The Saturday Program

About The Saturday Program 

Founded in 1968, Cooper Union's Saturday Program has offered free studio art courses to New York City public high school students for over 55 years. Our current courses are: Architecture, Digital Media/Photography, Drawing, Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture, Senior Design Studio and Senior Visual Art Studio. To learn more about our offerings, check out our Courses page.

Classes run every Saturday from 10am to 5pm throughout the school year, with the exception of holidays. This schedule provides the intensive working time necessary to explore media, technique, and concept for both the beginner and the experienced art student. Each Saturday Program session also includes a one-hour writing workshop with a professional poet. All Saturday Program classes take field trips to galleries, museums, and cultural institutions across the city.

2023-24 Program Dates:

  • Fall: 10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4, 11/11, 11/18, 12/2, 12/9, 12/16
  • Spring: 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/24, 3/2, 3/9, 3/23, 3/30, 4/6, 4/13

Applying to The Saturday Program

Applications for Fall 2023 are now closed. Students can apply for the Spring 2024 semester below!

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APPLY HERE

Students need no prior experience, just strong motivation. Those who have attended the program in prior years will be offered a place in the program as space permits. Returning students should select "Returning" in the application portal. For more information, please email saturdayprogram@cooper.edu.

If you are a current Cooper Union student who would like to work with us, check for listings here.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.