancing environments that honor differences, nurture dialogue, promote civil discourse and strengthen our collective capacity to imagine and realize a more connected, equitable, and humane world.

ICfAD acknowledges the histories, cultural contexts, and institutional structures that shape our present. We recognize that arts executives hold both the privilege and the responsibility to lead positive transformation in education and society through the arts. Therefore, ICfAD pledges to celebrate the range of creative and scholarly contributions our members bring to the global arts landscape, to facilitate learning and action that promote inclusive and responsible leadership, to support programs and resources that help our members engage thoughtfully with contemporary challenges, and to continue evolving as an organization that reflects and champions the communities we serve today and into the future.